Kill Switch...Klick: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|American rock band}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2010}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Kill Switch...Klick

| image = KSK93-06.jpg

| alt = Kill Switch...Klick promo shot from 1993 (L to R, D.A. Sebasstian, Victoria Knight & Mike Ditmore).

| caption = Kill Switch...Klick promo shot from, 1993 (Lfrom left to Rright, D.A. Sebasstian, Victoria Knight &, Mike Ditmore).

| background = group_or_band

| alias =

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===Sobriety and inspiration (1991 - 1993)===

Sebasstian came up with the band name while working at [[Microsoft]] as a landscape grunt.<ref name="indus_nation_8">{{cite journal |last1=Dankin |first1=Alexander |editor1-last=Valerio |editor1-first=Paul |title=KsK: Grunge Sucks |journal=[[Industrialnation]] |date=Summer 1994 |volume=1 |issue=9 |page=44 |___location=Iowa City, IA |issn=1062-449X |publisher=Moon Mystique}}</ref> As the story goes, the mower he was using started to sputter and cough- so he thought aloud "Better hit the Kill Switch." Says Sebasstian:

{{cquote|As I reached down to shut the mower off, it was as if a light went off in my head. I had been looking for a band name for months and nothing seemed to fit the aggressive electronic direction my music was taking. The words "Kill Switch" kept rolling around in my head all afternoon. This was at the same time [[Jeffrey Dahmer]] was all over the news for his cannibalistic antics. A random thought of Dahmer with a switch on the side of his head marked "Kill" came to me. I thought what if Dahmer had a Kill Switch that went "Klick" and he instantly changed into the strange creature he eventually became. Klick was an after thought, so I have always written the name with the ellipses.}}

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Kill Switch...Klick's sound was very different at that time from a Seattle music scene steeped in the then current [[grunge]] sound. Sebasstian's main musical influences were from late 1970s and early 1980s bands like [[Killing Joke]], [[Public Image Ltd.]], [[Cabaret Voltaire (band)|Cabaret Voltaire]] and [[SPK (band)|SPK]]. Sebasstian produced a Kill Switch...Klick demo tape recorded solo in his studio apartment on a four track tape deck. The cassette demo received airplay on Seattle's newly reformatted [[KNDD]] 107.7-FM. The End, as KNDD was now called, embraced local artists like college radio stations of the day. The End, as well as the University Of Washington's radio station [[KEXP-FM|KCMU]], would both play key roles in Kill Switch...Klick becoming one of the Northwest's best known electronica acts.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}

Encouraged by the attention and airplay of the KsK demo recording, Sebasstian began the task of putting together a live band to bring these recordings onto the stages of Seattle. He found drummer Mike Ditmore from an addad in ''[[The Rocket (newspapermusic magazine)|The Rocket]]'', a once popular Seattle musicians resource and classified monthly. They were soon joined by Avette Avery on keyboards and backing vocals. Their first show was an art gallery opening at the Art/Not Terminal. As luck would have it, ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' was at the event doing a feature article on the gallery and thus the band's very first gig garnished them a bit of local publicity. The band decided rather than re-recording their demo they would concentrate on making a music video. Enlisting the help of Ditmore's long time friend, director Sylvia Szabo, KsK made their first music video for the song "Follow Me". Shot entirely on ___location in 16&nbsp;mm black & white film, this highly controversial and artistic video made the rounds on the international gothic-industrial club circuits and was even banned for commercial airplay in Canada due to its "adult graphic content." Soon after the videos release, Avery left the band. The core of Kill Switch...Klick remained Sebasstian and Ditmore for nearly five years after.

