ARTIST FOCUS #016 - WE ARE KNUCKLE DRAGGER
We Are Knuckle Dragger were formed from members of Yourcodenameis:milo, Contraband and Scrabo. Rock Sound calls them “Newcastle’s pants-wettingly exciting new band.” They’ve been played on Radio 1, Kerrang!, 6 Music and Scuzz.
They specialise in the hardcore/punk influenced 2 minute sonic attacks… of math-rock. But where such brevity can often be a cover-up for a lack of ideas, WAKD brim with them. They play their metal like a jazz trio. A good example of this being the new single, ‘Bad Wee Bastard,’ with its big cacophonous chords of diminished fifths or semitone intervals. They are reminiscent of Dillinger Escape Plan, whom they supported last June, but there is also something of Mudvayne and early Vision of Disorder in their sound.
It’s intricate without being ego-driven, all the innovation happening underneath the music in the time changes, rather than showily on the surface. They even somehow manage to retain their rhythmical complexity through the breakdowns, which would normally be ruled by a rigid pattern in half time.
Their latest album, ‘Tit For Tat’ was released in April on Sapien Records, produced by the American musician and journalist Steve Albini, who has worked with Nirvana, The Stooges and The Pixies among others. They are currently touring with Meshuggah.
We Are Knuckle Dragger headline Evo Emerging at The Tyne at 10.30pm
Words by Jonnie McAloon
