Anger is an energy: How queer punks Shooting Daggers are turning rage at music’s boy’s club into a strong community

Shooting Daggers are the kind of band that would give whichever cretin is UK Home Secretary this week nightmares. Vocalist and guitarist Sal Pellegrin hails from France, bassist Bea Simion is originally from Italy, drummer Raquel Alves is from Spain, and the London-based trio are proudly non-binary, specialising in playing a ferocious brand of self-styled queercore punk rock that takes no prisoners. It’s safe to say that in their relatively short tenure as a band so far they’re already pissing off all the worst people for all the best reasons.

“We want to create something that is ours,” says Bea of their raison d’etre, “not something that we need to wait for men to allow us into. All the music industry: promotors, agents, engineers, big bands, press… it’s dominated by men. We need to build our own community.”

“Not to take over,” Sal interjects, “but to normalise it.”

That mission first took flight in 2019 when Bea and Sal found each other through a musician’s app and connected over social media before becoming best friends, only for the band to be swiftly blunted by the pandemic like everything else. They did emerge with a demo EP, however, bringing in Raquel shortly after and recording the six-tracks of Athames (a kind of blade used by witches during rituals) last summer, which caught the underground’s attention thanks to its G.L.O.S.S.-via-Turnstile fusion of riot grrrl and hardcore. Shows with Amyl & The Sniffers, Scowl, ZULU and a clutch of festivals in the UK and Europe followed as the trio wrote and recorded their debut album Love & Rage with Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Studio in London.

Fresh from launching it into the world, spirits are understandably buoyed, but the pair are at pains to point out how those titular touchstones don’t merely operate as contrasts or polar opposites, it’s about turning negativity into a force for good.

“It’s draining to always feel angry,” Bea explains. “Having negative energies that come from feeling underrepresented and injustices, we wanted to put a spin on that; to do something with that anger by building a community.

“Instead of being angry at our oppressors, which can be cis men, the patriarchy… everything really, we wanted to focus on our community, to love each other and be together positively, doing something great. We’re talking to our sisters and the queer people in our scene who need that positive message; take that rage and turn it into love.”

“We’re still angry, but we’re expressing that through a different lens,” adds Sal. “This album is about unity, despite us feeling enraged. It’s an uplifting message.”

Listen to the album’s nine songs and you’ll discover that Shooting Daggers don’t just talk the talk, they very much walk the walk, strut the strut and stomp the stomp.

“We don’t want people to think that women or queers are shit at music,” Sal states bluntly. “We practice four or five hours a day several times a week because there is so much more pressure to represent, and we want to do that well. Men can be mediocre. We refuse to be.”

All those in favour of this European union, it’s time to vote with your feet.

Shooting Daggers' album Love & Rage is out now via New Heavy Sounds

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