Comprised of musicians from London's DIY music scenes comes Handcuff. The quartet's stylistic direction falls somewhere between the cracks of noisy indie rock, punk, and hardcore.
"After spending a lot of lockdown writing music, I decided I really wanted to play some shows, so sent the songs to Mazz who I'd half been in bands with for years," Handcuff guitarist and vocalist Duncan wrote No Echo. "I met Ayesha at an Osees show not long after that and sent her the demos. She knew Anna who she asked to play bass and the rest is (recent) history. Or we all met while extras in Pirates of the Caribbean, whatever you want to believe."
What is clear about Handcuff is they like to keep their songs quick and sweet, as Duncan explained. "Short garage punk songs with a dash of hardcore probably sums it up. Though we all have a healthy history of indie rock. The Hives, Sheer Mag, Mika Miko, Fucked Up, X, Ceremony, The B-52s, The Kinks, you get the idea!"
Handcuff recently dropped their debut, a single called "Holiday" that is packed with shimmery melodies despite its lo-fi production approach. "I think the first song we learned as a band. I'm also pretty sure it was the first I wrote for over lockdown.
"I seem to remember seeing an interview with The Hives around then where they mention a song only needs two riffs to rock, so here it is, my attempt at a two-riff song."
Duncan gave some insight on Handcuff's next moves: "We have a couple more singles before our EP comes out in April on the impeccable Church Road (shout out Justine and Sammy) and a bunch of shows around the South East before then, with a release show planned around the EP. We have another eight or so songs ready to record so hopefully some new music on the horizon."
On the subject of the local music community in London Handcuff is part of, Duncan said: "We all love Sniffany & The Nits, Matt from the band recorded the EP and he's an angel. GAMMA, aka the coolest punk bands in the country, Big Dummy are gonna take over the world and your hearts (in that order), Holiday Ghosts are the biggest band in the world.
"Special shout out to The Untitled Band Project for keeping things very weird in North London."
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"Holiday" is out across streaming outlets via Church Road Records.
Follow Handcuff on Instagram.
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