Post by DRL on Mar 19, 2004 20:26:27 GMT -5
Trail Of Dead Making New Album At Home
Rock quartet ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead has begun work on its fourth studio album at its own Mob House studio in its Austin, Texas, homebase, Billboard.com can exclusively reveal. The group is tentatively eyeing a fall release for the set, which will be the follow-up to its 2002 Interscope debut, "Source Tags & Codes."
That album bowed at No. 17 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and has sold 103,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The group has spent a month in the studio so far with longtime producer Mike McCarthy and is working on a track-by-track basis. One song previewed for Billboard.com -- tentatively titled "Will You Smile Again?" -- is a seven-minute epic in 5/4 time, bookended by the kind of rapturous rock riffing for which Trail Of Dead has become well-known.
"I think we're definitely trying to impress ourselves," group member Jason Reece tells Billboard.com during a late-night break from recording. "It is a goal of ours to make something that will stand the test of time. 'Source Tags' is a good record, but we want to top ourselves."
Whereas prior Trail Of Dead records featured songs that had been methodically rehearsed prior to being recorded, the as-yet-untitled new set finds the band working in new ways.
"We didn't really rehearse the songs over and over again to get them prepared," group member Conrad Kelly says. "We wanted to do this a little more organically and come in and build them in the studio. Doing it this way, you don't get the red light syndrome where time is money. We can stretch out and be a little more creative and try out as many ideas as we want."
Among the cuts currently in consideration are "Let It Dive," "The Five Penises in Dwarfland," "Mushroom Trip in Mexico" and "How the Best Will Fall."
"I definitely want to expand the instrumentation," Kelly says. "I've been getting into lots of different types of classical and ethnic instruments. But I've also been getting into a lot of electronic recording. Those two blend together in a really strange way. To be able to bring the past up and to use exactly what is current really makes you contemporary."
"We've previously utilized strings and percussion, even though they're minimally expressed," McCarthy adds. "This time, I think they will be part of the whole composition from the bottom up, instead of being the last thing we put on. All the parts and syncopation will be written around that. We bought some timpanis and other ethnic drums that will definitely be heard, and the band will be playing them themselves."
The only live date on Trail Of Dead's schedule at present is a May 1 appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. But group member Neil Busch says he and his bandmates are already itching to finish the record and return the road.
"We're playing Coachella, so we'll play several of these songs we're doing here," he says. "Right now, this is the priority. We've been home for a year and it's time to do this and go back out."
Rock quartet ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead has begun work on its fourth studio album at its own Mob House studio in its Austin, Texas, homebase, Billboard.com can exclusively reveal. The group is tentatively eyeing a fall release for the set, which will be the follow-up to its 2002 Interscope debut, "Source Tags & Codes."
That album bowed at No. 17 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and has sold 103,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The group has spent a month in the studio so far with longtime producer Mike McCarthy and is working on a track-by-track basis. One song previewed for Billboard.com -- tentatively titled "Will You Smile Again?" -- is a seven-minute epic in 5/4 time, bookended by the kind of rapturous rock riffing for which Trail Of Dead has become well-known.
"I think we're definitely trying to impress ourselves," group member Jason Reece tells Billboard.com during a late-night break from recording. "It is a goal of ours to make something that will stand the test of time. 'Source Tags' is a good record, but we want to top ourselves."
Whereas prior Trail Of Dead records featured songs that had been methodically rehearsed prior to being recorded, the as-yet-untitled new set finds the band working in new ways.
"We didn't really rehearse the songs over and over again to get them prepared," group member Conrad Kelly says. "We wanted to do this a little more organically and come in and build them in the studio. Doing it this way, you don't get the red light syndrome where time is money. We can stretch out and be a little more creative and try out as many ideas as we want."
Among the cuts currently in consideration are "Let It Dive," "The Five Penises in Dwarfland," "Mushroom Trip in Mexico" and "How the Best Will Fall."
"I definitely want to expand the instrumentation," Kelly says. "I've been getting into lots of different types of classical and ethnic instruments. But I've also been getting into a lot of electronic recording. Those two blend together in a really strange way. To be able to bring the past up and to use exactly what is current really makes you contemporary."
"We've previously utilized strings and percussion, even though they're minimally expressed," McCarthy adds. "This time, I think they will be part of the whole composition from the bottom up, instead of being the last thing we put on. All the parts and syncopation will be written around that. We bought some timpanis and other ethnic drums that will definitely be heard, and the band will be playing them themselves."
The only live date on Trail Of Dead's schedule at present is a May 1 appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. But group member Neil Busch says he and his bandmates are already itching to finish the record and return the road.
"We're playing Coachella, so we'll play several of these songs we're doing here," he says. "Right now, this is the priority. We've been home for a year and it's time to do this and go back out."