The next year Sebasstian got a phone call from Chris Massey and Robert Riscassi of the Seattle [[grindcore]] band And Christ Wept. They were looking for other like-minded bands to play area shows with. Riscassi mentioned another Seattle band who might be interested in gigging called [[Noise Box]]. Sebasstian immediately called 'Dre of said band and after a few minutes on the phone they all decided to have a meeting at the Puss Puss Cafe in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. This meeting became the foundation for the N.E.C. or [[Northwest Elektro-Industrial Coalition]]. Over 30 musicians showed up in 10 different projects. These included Kill Switch...Klick, [[Noise Box]], And Christ Wept, [[SMP (band)|SMP]], [[Terminal (American band)|Terminal]], The Same, [[Sex WIth Sarah]] and many others. The purpose of the N.E.C. and its monthly meetings was to help promote electronic music in the Northwest by giving similar influenced artists a network of bands to play shows with. This was right in the middle of the Grunge explosion and electronic music was still not very popular in the Seattle area. The N.E.C. was a huge success with national articles written in ''[[Keyboard Magazine]]'', ''[[Industrialnation]]'' and ''Axcess'' magazines as well as regular club showcases of N.E.C. bands at well-known clubs like The Weathered Wall and Coulorbox.<ref>{{Citation

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===Formation and ''deGenerate'' (1993 - 1998)===

KsK originally signed with [[Urge Ltd]] in 1993, a label founded by Russell Ziecker (former bandmate of [[Charlie Sexton]] and before starting Urge working at [[Virgin Records]] Publishing). This relationship did not produce anything more than demo tapes and a rumored track "Big Dub" in the movie ''Headless Body Topless Bar''. The duo then signed to [[Cleopatra Records]] in 1994. The following year the band released the albumsalbum ''Beat it to Fit, Paint it to Match'', a compilation of demos and remixes titled ''Oddities & Versions'',<ref name="indus_nation_12">{{cite journal |author=KYron |editor1-last=Valerio |editor1-first=Paul |title=Kill Switch... Klick - Oddities and Versions (Cleopatra) |journal=[[Industrialnation]] |date=Spring 1996 |volume=1 |issue=12 |pages=67–68 |___location=Iowa City, IA |issn=1062-449X |publisher=Moon Mystique}}</ref> and went on their first US tour with bassist Paul Wynia. The tour was entitled "Muzak for the Masses", and also included grindcore artists And Christ Wept. This tour was a success for the band and added to their growing fan base. When Sebasstian returned from tour he released his first solo CD on his own imprint INDVSTA MVSIC. The disc was entitled One Minute Endless and showcased a more classical and experimental side to Sebasstians song writing. Each disc was signed and numbered and encased in pieces of orange plastic fence material held together with electrical zip ties. The title track was a twenty-minute ambient piece that used vague movie samples and textures washed together in a stream of reverbs and delays. Said Jester in ''Sonic Boom'' Magazine, "This album is the solo work of Sebasstian the lead vocalist from Kill Switch... Klick. The CD itself arrives in a nifty package consisting of two pieces of orange barrier fence twist tied together and the CD itself is individually signed, hand numbered and inserted into a liner sleeve. The music is quite unlike anything that D.A. has written for KsK and borders more on classical piano in some places rather than the traditional grinding electronic industrial that you might expect. Overall the music is much mellower, more emotional and deeply personal compared to other material Sebasstian has been responsible for writing. D.A. utilizes an inordinately large amount of keyboard work on this album. The keyboards ranges from classical piano to other classical keyboard instruments as well as various wacky samples." In 1996 the KsK began work on its second music video for the single "Produkt (Mass Market Mix)". They hired director Brent Watanabe to animate and direct this lo-fi animated homage to "consumerist corporate America". Sebasstian had worked with Watanabe on several short film project previously as both actor and sound designer. In 1997 Kill Switch...Klick added former [[Transilvia]] bassist Jeremy Moss, releasing the highly acclaimed album ''deGenerate'' released on Cleopatra. Said ''The Stranger'', "deGenerate is not a great album in a local or industrial sense. It's a great album period!" Later that year, and right before their second US tour, Ditmore quit the band to pursue a career with American aviation giant [[Boeing]]. KsK's 1997 tour was financially devastating to Sebasstian, when their tour van blew up just before their very first gig in [[San Francisco]]. Determined to finish the tour across the United States, Sebasstian borrowed additional money from Cleopatra Records, with the promise of a quick "no recording cost" release when the band returned from tour. This album was ''ALT.'' a b-sides and alternative versions CD that actually garnished decent reviews and in fact paid back the borrowed tour money to Cleopatra Records.

