In on the Kill Taker
Encyclopedia
In on the Kill Taker is the third full-length studio album
by the American post-hardcore
band Fugazi
. It was released on June 30th, 1993 through Dischord Records
and was recorded at Inner Ear Studios
and produced by Ted Nicely
and Don Zientara
. In on the Kill Taker captured the aggressiveness of the band's earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences.
Due in part to the popularity of alternative rock
in the early 1990's, In on the Kill Taker became the group's first album to debut on the Billboard charts and subsequently became the band's breakthrough album.
with producer Steve Albini
at Chicago Recording Company
studios, with the intention of releasing a two or three song EP. However, the group ended up recording a whole albums worth of material, but were ultimately unhappy with their performances and re-recorded the entire album in Washington D.C. at Inner Ear Studios
with Don Zientara
and Ted Nicely
handling production duties. The original recordings from the Chicago sessions have since been bootlegged onto filesharing networks.
Despite the sessions in Chicago not entirely working out, it allowed the band to be well-prepared for what would become the albums proper recording sessions. According to singer/guitarist Guy Picciotto
“I think we really worked much harder on getting the songs together. We did a lot more pre-session demos, not just with Albini, but also using an 8-track reel-to-reel that we had bought to record our practices. It really changed the way we were able to work out the songs. It also helped us school ourselves a bit on how to engineer a basic recording.”
-style guitar parts, combined with heavy syncopated riffs. "23 Beats Off" features a noise rock
outro and the instrumental "Sweet and Low" showcases subdued guitar lines, melodic bass and jazz-influenced drumming.
Fugazi downplayed any conscious efforts to make Kill Taker more experimental or diverse. According to Piciotto “I don’t really think of any of the records as being any more experimental than any of the others, because to us they were all experiments,” he said. “We were just trying to figure stuff out and push ourselves further each time. So to my ear every record sounds like a step forward, or sideways, or at least somewhere else from the one before it.”
The album's lyrics frequently reference film, in particular the song "Cassavetes" which is a tribute to actor/filmmaker John Cassavetes
, as well as a critique of Hollywood culture. The song "Walken's Syndrome" references Woody Allen
's film Annie Hall
, where Christopher Walken
's character feels an urge to crash into on-coming traffic at night.
, with Rolling Stone writer Matt Diehl giving the album 5 out of 5 stars and claiming that Fugazi is "the only band that matters."
, a long-time friend and collaborator of the band, was responsible for the album's art design and packaging. Found pieces of text and photographs were used to make up the overall layout. The cover image, showing a burned-out gold Polaroid
of the Washington Monument
, was found by Cohen in the street. The inner sleeve was a piece a friend of the band found tacked to a light post in Chicago. The text on the cover side margin and back cover were also found on the ground in New York City
by Cohen and contained the phrase "...so I could have tried to put a stop to the hater, the adversary workers, iniquity evildoers. This is big because people in high places are in on the kill taker".
in September 1993, music mogul and Atlantic Records
president Ahmet Ertegün
met with the band backstage in an attempt to sign them. Ertegün offered the band "anything you want", their own subsidiary label and more than $10 million just to sign with Atlantic. Fugazi declined the offer. The organizers of Lollapalooza
also attempted to recruit the band for a headlining slot on its 1993 tour, which the band considered but ultimately turned down.
, Ian MacKaye
, Joe Lally
, and Brendan Canty
(Lead vocals in parentheses)
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the American post-hardcore
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...
band Fugazi
Fugazi (band)
Fugazi is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. The band's continual members are guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty....
. It was released on June 30th, 1993 through Dischord Records
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
and was recorded at Inner Ear Studios
Inner Ear Studios
Inner Ear Studios is a recording studio founded in Arlington, VA by musician and recording engineer Don Zientara. Hundreds of albums, including both independent and major label releases have been recorded at the studio. It has been in continuous operation for over 25 years.- See Also :Don Zientara...
and produced by Ted Nicely
Ted Nicely
Ted Nicely is an American record producer. He is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Girls Against Boys, Jawbox and Tripping Daisy among others.-Production credits:Select production/engineering/mixing credits include the following:...
and Don Zientara
Don Zientara
Don Zientara is an American record producer and musician. He owns and runs Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, located just outside of Washington D.C., and is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Minor Threat and various other Dischord Records artists.-Production...
