Texas bands have the best names — from the 13th Floor Elevator to the Butthole Surfers to Austin’s I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness.
At the top of the list is … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, whose unwieldy name is usually abbreviated to Trail of Dead.
Formed by songwriters/lead vocalists Jason Reece and Conrad Keely in the mid 90s, the band released its first full-length album in 1998, coming in at the tail end of the ’90s indie-alternative wave.
But it wasn’t too late for them to snag a major label deal in the early 2000s and release three albums on Interscope, although their ambitious, often over-the-top music, which changed directions frequently, wouldn’t seem like it had commercial potential. Which it didn’t, actually.
Despite multiple personnel changes, the band’s two key members have soldiered on. Late last year, they released their eighth Trail of Dead studio album Lost Songs on a small German indie label.
The band returns to Cleveland to play the Grog Shop with UME and the Red Paintings opening. Tickets are $12 in advance, $14 day of show.
http://andyouwillknowusbythetrailofdead.bandpage.com/