CRYWANK was started in Manchester by James Clayton as a solo project despite having no previous experience playing guitar, when they learnt their first two chords and wrote two songs (Welcome to Castle Irwell, Thomas Saunders Gang Chant). Lyrically focusing on the end of their first relationship whilst contending with moving away, and musically heavily influenced by American folk punk and anti-folk, their first album James is Going To Die Soon became a cult favourite on the internet, both for its charm and many flaws. Crywank began to play with and subvert the role of singer-songwriter. Shifting the focus from self-pity to self-criticism and fluctuating between hard-hitting confessionals to tongue-in-cheek deconstructions resulted in a paranoid 'sad-but-fun sound. Dan Watson (ex-GNOD, Denim & Leather) joined the band in 2012 on percussion and began to implement approaches and influences not often seen within anti-folk, at points going into d-beat and blastbeats.