Double Dagger is a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

trio from

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

composed of only drums, vocals, and a very loud

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

which fills the space a guitar would normally take. Vocalist Nolen Strals and bassist Bruce Willen also comprised the

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

team Post Typography, which has done work for some very high-profile clients, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Hence, Double Dagger made a habit of referring to their style of post-hardcore as "graphicdesigncore" early in their career. In October 2011, Double Dagger officially broke up after a small final tour, but has since reunited occasionally for one-off shows.

History

Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen initially met while they were students at the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a private art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the oldest art colleges in the U ...

in Baltimore. There, Strals and Willen started a group called League of Death, which was initially conceived as a heavy metal outfit, but later became a

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

band. League of Death broke up in 2002 after a final show with

the Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complem ...

, giving rise to Double Dagger, as a self-described "graphicdesigncore" band, with several songs referencing design and typographic elements on their first releases (the band itself was named after the typographic symbol ‡, used for footnotes). Brian Dubin, who had previously played bass in Baltimore rock band Stars of the Dogon and guitar in Baltimore's beloved Charm City Suicides during their final year, joined the new band as a drummer and played on the bands' first few recordings, including their self-titled debut album. He left in 2005 and was replaced by Denny Bowen, then of

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, formerly of the band Economist, with whom Double Dagger had released a split single in 2003. During their 9-year run, Double Dagger played with a number of high-profile acts, including

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their d ...

, Lightning Bolt, The Ex,

The Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

, The Jesus Lizard, and

Matt & Kim Matt and Kim (sometimes stylized MATT and KIM) are an American indie electronic duo from Brooklyn, New York City. The group formed in 2004 and consist of Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums). The duo is known for its upbeat d ...

. They have released several EPs, 7" singles, and three full length

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s. The band earned considerable critical praise as well, as evinced by positive reviews in publications such as

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

Punk Planet ''Punk Planet'' was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music ...

Baltimore City Paper ''Baltimore City Paper'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. The most recent owner was the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which purchased the paper in 2014 from Ti ...

and

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

. Citing time restraints and "chaotic personal lifes," Double Dagger announced they would break up following a brief tour of the eastern United States, and a final show in their hometown of Baltimore. Bowen later appeared in

Roomrunner Roomrunner was a noise rock group from Baltimore, Maryland, fronted by Denny Bowen, formerly of Double Dagger (band), Double Dagger, Yukon (band), Yukon, and Dan Deacon, The Dan Deacon Ensemble. The group also included prominent Baltimore record ...

and performed live with

Dan Deacon Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...

and

Future Islands Future Islands is an American synth-pop band based in Baltimore, Maryland, comprising Gerrit Welmers (keyboards and programming), William Cashion (bass, acoustic and electric guitars), Samuel T. Herring (lyrics and vocals), and Michael Lowry (p ...

, Willen appears in Peals alongside of William Cashion of

, and Strals appears in Pure Junk and Second Best Westerns. In 2021, 10 years since their breakup, Double Dagger reunited for two shows in Baltimore. One at

The Ottobar ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

on October 15th and one at Current Gallery on October 16th. Concurrently, they also released ''Sophisticated Urban Living (Contemporary Conveniences Edition),'' an EP of unreleased alternate recordings made in 2008.

Band Members

Current Members

* Nolen Strals: vocals *Bruce Willen: bass *Denny Bowen: drums

Past, Guest, or Temporary Members

*Brian Dubin: drums (2002-2004) * Samuel T. Herring (of

) appears on "The Lie/The Truth" from ''More'' (2009) and occasionally appears live with the band. *Lee Ashlin (The Fuses), Sean McGuiness (

Pissed Jeans Pissed Jeans is an American hardcore punk band from Allentown, Pennsylvania. The band claims to play "loud, heavy, noisy, punk rock" and is influenced by 1980s hardcore punk and post-hardcore bands. The band has released several seven singles ...

), and Ben Valis (Stars of the Dogon) have all performed with Double Dagger at various live shows

Discography

Albums

*''

Double Dagger A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descenda ...

'' (Hit-Dat Records 2003) *''

Ragged Rubble ''Ragged Rubble'' is an album by post hardcore band Double Dagger A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death ( ...

'' (Stationary Heart Recordings 2007) *''

MORE More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...

'' (Thrill Jockey Records 2009)

Singles and EPs

*''Alt+0135'' (Self Released 2002) *''Art School Girlfriend/Obey the One Trick Pony (Hit-Dat Records 2003, split with Economist) *''Luxury'' (Self Released 2006,

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

only) *''Luxury'' (Self Released 2007, CDR of four tracks from ''Ragged Rubble'' recordings) *''Bored Meeting'' 7" (Toxic Pop 2008) *''Sophisticated Urban Living'' 7" (Terra Firma Limited 2008) *''Masks'' (Thrill Jockey Records 2010) *''333'' (Thrill Jockey Records 2013) *''Sophisticated Urban Living (Contemporary Conveniences Edition)'' (Thrill Jockey Records 2021)

Documentaries

References

External links

Double Dagger's MySpaceDouble Dagger's WebsiteDouble Dagger on BandCampDouble Dagger on Thrill Jockey Records
{{Authority control 2002 establishments in Maryland American post-punk music groups Rock music groups from Maryland Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Musical groups from Baltimore