...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead's Conrad Keely Indulges: Exclusive Interview

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead has been one of the most consistently innovative bands of the past decade, with no signs of slowing or compromising with the mainstream. Throughout their career the band has seen numerous personnel changes, but the core of the group has remained the same: Conrad Keely, Jason Reece, and Kevin Allen. Last year saw the band released their sixth album, The Century of Self, one of the strongest efforts of their career, as well as tour the entire country several times over. Anyone who witnessed the band live can attest to the strength of ...Trail of Dead, an incredible live force of sonic mayhem and shimmering layers of noise. Conrad Keely recently spoke with Exploding In Sound about all things ...Trail of Dead including being an independent band once again, future plans, criticism from the press, and more...


EIS: 2009 has been an extremely busy year for the band, touring relentlessly in support of The Century of Self. Are you happy to be home?

CK: Home is where I put my boots up after a long day on the ranch.

EIS: Any special moments from the tours?

CK: Every moment spent in the company of such esteemed colleagues for company as I have been blessed with is very special. Specially gay.

EIS: Are there plans to head out again in the New Year, or have you approached the time to look toward the next release?

CK: This is time set aside for composition and the plotting of new embarkation points from which to launch forthcoming musical misadventures. Winter provides the perfect atmosphere for doom and gloom music, as we’ve been referred to.

EIS: Are you and Jason constantly writing songs while on the road?

CK: I prefer to write in isolation, in the company of my two cats, and Armageddon Week on the History channel. Occasionally a song will be seeded on the road, but these are dangerous works that require careful censorship during audition.

EIS: After unreasonably harsh reviews of So Divided, The Century of Self seems to have critics back praising the band. Any thoughts on the general media’s indecisive nature towards your band?

CK: So Divided was one of those special albums that comes from a band that people expect something very specific from, and when their expectations aren’t met they become confused. Usually, in retrospect, these tend to become some of my favorite albums by bands, they represent artistic freedom. I personally am very proud of So Divided, it was, and still is, my big “fuck you” to the world.

EIS: Is it just the mainstream tendency to stray from anything exceedingly progressive?

CK: I believe that would be a textbook definition of “mainstream”. But I do not fault them. If everyone were progressive, where would that leave renegades such as we?

EIS: Is the title The Century of Self a play on the critics that called the band overly self indulgent?

CK: No. But if it were, I certainly don’t consider that a criticism. If you can’t indulge in yourself, how can you be expected to indulge in anybody else? I believe Caligula said that.

EIS: With a growing trend of bands performing their “classic” or current albums in their entirety, is this something you’ve ever considered doing?

CK: We’ve been asked, but I hope we aren’t forced into it for trend’s sake. I’ll do it if our fans tell me that’s what they want to hear. But I sincerely hope it won’t be for an album we’ve written in the past, since I believe we’ve yet to make our classic album.

EIS: You relocated to Brooklyn a few years ago now. Has the culture of Brooklyn and the east coast had any effect on your music?

CK: It’s refreshingly alienating.

EIS: While Brooklyn and Austin, TX are two of the most vibrant music scenes in the country, they are certainly very different. How would you compare the two and their roles / influence on your writing?

CK: I don’t consider the Brooklyn music scene a scene, really. It has the illusion of a scene, because there are a lot of bands coming out of here. But in my humble opinion, a scene is about bands interacting and playing together and supporting one another. That is certainly not the case in Brooklyn, or New York, or any current urban area I know, except maybe during a few weeks in the Spring and Summer when everyone’s in a good mood.

After having lived through the Olympia music scene of the late 80’s and the Austin scene in the ‘90s, I begin to have grave doubts whether our increasingly isolationist, computer-obsessed society is capable of sustaining “scenes” and “movements” in the way I grew to think of them, or learn about them. It’s really quite tragic, but then I’m just as guilty of being computer-obsessed. I’m using one right now, in fact.

Maybe it’s not as apparent in Austin because the spring and summers there last longer.



EIS: You and Jason have been making music together for over 15 years now, how has that relationship grown since the beginning? Do you guys generally share the same vision?

CK: Pretty much, with both Jason and Kevin. I mean, we diverge in our tastes, but have great mutual respect for our mutual digressions.

EIS: Before the release of the last record you left the major record label machine and formed your own Richter Scale Records. What has your experience been like so far running your own label?

CK: Oh, it runs itself! Haha. Not really.

EIS: Are you interested in signing other bands, or will it remain solely a vehicle for …Trail of Dead releases?

CK: I’d love to sign other bands. Economics render that difficult at the moment, but “I hope some day we soon will gaze on endless summer days.” That’s a lyric from one of my new songs.

Actually, the future I see is that every band will have its own labels, and the label name and band name will eventually fuse together in a great act of come-togetherness.

EIS: Now that you’re on an indie, you’ve been nominated for two Independent Music Awards. Do you get a sense of triumph from knowing the band’s success isn’t dependent on labels, but rather the high quality of your music?

CK: A sense of triumph is something I will reserve for the day we make a gold record!

EIS: One of the nominations is for “Best Packaging” thanks to your ball point pen illustrated cover and album layout. How long did it take you to draw those pictures?

CK: A couple years, and several trips to a chiropractor later.

EIS: Was the artwork inspired by the writing/recording of the album?

CK: No, more the other way around. That’s a difficult process to explain, but I would compare it to synesthesia, though psychologists might warn against applying that term too liberally.

EIS: Without a line-up change in several years, do you think this current formation is one that could become permanent?

CK: It would be nice to have stability, but we founded this band with the idea of malleability, so who knows. I keep telling them they should kick me out and find a good singer.

EIS: Songs such as “Isis Unveiled” and “Bells of Creation” sound as if built for the live show experience. Do you take that into mind when writing/recording?

CK: Absolutely. In fact, if it were up to me we’d record our basic tracks with a full audience there, but who’d pay to sit through that torture?

EIS: How often do you tweak the setlist?

CK: Every Tuesday.

EIS: Every time I’ve seen you I’ve been thrilled to hear nearly all of my favorite tracks, is that a conscious decision on your part, or do the fans just share the same favorites as the band?

CK: We have a pole office we use, out of DC, who take demographic surveys for us. They fax us the set list depending on where we’re playing. They’re called the Setlist Specialists.

EIS: Any chance the band will be releasing a live DVD in the near future?

CK: I’d like to, but Youtube fan videos appear to have a corner on that market right now.

EIS: Last year you played one of the “headlining” sets at your former hometown‘s SXSW festival to rave reviews. Do you have any intention of appearing at this year’s conference?

CK: That’s really up to our recording schedule. Usually I don’t like playing shows when we’re working on an album. Going from the quiet, meditative atmosphere of the studio to an angry crowd demanding to hear their favorite songs whilst brandishing pitchforks is a very aggressive transition. You might call it a “mind fuck”.

EIS: The Century of Self will be highly seeded in Exploding In Sound’s “top 10 album of the year,” what albums have had the biggest impact on you this year?

CK: I’ve really been getting into the new Beach House, it’s great… wait, that might not be released yet. Oops!

EIS: Are you happy with the state of rock music leading into the new century?

CK: If I were, I think I could stop making records. Rock music today is in utter shambles, it resembles the business end of a Liverpool shithouse on a weekend night.

EIS: What does 2010 hold in store for you and …Trail of Dead?

CK: According to Nostradamus, it will be a year of famine, flooding, earthquakes, and a possible comet collision, so I’m not sure.

I think we might try to book shows as close to disaster zones as possible, and go out with a meteoric fizzle of eschatological anticlimax along with our fellow drug-addled simians.

Or, we’ll make another record.