Double Handsome Dragons are a semi-instrumental band from Peterborough, UK. They are four young males: Phil Mitchell (guitar), Dan Kerr (guitar), James Mitchell (drums), and Simon Moore (bass). Fred Nolan from The Silent Ballet describes their music; “Extended clips from old movies, campy sci-fi film trailers, and infamous political speeches share real estate with savage guitar riffs, concussive rhythm sections, and space-madness electronica. The track list steadily courses with more and more adrenaline, each successive cut delivering a better dose than the last. Hard rock, alt-metal, hip hop, and straight-up indie rock all make cameo appearances here, while the old soundbites do nearly all of the talking.”

They describe their making music process like this: “We create at night in a decaying unit of breeze blocks. We drink tea out of dirty mugs and wish that our hands were warmer. We have to fight daily with potted plants and lawnmowers to get to our instruments. Sometimes they attack us. We have scars. We have a sledgehammer - we smash up old washing machines. The skip is not our friend. We play four different kinds of music at the same time using instruments we do not care for. We made a Studio, we named it Studio Terror. It is yellow. We are safe and warm there. We like to travel to far away lands to play shows for decent, handsome people. We dance. We enjoy shouting in peoples faces.”

And about the new EP; “Double Handsome Dragons is our 4th recording. We invested in microphones and monitors and other things we don’t understand and built ourselves a studio; Studio Terror. Six songs, the efforts of many weeks of hard toil, were recorded on hot summer nights in-between barbeques and poor quality TV viewing. On such a night we were visited by beasts not from this world. This record attempts to document our discussions of that evening. We do not understand the sounds; but we like them. We have a spark. And this is our fire.”

REVIEWS

Muzik Reviews / Doug Morrissey

This album only has six tracks on it that run along the same lines as the first song. “Wisbech & Other Such Galaxies” is a twisting, turning delight starting off with a screaming punk rock style vocal track that leads into an almost progressive rock interlude that leads into full speed ahead rock as the band seems to grow tired of playing quietly. It reminds me of the industrial rock of the early 90’s with the samples and other things that pop up in the music. “Ronald Ray-Gun” is humorous with its sampling of Ronald Reagan. The music for this one has a great background of electronica style that is hiding just behind the blaring rock but, like all the songs, this song has more folds than a cheap suit as the music style changes frequently. The other 3 songs are very much like the previous 3 in the way they go fast and slow, relaxing and frantic.

Double Handsome Dragons is an interesting mix and seems much like an experiment in sound. All in all it works well in the EP form presented here but I would be afraid that a long form album would get tiresome. With that said, I would still be interested in hearing if they could pull it off as well as they did this.

The Silent Ballet / Fred Nolan

The good news: Double Handsome Dragons does not merely represent another step forward for a competent recording artist. An eponymous mini-album, it is bigger, louder, angrier, funnier, and altogether better than any of Double Handsome Dragons' previous work. The group's debut EP1 marked the rise of a talented, synth-minded post-rock quartet. The subsequent A musical study of vicious, flying insects fared much better in post-production, and introduced their quintessentially English shout-vocals. The Dragons' mockery is unambiguous and effective, arranging the late president's comments (example: 'I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat') amidst cascading guitar and dreamlike space synth. When Reagan's reverie ends, the music takes a heavy, ferocious turn with metal guitar and percussion. The vocals are caricatured: distorted, delivered in primal screams and all but indecipherable. But one repeated lyric rises above the noise, 'the Martians are coming!'

GiggingNI / Jason Murdock

It is common knowledge that Belfast gigs can sometimes be a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality, but when a band like Double Handsome Dragons hit the stage with the ferocity and kind of wide eyed passion usually reserved for a band with nothing to lose, it is clear that you have stumbled into a room where something very special is going down. Double Handsome Dragons took to the stage and did the only thing that they know, which is to shout loudly directly in the audiences faces. All in all, by the time this band had finished their set, it was obvious by both the look on peoples faces, and the ringing in my ears, that this band have something that many bands should hope to achieve in their lifetime, which is a focus on passion, unrelenting attitude, and tight playing that ensure that Double Handsome Dragons will be back.

Caleidoscoop / Jan Willem Broek

After Portugal and Russia, rising label Fluttery's post-rock ship moors in England. Here they find Phil Mitchell (guitar, vocals), Dan Kerr (guitar), James Mitchell (drums), and Simon Moore (bass) from Peterborough. As Double Handsome Dragons they now release their self titled EP clocking almost 35 minutes. This CD, their fourth release, moves within the post-rock genre, but often transgresses that genre's boundaries. For example, they often use hard beats bringing them closer to a band like 65daysofstatic. Additionally, they incorporate Thursday's post-hardcore, Envy's destructively epic noise, The Mars Volta's hard-rock with psychedelic elements, and Guapo's avant-rock. In this mix they even sometimes add elements of hip hop. Sometimes they also use ecstatic singing or voice samples from old thrillers, sci-fi movies, and political speeches in their mainly instrumental music. Despite all these elements, they manage to create one consistent and above all strong fist with their music. Parallel to this, they also seem to announce the apocalypse, in which we are attacked by aliens. It is no wonder that there is considerable aggression involved. But man, man, ... such incredible power! Ingenious, sweeping walls of guitar. Intimidatingly good.

Baby Blaue / Siggy Zielinski

The base of the music of the quartet from the UK seems to me a combination of post rock, alternative rock and art rock. The post-rock epic guitar cascades are repeatedly interrupted by electronically generated sound collages, and the prog / post-metal related passages. The ever-varying proportion of electronics contributes significantly to the originality of Double Handsome Dragons.

Ytsjam / Tommy Hash

As many indie rock bands have moved into more experimental directions, adding technical nuances to the garage rock three chord progression, the worlds of post rock and noise pop have seen an expansion with bands that don't bound themselves to any musical blueprint. One band that is certainly making bold moves musically and artistically is the UK's Double Handsome Dragons. With a six song EP, this band utilizes crunch laden droning & jangly guitars, sound effects, occasional keyboards, dense production, and an intense set of jam sessions to create their enigmatic melodic monstrosity.