...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is an indie rock band best known for their heavy-yet-anthemic music and their tendency to destroy their equipment at the end of their performances (a rock and roll tradition usually associated with The Who). According to the band's website, the name "...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead" is taken from an ancient Mayan ritual chant. The chief creative element of the band consists of Jason Reece and Conrad Keely. The two switch between drumming and lead vocals and guitar, both on their records and during their shows. (On some songs, bass player Neil Busch sings lead vocals).
Keely and Reece have been friends since their youth, meeting originally in Hawaii. They each formed their first band in 1993 soon after moving to Olympia, Washington. Keely started a band called Benedict Gehlen that only lasted a year. Nancyville was Keely's next project, though it also was short lived. Reece started with Honeybucket (the band, not the toilet) and then formed Mukilteo Fairies while living in Olympia. Dissatisfied with the northwest, the two ventured south to Austin, Texas and started playing as a duo under the moniker, "You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead". The band expanded to include guitarist Kevin Allen and bassist Neil Busch. They then officially changed their name to "...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead" (adding the conjunction and then the ellipsis for effect).
By 1998 they had issued their first release (a live cassette on local Golden Hour Records), a self-titled full-length on Trance Syndicate.
Trail of Dead moved on to Merge after the Trance label went defunct. The band released Madonna on Merge in the fall of 1999.
"Madonna" became a moderate success and garnered the band major-label interest. The band signed to Interscope Records after Jimmy Iovine, president of Interscope, read about them in a magazine. They quickly released the Relative Ways EP in 2001.
In early 2002, Trail of Dead released Source Tags & Codes to immediate critical acclaim, and made numerous critics' year-end top 10 lists.
A follow-up EP to Source Tags & Codes was released in April of 2003, titled The Secret of Elena's Tomb. The EP took some by surprise for some of its more adventurous and experimental songs, namely the electronic track "Intelligence" which was pulled from Reece's side-project A Roman Scandal.
Trail of Dead released a new album Worlds Apart on January 25, 2005 on their new label Interscope Records. The release has however been postponed several times and was originally to be released in October 2004.
Taping, recording and trading
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead has the following taping and trading policy:
The band appreciates taping as long as they get a copy of the show. Board access is no problem as long as they are consulted before hand. Policy may be venue dependent though.
On July 19, 2004 ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead gave their OK for inclusion in the Internet Archive.
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