Trail of Dead at the Fox
It’s difficult to discuss And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead without discussing the centerpiece of their live shows: the destruction. They play harder, tighter, and louder than nearly any major-label band. The enormous 6-piece live band effortlessly shifts time signatures and tempos. Their twin-drummer assault is frequently breathtaking, especially considering how several players rotate between drums and guitars. But in the end, it’s all about the destruction.
Their recent show at Boulder’s Fox Theater showcased a more confident nuanced band than their performance last fall in Denver. The show opened with “Will You Smile Again for Me” (which Conrad Keely now claims was inspired by Brian Wilson’s struggle to complete Smile). The song opens with an odd-meter, twin-drum aural assault, that then gives way to a sparse middle section that slowly builds back to a reprise of the opening jam. It’s breathtaking music, and easily the strongest track on the new CD. The set continued with a varied set of songs from their entire catalog; loud and heavy with a touch of prog. And then there were the intermittent moments of destruction.
With all the internal contradictions and mixed messages surrounding the band, sometimes it’s difficult to know what is real and what is for show. Their concerts feature frequent noise experiments yet they publicly decry abstract (visual) art - see Conrad Keely’s notorious article in Filter magazine, “Abstract Art Is Sh*t”. They are signed by major label Interscope / A&M, but tirelessly scream out against the corporate music industry. Live, they are a raw DIY indie band, who requires four roadies to keep the show going with all the destruction occurring on the stage.
So it’s difficult to know if the agression in their live show is part of the act, or a series of very public tantrums. Jason Reece kicked over the entire drum set at least twice during Friday’s show at the Fox Theater in Boulder. But he was able to quickly turn off the aggression to apologize to the audience at least once for the technical difficulties with the show (a bass amp had to be replaced early in the show).
In the end, it’s probably a combination of factors. Conrad Keely’s interviews are notorious for spinning webs of fiction and contradictions. His band and his public persona are works of art: clever combinations of truth and fiction.