Who says you have to have a guitar to make some noise? Punk-leaning Double Dagger -- Nolen Strals (vocals), Bruce Willen (bass) and Denny Bowen (drums) – have successfully skipped the six strings for their seven-year span, instead opting for the more stripped down line-up, one that has successfully set them apart from the usual fray.

Formed in 2002, the band originally had no drummer, instead relying on bassist Bruce Willen to form the backbone of their early proto-punk songs. Baltimore-based label Hit-Dat Records released their debut album, a 10-track self-titled CD, a few months later.  Described as more garage-oriented than their later releases, the album garnered some attention outside Maryland, and the band played several shows in support.

With that release, the band successfully merged the Baltimore arts scene with the local music scene, as the band designs and prints all the art through Strals’ and Willen’s company Post Typography. Founding members Strals and Willen met at the Maryland Institute’s College of Art, a university that led to the founding of two other local bands, Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine. These bands are all firmly rooted in the Baltimore scene, a creative world in which Double Dagger is strongly entrenched.

“Definitely Baltimore’s had a big impact on us. Nolan and I have lived here about 10 years,” Willen said.  “…It’s very friendly and close knit community, there’s a lot of interaction. You end up playing with all these other bands, just being friends with them, or you wind up sharing a show.”

Two years later, and with drummer Denny Bowen now on board, the band released Ragged Rubble (Stationary Heart Recordings), an album that captured their trademark “angry pop” sound. The album – like their others – goes sans guitars, though you don't miss the instrument as much as you might think. The release’s most popular track – “Luxury Condos for the Poor” – firmly established the band’s tendency for social commentary, its lyrics addressing issues of urban planning, the loss of public housing vacant homes and poverty. Like in Atlanta and other metropolitan areas throughout the country, Baltimore is city where public housing is torn down in favor of fake lofts and homes that target more affluent residents. But in our time of increased joblessness and foreclosures, this style of urban planning does far more harm than good, displacing thousands of families in exchange for empty homes.



The year of Ragged Rubble’s release, Baltimore CityPaper named “Luxury Condos for the Poor” the Best Song of 2007, and presses like the Washington Post and RollingStone.com chimed in on its praises.

The band has also garnered other positive reviews from outlets like Pitchfork, who described Double Dagger as “neither a ‘new’ lo-fi act nor a day-glo Wham City band (but able to hang with either).”

In part, Strals’ vocals lends towards this ambiguity of styles.

“(I’ve sung through) a bullhorn, rose cone, microphone,” Strals said. “At times I get right in people's face and scream directly at them without anything.”

Double Dagger’s latest release More (Thrill Jockey) was recorded in a discarded office of the building that shelters the popular Current Gallery. The office had no heat or electricity, a formidable challenge in Baltimore’s bone-chilling winter months. The trio, though, ran power cords through the windows to nearby spaces, powering gear and space heaters.

Dummer Bowen played out of a separate room, though the band cut a hole in the wall allowing the three guys to see each other during recording. Because of this, the album carries a sound that is more live than overdubbed, a feeling that happens when everyone is playing at the same time and the awkwardness of piece-meal recording gives way to a more spontaneous enthusiasm. Though the album is less than perfect at times, it conveys that feeling that you’re there with the band, something that fits well with this group.

Double Dagger is currently on its own US tour that will span a few weeks, and includes a date with Fiery Furnaces in Chicago.

In the meantime, here's Double Dagger at Brooklyn venue The 1896 in January: