Dig Out The Switch
Skin Graft, 2025
When Skin Graft gave the Killmen’s landmark Face of Collapse album a deluxe remastered reissue treament in 2022, helping solidify this St. Louis musical anomoly’s legendary status, I not-so-secretly hoped that one day the same attention would be directed towards their scarce 1992 debut Dig Out The Switch. Well friends, I’m happy to say that day has come.
To consider the weight and impact of this album, it’s vital to understand that many were focused on the scuzzy sounds coming from the Pacific Northwest and what would eventually become “grunge”, which while excellent in some forms, was a essentially a retread of the Stooges and ’70s rock with a sprinkling of Black Flag, and was ultimately comfort music for aging punks. The string of singles the Dazzling Killmen were pumping out in the the early 1990s was so outside the narrow scope of indie hipsters and so challenging to the norms of punk, hardcore, noise or whatever underground music scenes that they were shoehorned into that they were too mysterious, too intense, and too hard to categorize. They simply didn’t fit neatly into any of the underground scenes of the time because they were ahead of their time. Often tagged with labels like “jazz punk” or “avant-garde hardcore”, their music wasn’t easy to place into any scene. Even now, poking around their releases on Discogs, the band gets a confusing mix of labels including “Jazz, Punk, Math Rock, Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock”, which pretty much indicates that they were up to something special.
Seeing them live in their heyday left it’s mark on those who were clued into their racket, including me, as evidenced by this spread from my ’90s print zine, and I’ve been spending the last 30 years preaching to all those who’d listen that the Dazzling Killmen were no joke. As their legend grew and Face of Collapse got the reissue and glowing praise from tastemakers, including an epic Decibel Hall of Fame entry, Dig Out the Switch continued to be overlooked, notably on account of its scarcity in physical form and an absense on streaming platforms. And despite the fact that Face of Collapse probably is the band’s high water mark, a band of this stature certainly deserves to have all of its recorded material lovingly reissued. Skin Graft has done us all a solid with this treatment of the record.
In addition to a remaster, this reissue adds expanded artwork and photos on a 6-panel digipak CD version or obi-strip wrapped LP, which give the nearly illegible chicken scratch lyrics and uninspired back cover of the original CD on the Intellectual Convulsion label (never have seen a vinyl original of this, so assuming it’s similar?) a welcome refresh worthy of Miles Rutlin’s iconic cover painting and Killman drawing.
While the odds-and-ends Recuerda collection contains many of the tracks from their earlier 7″ and cassette releases, Dig Out the Switch features a few essential tracks exclusive to this release, like the ripping “Reactor” and the roiling “Captain Is Dead”. This 2025 remastering brings a brightness and volume to the mix that the 1992 version of the CD lacked with its low level mastering that often required a few bumps on the volume knob when played on ye olde CD carousel. The jaw-dropping Killmen rhythm section of Darin Gray and Blake Fleming is heard in full effect here, along with all the throat-shredding detail of Nick Sakes’ roaring vocals and gnashing, tension-filled guitar work. The musicianship of this core trio on Dig Out The Switch, before adding a second guitarist is staggering and absolutely worthy of the landmark status and recognition it deserves.