I began this week posting about a new beginning, but will end it with a farewell. After nine years together, Double Dagger have announced their final string of shows.
Perhaps Steve Buckhantz said it best. Dagger, indeed. Dudes are throwing in the towel at a high point, after two of their finest releases - More and Masks. From the band:
We've accomplished a lot in those nine years, playing some incredible shows with bands we love and in places we never thought we'd get to play. We've been fortunate enough to have several great labels support us along the way, starting with local friends Hit-Dat, and later Chicago-based labels Stationary (Heart) and Thrill Jockey, as well as hometown labels Toxic Pop and Terra Firma.
To answer the inevitable question about why we're breaking up: Like any relationship's end, it's complex, but for us it mostly comes down to time. As the band got older and grew and changed, the people in it did too, and our individual lives are pulling us towards other pursuits. With this in mind, we decided to focus on playing a few final shows in some of our favorite cities, and go out on a high note instead of slowing fading away. We still like the music, the shows, and each other, and we think it's best to bring things to a close while we can still devote our full energy to this music.
We've been taking time off from playing live to finish a few new songs, which will be released posthumously in some format (the details are still being figured out). We've also been planning a string of final shows in some of our favorite cities next month.
We could fill a book with the people we want to thank for everything they've done for us over the years. Those who helped us out in any way from putting out our records, helping us screenprint record covers and t-shirts, taking a chance on booking us in other cities we'd never played before (or booking us time and time again), roommates who sat through countless hours of practice (and sometimes recording), strangers who made us meals in their homes, let us sleep on their floors, drove us around, put up with our bad jokes, lent us equipment (though more often it happened that we were the lenders), absorbed the onstage insults, didn't sue us when getting hit in the head with drums, gave us good advice, bought the records and came to the shows and flipped out which gave us the energy to better do the same, and most importantly the girlfriends and wives who let us take the time to do this, all of you made everything we've put into this worth it.
We're all creative dudes so this isn't the last you'll hear from us, but it is (almost) the end of the line for hearing from us together as Double Dagger. The last of it will be that forthcoming collection of songs and the last few Double Dagger shows.
Double Dagger's final shows are listed after the jump.