===''Organica'' (1998 - 2001)===

In 1998 Sebasstian formed Irregular Records (later [[Go-Kustom Rekords]]) and in 1999 released Kill Switch...Klick's most controversial album, ''Organica''. This album featured new songs and re-recorded versions of KsK classics using only acoustic sound sources. Said ''[[CMJ]]'' Magazine in Issue 67 "D.A. Sebasstian has taken to using only acoustic instruments, recorded in his studio and sampler- processed appropriately, to write new songs and recreate older KsK material. The convention-busting instrumentation makes Organica a surprisingly flirtatious, personality-driven album. Just listen to "5 Hotwheels In My Box," which rhythmically alters a sample of a child blurting "five" and juxtaposes the soundbite with the bleating of bagpipes. Organica is a testament to the ingenuity of Sebasstian as well as to the viability of acoustic instruments in making great dance records."<ref name="cmj-07-99">{{cite journal |last1=Botchick |first1=Cheryl |title=Reviews: Kill Switch... Klick: Organica |journal=CMJ New Music Report |date=19 July 1999 |volume=59 |issue=627 |pages=25–26 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/CMJ/1999/CMJ-1999-07-19.pdf |access-date=7 January 2022 |publisher=College Media, Inc. |___location=Great Neck, NY |issn=0890-0795}}</ref> Organica was later licensed and reissued by [[Invisible Records]].

===''Milkin' It For All It's Worth'' (2001 - 2005)===

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Midway through 2009, Portland, Oregon's DJ Prophetnoise remixed the ''Hot Rod Girls Save the World'' title theme in a dubstep-style single entitled "Hot Rod Girls Save the World Theme (Prophetnoise Dubstep Remix)". Sebasstian also made a special movie mix video to go with the song that is featured on the special features disc of the ''Hot Rod Girls Save the World'' (Kustom Edition) DVD, that was released in 2010. Sebasstian also premiered his second feature film ''[[Rat Rod Rockers!]]'' at the historic Everett Theater in [[Everett, Washington]], on November 13, 2010, to over 400 patrons. Although Sebasstian did the film's soundtrack himself, he did not credit it as KsK (like he did with ''Hot Rod Girls Save the World''), but rather as D.A. Sebasstian & The Inner Demons.

In 2011 Sebasstian began filming his first feature documentary, ''Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes a Ride'', a movie about the underground fabricators and builders building rat rods and gassers. Michael Ditmore, longtime KsK drummer, started a new Rock and Roll band called The Demolition Kings.

In 2020 Sebasstian formed Sci-Fi Republik, a Synth Pop style band with singer Jennifer Humphreys and singer/synthesist Goldi SinClair.

==Discography==

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* [http://www.aracnet.com/~jester/interview/ksk.interview.html Sonic Boom Interview 27 October 1995]

* [http://www.cleorecs.com Cleopatra Records]

* [http://www.go-kustom.com Go-Kustom Rekords] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010413213816/http://www.go-kustom.com/ |date=April 13, 2001 }}

==Sources==

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| first =Brian

| author-link =

| publication-date =

| year =1996

| title =Kill Switch... Klick - Oddities and Versions (Cleopatra)

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| doi =

| oclc =

| accessdate =

| ref = none

}}

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| date =

| year =

| title =(unknown)

| periodical =[[CyberPsychos AOD|Cyber-Psycho's A.O.D.]]

| publisher =[[Jasmine Sailing]]

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| first =Cheryl

| author-link =

| publication-date =

| date =19 July 1999

| title =KILL SWITCH...KLICK, Organica - Irregular Records

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| ___location =

| place =

| publisher =[[CMI Media]]

| volume =

| issue =627

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| date =17 May 1998

| title =Kill Switch...Klick, Beat it to Fit, Paint it to Match (Cleopatra CD)

| periodical =[[The Rocket (newspapermusic magazine)|The Rocket]]

| publisher =BAM Media

| issue =205

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* [http://www.go-kustom.com/kskpages.html Official KsK Homepage]

* [http://www.go-kustom.com/danews.html KsK & D.A. Sebasstian News]

* [http://www.go-kustom.com Go-Kustom Rekords & Films] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010413213816/http://www.go-kustom.com/ |date=April 13, 2001 }}

* [http://www.choppertown.com/brands/Go%252dKustom-Films.html Go-Kustom Films - Motorcycle Movies]

* [http://www.hotrodgirlssavetheworld.com Hot Rod Girls Save the World film site]