. In on the Kill Taker captured the aggressiveness of the band's earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences.
Due in part to the popularity of alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
in the early 1990's, In on the Kill Taker became the group's first album to debut on the Billboard charts and subsequently became the band's breakthrough album.
Recording
The band had originally recorded demos for the album in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
with producer Steve Albini
Steve Albini
Steven Frank Albini is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac...
at Chicago Recording Company
Chicago Recording Company
Chicago Recording Company, or CRC, is a recording studio in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1975.Boasting twelve studios and a DVD authoring suite, CRC is the largest recording company in the midwest...
studios, with the intention of releasing a two or three song EP. However, the group ended up recording a whole albums worth of material, but were ultimately unhappy with their performances and re-recorded the entire album in Washington D.C. at Inner Ear Studios
Inner Ear Studios
Inner Ear Studios is a recording studio founded in Arlington, VA by musician and recording engineer Don Zientara. Hundreds of albums, including both independent and major label releases have been recorded at the studio. It has been in continuous operation for over 25 years.- See Also :Don Zientara...
with Don Zientara
Don Zientara
Don Zientara is an American record producer and musician. He owns and runs Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, located just outside of Washington D.C., and is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Minor Threat and various other Dischord Records artists.-Production...
and Ted Nicely
Ted Nicely
Ted Nicely is an American record producer. He is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Girls Against Boys, Jawbox and Tripping Daisy among others.-Production credits:Select production/engineering/mixing credits include the following:...
handling production duties. The original recordings from the Chicago sessions have since been bootlegged onto filesharing networks.
Despite the sessions in Chicago not entirely working out, it allowed the band to be well-prepared for what would become the albums proper recording sessions. According to singer/guitarist Guy Picciotto
Guy Picciotto
Guy Picciotto is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC.He is most widely known for his role as the guitarist and vocalist of Fugazi, as well as Rites of Spring.-Rites of Spring & Early Projects:...
“I think we really worked much harder on getting the songs together. We did a lot more pre-session demos, not just with Albini, but also using an 8-track reel-to-reel that we had bought to record our practices. It really changed the way we were able to work out the songs. It also helped us school ourselves a bit on how to engineer a basic recording.”
Music and Lyrics
The material on In on the Kill Taker retained the bands aggressive and rhythmic style, but displayed more diversity as well. This is evident in songs like "Smallpox Champion" which features surfSurf
Surf is the wave activity in the area between the shoreline and outer limit of breakers. It may refer to a breaking wave in shallow water, upon the shore, or in the area in which waves breakSurf also may refer to:Commercial products...
-style guitar parts, combined with heavy syncopated riffs. "23 Beats Off" features a noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
outro and the instrumental "Sweet and Low" showcases subdued guitar lines, melodic bass and jazz-influenced drumming.
Fugazi downplayed any conscious efforts to make Kill Taker more experimental or diverse. According to Piciotto “I don’t really think of any of the records as being any more experimental than any of the others, because to us they were all experiments,” he said. “We were just trying to figure stuff out and push ourselves further each time. So to my ear every record sounds like a step forward, or sideways, or at least somewhere else from the one before it.”
The album's lyrics frequently reference film, in particular the song "Cassavetes" which is a tribute to actor/filmmaker John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
, as well as a critique of Hollywood culture. The song "Walken's Syndrome" references Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's film Annie Hall
Annie Hall
Annie Hall is a 1977 American romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay co-written with Marshall Brickman and co-starring Diane Keaton. One of Allen's most popular and most honored films, it won four Academy Awards including Best Picture...
, where Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
's character feels an urge to crash into on-coming traffic at night.
Release and Reception
In on the Kill Taker was released to both critical and commercial success. The album became the group's first to enter the Billboard album charts and sold 180,000 copies during its first week of release. It has gone on to sell more than 2 million copies worldwide. The record also garnered rave reviews from many publications including Spin, TIME magazine and Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, with Rolling Stone writer Matt Diehl giving the album 5 out of 5 stars and claiming that Fugazi is "the only band that matters."
