Interviews : LIGGY HIGGINS (DOUBLE DRAGON) TALKS “SONS OF ASENA”

I still remember the first concert I ever went to like it was a week ago. It was October 2009, I was seeing Megadeth and Slayer play at Festival Hall in Melbourne. I had some major migranes throughout the day, but I didn’t care, I was seeing two of my favourite bands (at the time) and I was ready to experience live music. I walked into the venue halfway through another bands set, a band which I didn’t know were playing. After finishing the song they were playing, their lead singer demanded the audience to start “the biggest fucking Slayer chant”. It wasn’t long before he then said “Ah fuck it, I’ll do it… SLAYER! SLAYER! SLAYER! SLAYER!” That was what got the crowd fired up, as everyone on the floor and even people in the seats joined in. That band was Adelaide’s Double Dragon, and as they finished off their set, I absolutely loved it.

Two years later, and I’m talking to their lead singer Liggy Higgins (Lee Gardiner) about Dragon’s new album Sons of Asena, which they released on the internet only for free download nearly 3 weeks ago. You can download it here.

Metal Obsession: G’day! To start this off, list the best and worst Australian release you’ve heard this year, aswell as the best and worst international release this year.

Liggy Higgins: G’day! Ok, the best Australian release would be a tie between Truth Corroded’s Worship the Bled and Lynchmada’s From The Earth – both of them are ripping metal albums that stand up to anything from overseas. For the best international releases I would have to go with The Black Dahlia Murder’s RITUAL – absolute corker of an album, Mastodon’s THE HUNTER is pretty awesome as well. I gave the new Machine Head a try but really don’t like it, Lulu sucks donkey dick.. even though on a second listen the other night it wasn’t as shit as the first time I heard it, but yeah it’s still shit. Can’t comment about bad Australian releases as my mates only make good music!! Did Datura Curse’s CD come out this year? That has some awesome songs as well!!

Metal Obsession: So your new album Sons of Asena was released 3 weeks ago, has it had a positive feedback so far, aswell as the first two album launch shows in Adelaide and Sydney?   
Liggy: Yeah the feedback has been awesome mate! People seem to be enjoying it all over the world so that’s all that really matters to us. At first I thought it might take a few weeks for people to get their ears around our new sound, as it is very different than all our previous works, but yeah so far so its all been good, ask me again in a month once people have the time to start picking it pieces!  The hometown launch was intense.. a real stomping fucking metal show, Sydney was pretty good swell, lots of dudes running around in red Double Dragon shirts makes us pretty happy!

Metal Obsession: I’m still a little confused on why you only wanted to release it for free download, and not have any physical copies made. Can you please tell me what gave you the idea for this?

Liggy: It’s something I have wanted to do forever – but a few things happened that pushed us into doing it this way, one was fucking up a grant application to have it go overseas for a mix/master. When we were discussing what we were going to do with it, we thought.. let’s just give it away. Because we did it this way, we had many offers from people looking to help, and our good friend Dan Murtagh from SING SING studio’s gave us a real life line, he understood where we were coming from as artists and wanted to be a part of it all. Double Dragon, the band – this might sound harsh but it is the truth – we really don’t care too much about having CD’s out for people to make money from us. We don’t give a shit about crowd sizes, and we definitely aren’t in this band to pay bills or live with unrealistic expectations of being rock stars. We play in Double Dragon, and continue to make music just for that – to make/write music, and to play live on stages. Cd’s are irrelevant to our motivations of being in the band, we are addicted to the live stage, and to writing the best music we can, and at this stage of our lives that is all that is important to us, and we also think it’s pretty damn cool that ANYONE with the internet can head on over to www.sonsofasena.com and get our art LEGALLY for FREE.  

Metal Obsession: Have you thought about making a short run of physical copies of the album for the fans who love to get all their music on disc?

Liggy: Nah. Maybe a vinyl next year, but it will limited edition if we do it. I know people like having CD’s and everything, that’s great and all, but honestly mate we wont be losing any sleep about if no copies are made. We would much rather you spend that money on sharing an experience with us at a live show. Bring your energy to us, and we will transfer it into a brutal performance. As I said before, CD’s and marketing and all that jazz – it’s just not we are about anymore. We’re off the grid, doing things our own way, and our real fans know they can come to a show, bang the fuck out, leave their problems at the door and have a drink with us afterwards. That’s not to say in the future we are ruling it out, who knows what will happen… but a big part of the artistry on SONS OF ASENA is the taking it from us. We don’t want your money for this music because we would have made it anyway, for ourselves…all we ask is you give us 50 minutes of your time and really listen to the music we made.

