Show Details

Dazzling Killmen / Dead Rider / Big’n

Ticket Site: TicketWeb
Show Time: 10:00pm

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Empty Bottle — Chicago, IL

Address: 1035 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60622
Additional Info: Doors: 9PM / Show: 10PM / 21+30 years in the making! Dazzling Killmen Re-form! Dazzling Killmen were born of Nick Sakes late-20s crisis. Sakes thought If I want to start a band, I better do it soon. Nick bought a guitar and was only able to scrape away at the beginning. But as luck would have it, he managed to find the perfect complement in a pair of jazz students, bassist Darin Gray and drummer Blake Fleming. Within a few months of forming, the band wound up in the studio, punching out a 7 single of the tracks Numb and Bottom Feeder on Nicks own label Sawtooth records. Though done on a fairly low-cost basis, the single set the tone for what was to follow from the Killmen – an incredible amount of technical skill, sharp changes in time, combined with an all-out assault from the lyrics and an unschooled, but obviously impassioned Sakes on guitar.The Torture / Ghost Limb 7 followed, released on St. Louis Crime Life label. And then entered SKiN GRAFT Comix. Mark Fischer and Rob Syers were two kids also from the St. Louis area, St. Charles to be exact. Though hopelessly addicted to Mountain Dew- our generations cocaine- and mass media, the pair had long deviated from the path of their contemporaries. The catalyst? Punk Rock. Mark and Rob had been self-publishing comics since high-school. So blown away by Dazzling Killmen were the two, that Mark made an agreement to release a 7 and comic set by Dazzling Killmen. Lacking any experience in the record manufacturing department, the first Skin Graft Records release was actually a co-release between Skin Graft and the local St. Louis label, Sluggo. Sluggo, additionally chose to make the release a split band single and opted to have Minneapolis Mothers Day fill the other side. Shortly after the first 7 single was released, a french noise label, Intellectual Convulsion asked the band to record a full length. The band originally planned to have Butch Vig record the session that would become Dig Out The Switch, but he quickly removed himself from the list after hitting it big with the success of Nirvanas Nevermind. Second choice, Steve Albini turned out to be the right choice all along. In May of 1992, Dazzling Killmen made it to Albinis house, where he had masterfully designed a studio in the basement and a control room in the attic. Steves homey studio would later record the majority of Skin Grafts early full length releases, from Mount Shasta and Brise-Glace to Shorty and Melt-Banana.