Packaging
Filmmaker Jem CohenJem Cohen
Jem Alan Cohen is an award-winning New York City-based filmmaker known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats and collaborations with music artists. He is the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award and many first place awards for feature filmmaking...
, a long-time friend and collaborator of the band, was responsible for the album's art design and packaging. Found pieces of text and photographs were used to make up the overall layout. The cover image, showing a burned-out gold Polaroid
Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
of the Washington Monument
Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington...
, was found by Cohen in the street. The inner sleeve was a piece a friend of the band found tacked to a light post in Chicago. The text on the cover side margin and back cover were also found on the ground in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
by Cohen and contained the phrase "...so I could have tried to put a stop to the hater, the adversary workers, iniquity evildoers. This is big because people in high places are in on the kill taker".
Tour
By the time the In on the Kill Taker tour was underway, the group began to sell-out large auditoriums and arenas, as well as receive more lucrative major label offers. During the bands sold-out 3-night stint at New York City's Roseland BallroomRoseland Ballroom
The Roseland Ballroom is a multi-purpose hall, in a converted ice skating rink, with a colorful ballroom dancing pedigree, in New York City's theatre district, on West 52nd Street....
in September 1993, music mogul and Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
president Ahmet Ertegün
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
met with the band backstage in an attempt to sign them. Ertegün offered the band "anything you want", their own subsidiary label and more than $10 million just to sign with Atlantic. Fugazi declined the offer. The organizers of Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
also attempted to recruit the band for a headlining slot on its 1993 tour, which the band considered but ultimately turned down.
Track listing
All songs by Guy PicciottoGuy Picciotto
Guy Picciotto is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC.He is most widely known for his role as the guitarist and vocalist of Fugazi, as well as Rites of Spring.-Rites of Spring & Early Projects:...
, Ian MacKaye
Ian MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
, Joe Lally
Joe Lally
Joe Lally is a bass guitar player, vocalist and label owner, best known for his work with Fugazi.-Fugazi:...
, and Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi....
(Lead vocals in parentheses)
- "Facet Squared" – 2:42 (MacKaye)
- "Public Witness Program" – 2:04 (Picciotto)
- "Returning the Screw" – 3:13 (MacKaye)
- "Smallpox Champion" – 4:01 (Picciotto)
- "Rend It" – 3:48 (Picciotto)
- "23 Beats Off" – 6:41 (MacKaye)
- "Sweet and Low" – 3:36
- "Cassavetes" – 2:30 (Picciotto)
- "Great Cop" – 1:52 (MacKaye)
- "Walken's Syndrome" – 3:18 (Picciotto)
- "Instrument" – 3:43 (MacKaye)
- "Last Chance for a Slow Dance" – 4:38 (Picciotto)
Personnel
- Ted NicelyTed NicelyTed Nicely is an American record producer. He is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Girls Against Boys, Jawbox and Tripping Daisy among others.-Production credits:Select production/engineering/mixing credits include the following:...
and Fugazi – production - Don ZientaraDon ZientaraDon Zientara is an American record producer and musician. He owns and runs Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, located just outside of Washington D.C., and is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Minor Threat and various other Dischord Records artists.-Production...
– engineering - Chad Clark – 2004 remastering
- Jem CohenJem CohenJem Alan Cohen is an award-winning New York City-based filmmaker known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats and collaborations with music artists. He is the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award and many first place awards for feature filmmaking...
– graphic concept, assemblage - Jason FarrellJason FarrellJason Farrell is a former U.S. soccer midfielder who spent four seasons in Major League Soccer, two in the American Professional Soccer League, one in the A-League, three in the National Professional Soccer League and four in the USL First Division...
– cover mechanic - Cynthia ConnollyCynthia ConnollyCynthia Connolly is an American photographer, graphic designer, and artist. She graduated from Corcoran College of Art and Design and worked for Dischord Records and d.c. space. In 1988 she published Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes From the DC Punk Underground through her small press Sun Dog...
– carry out photo - The Spectra System – band photo
- Jem Cohen, Jeremy Blake – texts
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Billboard 200 | 153 |