Daughters - The terrifying here-and-now of noise-rock

Following their long-hoped-for reunion, fans had been eagerly awaiting a (first!) Italian live show from Daughters, restless spokesmen for contemporary malaise through an explosive and instantly recognizable brand of post-hardcore. Their sole Italian date at Locomotiv Club in Bologna, next October 18th, gives us the chance to have a quick chat with guitarist Nick Sadler about the band's return to the stage and their acclaimed latest album, “You Won't Get What You Want”.

I think it's fair to say your reunion album was a genuine success: personally, I expected nothing less (and last November it was chosen as our album of the month on OndaRock), but a lot of people were stunned by the brutal energy and inspiration of the new songs – truly a bold statement about this new “dark age” we're living through. Did you actually feel the urge to get back into the studio?

I did, and I think the other members of Daughters felt the same way. Writing, recording and releasing new music was our goal from the very start; recording was a primary interest of mine.

For what it's worth, you may have noticed that “You Won't Get What You Want” has continued to dominate Rateyourmusic.com's yearly chart since its release at the end of October 2018, currently sitting at number sixteen for the decade. I think that's a clear sign of this album's cross-genre impact, reaching not just a specific niche of fans (noise-rock, post-hardcore) but also an entirely new potential audience. My question is this: do you think your sound might be even more relevant now – in this particular moment in history – than it was before?

I suppose so. From my somewhat detached, almost dissociated vantage point, I see the album forming a connection with listeners, and I wonder how that's even possible. I still haven't fully figured it out, because I'm still in disbelief. It's been an absolutely surreal, dreamlike sequence of events in my journey; at some point I'll be able to look back on it as a non-participant, watching it like a movie. In any case, I've gotten comments along the lines of what you're pointing out, that it's the right album at the right time: I find that a terrifying thought.

Right now there's no other band out there with your same sound: the basic elements of first-wave noise-rock have by now fused seamlessly with mathcore and tech-metal influences – especially in your nervous, obsessive refrains – creating an experience that's as destructive as it is thrilling, probably for you as much as for us. Is there some kind of ecstasy in this violent mix? Does it perhaps help exorcise the grim realities it points to?

I don't like the terms “mathcore” and “tech-metal”, and for years I've tried to exemplify few or none of the traits found in those genres. I'm looking at the Wikipedia page for “mathcore” right now, and we have very little in common with most of what's listed there. If there's anything structurally complex in our sound, it's latent and rarely premeditated; I think Daughters has much more to do with punk attitudes and basic rock tropes than with whatever else people might assume. It's more that it's just a coincidence that we exist at the same time as these other bands.

You've played several US shows alongside legendary noise comrades-in-arms Wolf Eyes, as well as Dillinger Escape Plan, Dälek and more recent projects like The Body and Lingua Ignota. What are you listening to these days?

Soprattutto i Doors e i Cleaners From Venus.

I really hope you're back to stay: do you have plans to record new material soon?

Absolutely: that's why I'm here.

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