The Coffin Daggers

This is a picture-perfect soundtrack for a ’60s B-movie on youth run amok. Everything from the garage-y audio to the cheesy organ pads is period appropriate, but guitarist Viktor moves the proceedings beyond mere era emulation by unleashing a rude and vicious riff that would have made Link Wray smile. - New Bay Media

As a bona fide twang-instrumental junkie, I can say that i have never heard a band in the genre exhibit the pure heaviness of The Coffin Daggers. Most groups of this ilk, from Los Straitjackets to Jon and the Nightriders, always opt for a clean sound that is played quickly but without menace. Others, like The Mono Men, go for the cheapo lo-fi approach. Back in 1991, 16 Tons made the most metal-sounding, '50s-style instros around. But no one comes close to The Coffin Daggers when it comes to all-out intensity. Tracks like Psychonaut and Dr. Guillotine will stomp a mudhole into your fragile minds. Despite the fact that it's become quite cute to cover old rock chestnuts with twang, how many bands could take on the task of covering the enitre eight-minutes plus of Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive, crush your mind and still come out on top? not too shabby, eh? - Chart Communications, Toronto

I’m am giddy to no end listening to a fully instrumental Surf album by a band that has Viktor Venom (of Reagan Youth and Nausea) on lead guitar. Why wouldn’t I be? The idea that a vestige of 80’s East coast hardcore punk can transmute into some of the best “dark” surf music that I’ve heard in some time is, to say the least, incredible.

The one-sheet lets me know that all the tracks were recorded on 16-track 2” analog. How sweet is that? I kinda wish I would have had the album to review instead of the CD. If the digital version sounds this good, I can only imagine the vinyl is phenomonal!

Aggravatin’ Rhythms abely drops a lush soundscape of 14 tracks of riff-laden surf rock, the likes of which are rarely heard in this day and age. It’s strikingly reminiscent of foundational work from artists such as Link Wray and legendary guitarist Dick Dale. A more modern surf sensibility is certainly present as well and I can’t help but draw comparisons to by Man or Astro-man and Phantom Surfers.

I was listening to this album the other night and a description kept bubbling to the surface as I listened to track four, The Sinister Urge, “boozy apreggiated dive bombs are reverberating around the interior of my car only to launch into Gilmour-esqe soulful leads. Brilliant!” Sure it lacks some context in the middle of this, but I assure you that when you arrive upon said track, you’ll totally understand.

I’m not sure that I’ve done a write-up for an instrumental release in the past. This very well may be a first for me. So without knowing fully where to go with this, I’m going to go suggest that Aggravatin’ Rhythms by the Coffin Daggers is one of the finest surf albums I’ve heard to date. Seriously this album rocks. Get some!

https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/the-coffin-daggers-aggravatin-rhythms-cd/

Cheers,
Jerry Actually -

I present to you the most happening soundtrack to the hippest parties across the nation! Reverb drenched, punchy and energetic, fun and frantic, pure honey-dripping rock and roll in it’s most undiluted essence. Beach blanket surf music with ample nods to sci-fi and western movie-themes, and the dance crazes that made the 60s so gloriously swinging.

The Coffin Daggers sound is highlighted by band leader Vic Venom’s driving guitar rhythms and crisp in-your-face soloing, as well as Rob Morrison’s organ, which has that retro sound like it must be a Farfisa. This is the third full-length release from the New York based group, but their first for a label with major distribution capacities. The Coffin Daggers also have a handful of 7” single releases to their credit.

What’s really exciting about this music is it’s immediacy. The album was recorded live in one room, with a minimum of overdubs, onto a 16 track analog tape machine. That approach is evident in the cohesion and urgency of the performances, and the organic sound of the recorded document. Trust me! You want this CD to play at your next cocktail party or clam bake! - Sal Serio

The Coffin Daggers may not have a big discography for a band that's been around since 1999.Hell they have released a couple of singles ,an ep and only 2 albums, the last been in 2011. However each release has been pretty impressive.This is one surf punk outfit that knows how too do some serious damage and as a result there is a large, loyal and growing fan base for these kats.In 2015 the band hitched up with Cleopatra Records and the results are now out with their third album " Aggravatin’ Rhythms". This mad puppy comes out swinging hard, fast and most of all delivers on all accounts.We get 14 tracks (a mix of originals and covers) of instrumental surf punk that range from garagy to smash mouth .This is a powerful brew that's stirred with hard driving guitar and a damn kool organ. Highlights include: "Instigator", "Five-Five", " The Thing" , and " Wake Up Screaming".

