Dragnerve are an English London-based heavy metal band formed in 2007. Founded by guitarist Lee and drummer Paul and original guitarist Scott when they decided to get serious after disbanding a covers band.
Band history
Prior to Dragnerve Paul and Lee have made music together since 1996 whether in bands or music projects such as 'Fluid and the Weird Guys', 'Futureproof', a drum and bass band; but it was their love for heavy metal that pushed them into forming the covers band that led them to form 'Dragnerve. Paul has also trained as a studio engineer which is put into practice on Dragnerve tracks. Andy Hutton joined the band in November 2007 after a long search and mediocre auditions. He has been singing in various bands in and around the South East of England for over a decade. From playing the London club circuit in Undertow and Dash-K, he hooked up with now defunct Southend noise merchants Stoopi in 2000, and recorded their debut album, Unspoken Word, in 2001 to a fair amount of critical acclaim for an underground UK band. However, the band eventually split due to label issues. In February 2009, Rolly Lyons became a full-time member of Dragnerve. Rolly was from the band Flict. Founding member Lee Tibbetts has been in bands all his adult life and is the main songwriter. He currently divides his time between Dragnerve and being an effects artist on major motion pictures.
Film soundtracks
Dragnerve contributed a track to the motion picture The Age of Stupid starring Pete Postlethwaite. "The film was "crowd-funded", with the £450k budget being raised by selling “shares” to 223 individuals and groups. These groups range from a hockey team and a women's health centre. This is mostly to give it the best chance of reaching a mainstream multiplex audience, but also to retain complete editorial control. These investors all own a percentage of the film - as do the crew, who are working for heavily reduced rates". The film had a major release on the 20 March 2009 in 35 cinemas across the UK. The soundtrack wase released in conjunction with the release of the film. The soundtrack includes songs from Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Dragnerve and The Band of Holy Joy, as well as an original orchestral score written by Chris Brierley.
Games soundtracks
Dragnerve contributed a new recording of the track "A Life in Ashes" to the game All Points Bulletin an upcoming massively multiplayer onlinevideo game for Microsoft Windows based in urban sprawls and featuring two sides, Enforcers and the Criminals. Players may join either the Enforcers or the Criminals, and form sub-groups in these. The game design is led by David Jones, creator of the original Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, and is being developed by Realtime Worlds. It is due to be released on 29 June 2010 in North America, followed by a 1 July release in Europe and 2 July in the United Kingdom.
Reviews
"Dragnerve, they're not about blasting you with blast beats and kind of froggy vocals you know, they've got a bit of melody and have an old school kind of groove to them as well. Think Pantera mixed with Machine Head with a bit of Metallica as well!" - Johnny Doom - Kerrang Radio "Formed in London as recently as December 2007, Dragnerve are out to fly their flag against the forces of metal-gone-pop they see much of the present day metal scene to be devolving into. So when we say they play a metal rooted in the sounds of Metallica and Pantera, it'd be easy to think 'here's another nostalgia act'. Thankfully, what we have here is a band who use their influences as just that. Which is why the likes of 'A Life In Ashes', could have existed a decade ago, but still sounds remarkable fresh today. Vocalist Andy Hutton's vocals are used mostly in a soulful Scott Weiland croon to a thuggish, Anselmo growl to a full on monsters scream. For a demo, and for a band less than a year old, this is impressive work." - Phill May - Rock Midgets.com "London based metallers Dragnerve have only been together since the ass-end of 2007 and already they've released this, their debut demo...I do detect a hint of something special here. First up, the music is as vibrant as hell, with the guitars in particular, sounding extremely fresh, with hints of old school Metallica, early Machine Head and the obligatory Pantera influence...The Thrashy undertones have huge potential and Dragnerve sound genuinely exciting when the intensity kicks in". -Live4Metal "This is a band who are surely destined to be a British institution, 'cos they give it plenty & there's plenty of it!! Well worth checking out, I tell ya!! Destined for big things I’m sure!!!'' - Big Jim - The RockShow
