REVIEW: 31 years in the making: The Killmen Dazzle at No Fun
09/23 @ No Fun, Troy
Photos by Debi Gustafson
“With the first song down, the hype and excitement built up around their return was immediately validated.”
Being a part of the build up to the Dazzling Killmen playing their first notes to a live audience in 31 years has been a fun ride for me, but this is where it ends. Since you’re reading this, the show has happened and this concludes the Dazzling Killmen at No Fun trilogy. It is not lost on me however, that there were also two local bands opening the night, who dazzled in their own right, in Stroma and Sky Furrows. Join me as I take you back to the night of Tuesday, September 23rd at No Fun.
I showed up to No Fun, admittedly very early, like an hour before doors early. In this happy little accident, I was afforded the opportunity to get to chat with some folks, like Blake Fleming and Evan Jagels, and got to meet Nick Sakes and Ben Greenberg of Dazzling Killmen as well. There was a quiet confidence from them all, the kind of confidence that you see from musicians who have been there and done it. When I asked Blake if he was feeling nervous, excited, or both, it was quickly summed up with, “Oh, I'm excited.”
Waiting outside for the show to start, I got to meet some friends of Greenberg’s who had traveled from the City up the Hudson Valley, including New York Times music journalist, Hank Shtemer, who was actually part of Greenberg discovering the Killmen’s music and becoming a part of the newest iteration of the band. It felt like everyone was showing up for this monumental moment. I then turned and saw familiar faces: Nate Bowman and Jacob Griswold of Troy-based band, Drab Stucco. I had written up a review of their album release show back in June – it turns out I'd be reviewing one of their shows yet again, as they are also the formidable rhythm section of Stroma, the Troy-based power trio who kicked things off.
Having never heard Stroma play, excitement grew after talking with them about their sound, and there was not an ounce of disappointment as the massive yet comforting sound of their brand of shoegaze set a nice tone for the night. With catchy vocal and guitar lines saturated in reverb and delay, and a steady, but complimentary rhythm being held underneath by the bass and drums, Stroma had everyone bobbing along. Getting surprisingly heavy at times towards the end of their set, which was short as the opener, they left me wanting more; an itch I'll have to scratch sooner than later.
Next up was another local, Albany-based Sky Furrows. Not knowing what to expect, when they took the stage I was unsure of what I was about to witness. With spoken word over infectious songs, it felt like being transported back to the 60s or 70s. The poetry was sometimes abstruse and at other times biting, which kept me on my toes, while the band was tight playing big rock n’ roll style riffs that were driving things full steam ahead. One line in particular, which acted almost like a chorus of one of their songs and stuck out, was “Martha Stewart is a chaos agent!” Their final song was their heaviest and was a perfect segue into the headliners of the evening.
Dazzling Killmen took the stage and from the first note, you could tell this was going to be special. They came out swinging with the song “Agitator” off of their album Face of Collapse, which is as much of a technical display as it is one of brute force – the first lyrics being “one-punch, stupid machine.” With the first song down, the hype and excitement built up around their return was immediately validated. After the third song, “Bone Fragments,” (also from Face of Collapse) Fleming actually screamed towards the crowd from behind the kit an obscenity filled exclamation, because by that point, if there were any doubts left in his mind they were surely gone. The band was already absolutely ripping through some of their most technical songs in their catalog and the crowd was amped.
From there they played “Torture” off of their first album, Dig The Switch, which is a bit less technical allowing a portion of the crowd who felt moved to start a mosh pit towards the front of the stage. They moved back to more of their technical stuff off Face Of Collapse and while some still tried to mosh, those genre defining math rock elements proved to make it a bit more difficult – although there were still times for it. At the end of the day, the music was so captivating, no one seemed to mind just head banging along either.
At the end of the night, this show was a dream come true for lifelong fans as the band is officially back. It’s officially real. With the new guys in tow, the band didn’t skip a beat. Both Jagels and Greenberg looked extremely comfortable, Fleming is still an absolute monster on drums, and Sakes still brings his signature edge with the vocals. Their first live set of music in 31 years was one of the best sets of music I've seen this year and it's only just the beginning.
Make sure to check out Superdark Collective and the rest of the No Fun crew on instagram at @superdarkcollective and @nofunshows