There was some buzz surrounding the release of "Aggravatin’ Rhythms' "and that was good to see. This is one very strong and intense album but it's a fun ride to boot .Yeah it kicks butt and that's what you would expect. Highly Recommended!!! -

Menacing twang from the East Coast where surf may bring a frown but cannot hide a smile.

Although Viktor Venom is an originator of American crust punk, the guitarist just as well knows how to ride the crest of a wave, music-wise, and that’s what he’s been doing with this band since the early Noughties. What made it special was a wonderful defiance which feels so opposed to the lifestyle leaning of traditional surf, a trait outlined on the group’s third album as “Kreepy Krawl”: the marching track’s title is a perfect capture of their approach to an all instrumental mix of original pieces and covers. Where others would go for a Dick Dale ditty to tell a story without a word, the NYC quartet whip up a mighty take on such rarity as “Three Blue Stars” by THE LAUNCHERS, a long-forgotten Japanese combo, or power up Bert Weedon’s “Ghost Train” – in a hectic fashion – to complement their own feverish creations.

There’s arresting eeriness in Rob Morrison’s Farfisa-like organ that kicks the record off to a cinematic start before the title cut is turned into a cauldron of fuzz, laced with an Eastern stumble of a solo, but while Pete Martinez’s drums propel “The Sinister Urge” towards heavy horror, a slider roll gives it a sci-fi slant. Yet where the gloomy blues carries “Concussion” down the rootsy road, “Head One” has a modern, metallic ring to it, and such a retrofuturism may explain how the rumble of “Instigator” comes on deliciously hazy and filigree at the same time, or why “Wake Up Screaming” marries comedy to a horror show. Summing it up with “The Thing” – a streamlined and sharp slice of guitar delight – the band leave excitement hang in the air like a sweet smoke, and that would be really aggravating’: to wait a few more years until these rhythms get into play again. - DMME

Concert Review: The Coffin Daggers at Otto’s, NYC 12/7/08
December 7, 2008 · No Comments

A raw, cold, drizzly night didn’t stop their fans from coming out and dancing. Hitting the stage a little after midnight, the Coffin Daggers validated their reputation as one of New York’s half-dozen or so best live bands, tearing through one song after another without so much as a word to the audience. With Dick Dale temporarily on the shelf after surgery, it’s hard to think of a more intense, powerful surf band anywhere in the world right now. Last night their mix of scorching, distorted reverb guitar and ominous organ was as bracing as ever. Lead guitarist Viktor Venom played with his usual gleefully macabre sarcasm, much in the same vein as the Dead Kennedys’ East Bay Ray but with vastly greater speed and agility against organist Eudocia Rodzinak’s somber gothic atmospherics. The rhythm section hit with Joe Louis power and precision, bassist Peter Klarnet blasting out big, distorted chords on many of the songs’ massive crescendos.

Alternating between standards and originals, they opened with a Link Wray number with an eerily smoldering guitar feedback solo, later ripping through punked-out versions of The Cruel Sea and Out of Limits (lots of sci-fi instros in the set tonight). But their own songs were the best. A new one began dramatic and somewhat tongue-in-cheek, building to characteristic, chromatically-fueled menace. Another newish one, perhaps titled Monsters from the Id pounded along with a lot of call-and-response between the guitar and organ, winding itself up to a nasty, sunbaked fuzztone guitar solo. Perhaps the best one of the night was yet another new number, ghoulish and minor key with a sepulchral, watery tone from the guitar, climbing to an inexorably brutal, percussive chorus. While the band has tightened up, abandoning most of the noisy psychedelic wildness that was their stock in trade seven or eight years ago, they typically jam out at least one song and tonight that one was the snarling Avenue X from their 2004 full-length debut cd (which made our top ten list that year). They started it slowly with a wall of noise from the Echoplex unit, Klarnet playing evil tritones against the organ’s slowly rising flood. After a long, hypnotic noise solo, they suddenly hit a false ending before wrapping it up with a roaring blaze of guitar. They closed with Caravan, this time pretty close to the classic Ventures version on Live in Japan, right down to the drum solo, Pete Martinez putting his own propulsive spin on the Mel Taylor beat.