Metal Obsession: You said that you’ve “finally made an album that you’re happy with”, what are you happy with on this album that you weren’t happy with on Devastator and Scars of Fire?

Liggy: The music! I’ve been in this band for a while now, and had some different roles I guess as the time has gone by. With Scars of Fire, my only real input was lyrics; I had to sing a certain way, and did so happily. With Devastator, I got to add in a little more of my flavours, but still was a little frustrated with some things, I dunno it’s kind of selfish because I’m very proud of Devastator, maybe even more so now – but I would not have written that album if I had my way. This time, I got my way (finally)… I like to write music, and kind of had this vision of us just turning everything on its head for SONS OF ASENA, really get creative, and try and inspire the absolute best performance from the guys, not cut any corners and really show people what we are capable of as musicians.  I wanted to hear the riffs and ‘feel’ things, not just mix and mash riffs together in a formulaic way. This is why I am so proud of SONS OF ASENA, say in track 1 “Malediction” where that riff comes with the “FIRE” parts, the guitars in the back ground makes me feel like shit, those droney notes, which made it very easy to open up on lyrically. The songs tell a story and there’s lots of twists and turns through the whole thing, and this time it really feels like we have written an album that can be listened to from start to finish, where with our previous works I’d probably only rate half of the songs.

Metal Obsession: Is there an album release tour currently being planned for 2012? If so, what bands do you plan on touring with?
Liggy: Yeah we are going to tour a bit in the first half of the year, try and get to all of Australia. We don’t give a fuck who we play with, if you want us to play just look us up and if its feasible we will come out! We really want to play outside of Australia in 2012 and will be pretty focused on making that dream reality.

Metal Obsession: Being that the first concert I ever went to was Megadeth and Slayer with Double Dragon, I wanted to know what it was like being on the road with two bands of The Big 4.
Liggy: Yeah it was as fucking awesome as you would expect it to be. All the guys were super nice… It was kind of the ultimate experience for Double Dragon, a once in a lifetime thing ya know that I still can’t believe happened. I was happy to play with them (Slayer) in Adelaide for the Christ Illusion tour, like ecstatic, but to be invited back on the next tour… With Megadeth to do the whole country was just beyond my wildest dreams as a musician, and metal fan. I was like the happiest dude on earth that week, playing to those big crowds every night, seeing two of the most influential bands that have ever been on stage, singing a song with Slayer in Melbourne, it was just a fairytale really. We are lucky to have these memories.

Metal Obsession: Excluding Megadeth and Slayer, what’s the best Australian band and best international band you’ve toured or played shows with?

Liggy: The Haunted for sure. We all love that band, they are a huge influence on us, and yeah it was really cool to play around the country with them. And Chimaira, and Soilwork. We have supported a heap of international bands, but those guys stand out the most because they were just really down to earth guys who didn’t take themselves too seriously and really nice people to get to know, we still stay in contact with those guys, really good blokes. As for Aussie bands, man there are so many to name, so let’s just say all the Australian metal bands are fucking awesome, fuck man we’ve played with a shitload of them over the years so in danger or forgetting someone I’ll just say TRUTH CORRODED, those dudes are our bro’s and we will tour with them anytime. 

Metal Obsession: If you got to take one girl from any band out on a date, who would it be, and where would you take her?

Liggy: Are you trying to get me killed!???!!! Hahaha. I’ll answer though, but if my misses kicks my arse, you owe me a beer. Well… wellll…… I would have to go on a date with Beyonce, and have a chat and a coffee, hmm we could go to a dance studio and she can teach me some moves… and that’s IT! I SWEAR BABE! 🙂

Metal Obsession: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Liggy: Just thanks for taking the time to talk to Double Dragon, it means the world for us to be able to talk shop on such an awesome website, what you guys do for the Australian Metal Community is beyond awesome and it makes me happy to see the site grow and grow. Thanks guys, us bands owe you many beers, and on behalf of them all, thanks. Oh and download our album www.sonsofasena.com!!! 🙂