And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead is an American alternative rock band from Austin, Texas, that was formed in 1994.
==History==
Conrad Keely and Jason Reece each formed their first bands in Olympia, Washington. Keely, James Olsen, and Paul Westmoreland started a band in the early 1990's called various names until settling on Benedict Gehlen. Soon after, Keely became involved in a group called Nancyville, while Reece went on to play drums with Honeybucket and then Mukilteo Fairies. Eventually, Keely and Reece moved to Austin, Texas. The two started playing as a duo under the moniker "You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead." The band expanded eventually to include Kevin Allen and Neil Busch. They then officially lengthened their name to ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. https://dinealonerecords.com/artists/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/https://www.guitarworld.com/features/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead-i-look-for-beauty-in-music-its-probably-why-i-dont-listen-to-a-lot-of-rock-music
According to the band's website, their name is taken from an ancient Mayan ritual chant which showed a similarity to an ancient Egyptian chant. They have also stated that this is a joke. https://web.archive.org/web/20050930200939/http://trailofdead.com/why/
In 1995, Trail of Dead issued their first release, a song titled "Novena Without Faith" on a cassette-only compilation titled Austin Live Houses, followed by another self-titled four-song cassette on Golden Hour. In January 1998, they released a self-titled full-length on Trance Syndicate. http://www.goldenhourrecords.com/past-releases/
Trail of Dead soon joined Merge Records after the Trance Syndicate label folded. The band released Madonna on Merge in late 1999 and toured the U.S., opening for labelmates Superchunk to promote it. https://insideoutmusic.bandcamp.com/album/madonna They signed to Interscope Records and released the Relative Ways EP in 2001. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/180-relative-ways-ep/
In July 2004, it was announced that Neil Busch had been removed from the band and Danny Wood would be taking his place on bass. Doni Schroader also joined the band around this time. https://web.archive.org/web/20090215010931/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1492736/20041019/trail_of_dead.jhtml The band also added David Longoria to their touring lineup. Opening for part of this tour was Longoria's band The Black with the rest of TOD filling out the group. The band's fifth album, So Divided, was released on November 14, 2006. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9630-so-divided/ Clay Morris replaced Longoria as live keyboardist, and eventually became a full-time member. https://www.masqueradeatlanta.com/attraction/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/
In 2007, Trail of Dead once again toured Europe, this time with Aaron Ford replacing Doni Schroader. Danny Wood was absent from these performances, having quietly left the band. He would eventually be replaced by Jay Leo Phillips. The band provided the soundtrack to the 2007 film Hell on Wheels. https://web.archive.org/web/20090215011446/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/44565-trail-of-dead-announce-replacement-drummer In October, the band became independent after leaving Interscope Records due to a lack of support. https://web.archive.org/web/20090307020114/http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid2=844&fid1=28562&csid1=0
In early 2008, Trail of Dead went back into the studio without a record contract. Using their own capital, they filmed their recording experiences and released them on YouTube. https://web.archive.org/web/20080724015438/http://www.trailofdead.org/news/080225.php It was revealed that the band had stripped down to a core four-piece, and that Jay Phillips, Clay Morris and Kevin Allen had been removed from the lineup. Circumstances of these departures are still unknown. Aaron Ford recorded all of the drums for Tao of the Dead, but then left the band. The band performed live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on February 7, 2011, debuting Autry Fulbright II and Jamie Miller. https://www.ryansrockshow.com/news/trail-of-dead-to-play-jimmy-fallon-in-february
In 2022, the band released XI: Bleed Here Now which had quadraphonic mixing. After the band posted "Trail closed" on Instagram there were suspicions it might disband. The band still exists, although Keely stated that among various other issues, due to the hostile state of the music industry towards smaller bands, they could no longer afford to tour and that he had no desire to do it again. https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/trail-of-dead-tk/ 
==Discography==
===Albums===
*...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead (1998)
*Madonna (1999)
*Source Tags & Codes (2002)
*Worlds Apart (2005)
*So Divided (2006)
*The Century of Self (2009)
*Tao of the Dead (2011)
*Lost Songs (2012)
*IX (2014)
*X: The Godless Void and Other Stories (2020)
*XI: Bleed Here Now (2022)
===Live Albums===
*Live at Rockpalast 2009 (2014)
===Extended Plays===
*Relative Ways (2001)
*The Secret of Elena's Tomb (2003)
*Worlds Apart - EP (2004)
*Festival Thyme (2008)
*Tao of the Dead Part III (2013)
==References==
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