Sal, Bea and Raquel aka Shooting Daggers, are without a doubt burning it up at the moment. Since releasing their EP ‘Athames’ last year and most recently a split single with Ukrainian punk band Death Pill, the whispers are getting louder.
Since then things have been pretty much upwards, non – stop, and Daggers are fast becoming a fiery beacon at the beating heart of the burgeoning UK hardcore scene. Plus, their full on live shows have made them a must see proposition. Whether it’s Desertfest, supporting Amyl & The Sniffers, a plethora of underground gigs and festivals across the UK and Europe including Fluff and Burn It Down.
Or sharing the stage with the cream of up and coming American hardcore, Scowl, Gel, Zulu, Spaced, and being personally asked to play the ‘Cult Of Luna’ curated ‘Beyond The Red Shift’.
There’s no doubt that Shooting Daggers are most certainly in demand. It’s a wonder they have the time to do anything else.
Thankfully, they had a week spare to go in with Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse Studio in London to record their debut album.
Titled ‘Love and Rage’ it’s a huge leap forward from their EP, in fact New Heavy Sounds believe Daggers have recorded something of a corker in terms of modern hardcore in fact … a potential minor classic debut maybe.
Classic you say? As in ‘The Ramones’ or ‘Damned Damned Damned’, as in ‘Los Angeles’ or ‘Bad Brains’, as in ‘Repeater’ or ‘Pussy Whipped’, or as in (because they wouldn’t forgive us if we left them out) ‘Non-stop Feeling’, by the genre-deviating, mainstream breakers Turnstile. And yeah, we’ve noticed how male that list is!
Whatever way you spin it, there is no doubt that ’Love and Rage’ is an album of jaw dropping depth and melody as well as blinding energy and angst. The band say …
“We want to spread a positive message, we are challenging rage into a good force, seeking for justice and unity. Anger serves us as a bodyguard for our personal pain and suffering. But when you recognise rage within you, if you handle it with attention, love, and compassion, it can be a powerful mobilizing factor to take action in solidarity and commitment to enacting social change.
This is a time to focus on ourselves and our community. Protect our rights to be in this world and stop caring about men’s validations. It’s time for women and queer people to channel all our power together.
In this album we touch subjects such as Unity, sorority, self love, taking the power back, queer love and skateboarding.”
And the album sums this up completely over 9 storming numbers. There are kick ass buzzsaw punk bangers of course, blistering shards of pent up fury, like ‘Dare’, ‘Wipeout’ and ‘Bad Seeds’. Daggers ‘as you might expect, but here, more catchy, more direct, more focussed than before. The influences never overwhelm, it’s always unmistakably ‘Shooting Daggers’, as featured on latest single ‘No My Rival’
As the band put it …
“When we started writing this album we decided we didn’t want to limit ourselves by anygenre. We wanted to be able to get influenced by any band that we were fond of at the moment, that’s why each of the tracks of this album are so different from one another, which is something we’ve always committed to do while at the same time trying to keep it very ours.
We have hardcore songs inspired by Ceremony, Axe Rash, Turnstile, G.L.O.S.S. and then we have some more melodic hardcore inspired by Title Fight, Touché Amoré, Gouge Away, some post punk and shoegaze inspired by Placebo and Slowdive to showcase more of Sal’s clean vocals. A bit of 90s nu metal sprinkled in one of the tracks too. Then we have a piano track because why not.
We just went with the flow and let our creativity run free.”
It’s true to say that with ‘Love and Rage’ Shooting Daggers could quite possibly become your favourite band.
Shooting Daggers are also set to support U.S hardcore band Spaced as part of their ‘Trippin Thru the UK Tour 2024’:
- 29.3 Manchester @ Manchester Punk Fest
- 30.3 Bristol @ The Exchange
- 31.3 Southampton @ The Hobbit
- 01.4 Brighton @ The Hope and Ruin
- 02.4 London @ New Cross Inn
Tickets are on sale from 5pm on 1st December – https://lnk.to/TRIPPINTHRUTHEUK-2024
‘Love and Rage’ is released on the 16th February 2024. Produced by Wayne Adam’s at Bear Bites Horse Studio, with an eye popping sleeve by Greta Bungle. ‘Love and Rage’ is available on limited edition clear and sky blue galaxy vinyl, plus a ltd edition CD.
Pre orders are now open on Bandcamp and Cargo mail order, plus all digital platforms:
Bandcamp: https://shootingdaggers.bandcamp.com/album/love-rage
Cargo Records: https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/shooting-daggers-love-rage
Digital: https://lnk.to/4wkStf
Follow Shooting Daggers online:
https://www.facebook.com/shootingdaggersxhc
https://shootingdaggers.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.instagram.com/shootingdaggers_hc
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