Like a lot of New York bands with a big out-of-town following, the Coffin Daggers don’t play many dates here anymore (they do a lot of European and Midwest tours); this show was a stark reminder of what we’ve been missing. Watch this space for upcoming shows. - Wordpress

Coffin Daggers are instrumental rockin' surf garage punk madness. For me there are 2 very important things about instrumental surf - nice melodies and good playing. Coffin Daggers got them both - amazingly good musicians and great songs. It's perfect music to play in your car or at your wild parties, or even as movie soundtrack. Some songs would fit perfectly in Italian spaghetti western, some in martian sci-fi and others in some great 70s action movie. It's difficult for me to say which are my favorites. I think I prefer songs with organ just a bit more. Probably because they sound creepy and psychotic. Specially cover of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" - great spacey apocalyptic psychedelic surf - strange and weird - surf the way you never heard before!! - No Brainz Zine

As a bona fide twang-instrumental junkie, I can say that i have never heard a band in the genre exhibit the pure heaviness of The Coffin Daggers. Most groups of this ilk, from Los Straitjackets to Jon and the Nightriders, always opt for a clean sound that is played quickly but without menace. Others, like The Mono Men, go for the cheapo lo-fi approach. Back in 1991, 16 Tons made the most metal-sounding, '50s-style instros around. But no one comes close to The Coffin Daggers when it comes to all-out intensity. Tracks like Psychonaut and Dr. Guillotine will stomp a mudhole into your fragile minds. Despite the fact that it's become quite cute to cover old rock chestnuts with twang, how many bands could take on the task of covering the enitre eight-minutes plus of Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive, crush your mind and still come out on top? not too shabby, eh? - Chart Communications, Toronto

On avait laissé les Coffin Daggers il y a un an et demi avec une démo 5 titres, les revoilà avec un vrai premier album. Pour lequel il leur aura fallu patienter un bon moment, puisque la chose a été enregistrés en octobre 2001, en 2 jours et 2 pistes. Pas besoin de plus pour canaliser toute l'énergie du groupe, pour capturer toute la spontanéité et l'urgence du surf tellurique des Coffin Daggers. Ils ne sont pas de la côte est pour rien. Loin des rouleaux parfaits du Pacifique, l'Atlantique n'a que ses tempêtes et ses sautes d'humeur à proposer à ceux qui voudraient le maîtriser. Du coup, le surf des Coffin Daggers n'a plus rien à voir avec la limpidité californienne, mais est beaucoup plus proche d'un exercice de style tout en force, en puissance et en combat de tous les instants. Physique, ce surf-rock'n'roll body-buildé l'est, aucun doute. Il y aurait même quelque chose d'un peu inquiétant, de sauvage, d'indomptable dans ces rythmes tribaux et hargneux, presque plus proche du garage des Trashmen que de la pop de Jan & Dean. Un surf urbain en quelque sorte, qui devrait se frayer un chemin entre les rejets d'égouts, les supertankers et les forces (sur)naturelles. Un surf extra-terrestre qui explose en apothéose dans la reprise finale du "Interstellar overdrive" de Pink Floyd, 8 minutes 35 intenses et ravageuses. - La 442ème Rue

On avait laissé les Coffin Daggers il y a un an et demi avec une démo 5 titres, les revoilà avec un vrai premier album. Pour lequel il leur aura fallu patienter un bon moment, puisque la chose a été enregistrés en octobre 2001, en 2 jours et 2 pistes. Pas besoin de plus pour canaliser toute l'énergie du groupe, pour capturer toute la spontanéité et l'urgence du surf tellurique des Coffin Daggers. Ils ne sont pas de la côte est pour rien. Loin des rouleaux parfaits du Pacifique, l'Atlantique n'a que ses tempêtes et ses sautes d'humeur à proposer à ceux qui voudraient le maîtriser. Du coup, le surf des Coffin Daggers n'a plus rien à voir avec la limpidité californienne, mais est beaucoup plus proche d'un exercice de style tout en force, en puissance et en combat de tous les instants. Physique, ce surf-rock'n'roll body-buildé l'est, aucun doute. Il y aurait même quelque chose d'un peu inquiétant, de sauvage, d'indomptable dans ces rythmes tribaux et hargneux, presque plus proche du garage des Trashmen que de la pop de Jan & Dean. Un surf urbain en quelque sorte, qui devrait se frayer un chemin entre les rejets d'égouts, les supertankers et les forces (sur)naturelles. Un surf extra-terrestre qui explose en apothéose dans la reprise finale du "Interstellar overdrive" de Pink Floyd, 8 minutes 35 intenses et ravageuses. - La 442ème Rue