Dazzling Killmen was a math rock band from the St. Louis, Missouri area. Formed in 1990, the group issued four singles and two full-lengths before officially ending in 1995, with a majority of it released through the independent labelSkin Graft Records. Taking influence from hardcore punk and jazz music, the band has been noted by critics to have helped influence genres such as math rock and post-metal
Biography
The group, which formed in 1990, was composed of jazz students—drummer Blake Fleming, bassist Darin Gray, vocalist/guitarist Nick Sakes, and later on guitarist Tim Garrigan, who joined the group initially as a guest musician for the "Medicine Man" 7-inch single. Gray, Fleming, and Garrigan all previously performed in their school band in high school. The group has named bands such as Ultraman, Black Flag, Minutemen, Captain Beefheart, Big Black, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane influences for their personal sound. With their early singles and 1992 debut LP Dig Out the Switch, Dazzling Killmen caught the attention of the Chicago-based noise rock label Skin Graft Records, who proceeded to release the band's next few singles as well as their second and final full-length Face of Collapse. The group would later break up in the fall of 1995, immediately prior to a planned tour of Japan with Jim O'Rourke. Today, its members are better-known for their later projects - Nick Sakes has been in bands Colossamite, Sicbay, and xaddax. Darin Gray was in Brise-Glace, and has performed and recorded with Jim O'Rourke and with Glenn Kotche in On Fillmore. Blake Fleming was in Laddio Bolocko, The Mars Volta and Electric Turn to Me. Tim Garrigan, now based in Brooklyn, is a solo performer.
Legacy
Dazzling Killmen has been cited as an influence by musicians such as Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Jes Steineger of Coalesce, Mike Taylor of Pg. 99, KEN mode, Knut, and The Nation Blue. The group's music has been stated to of helped influence the development of multiple genres of music, with Brad Cohen writing for Clryvnt stating that the band "helped usher in myriad movements, including math rock, math metal and progcore, all the while defying classification." Robin Jahdi named Face of Collapse as one of the best post-metal albums ever released, also stating that Dazzling Killmen "were ostensibly noise rock" and that they had left behind a "fantastic – if largely unknown – legacy in the form of ." In 2013, Spin magazine named Blake Fleming as among the 100 best drummers in alternative music.
