Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
date of publication: 03-01-04
body text comes from this website: http://www.teenpeople.com/teenpeople/stars/tuned/0,8104,594152,00.html
author: Leslie Simon
MUSIC
Tuned In:
The name Murder By Death may be a little scary, but their music is anything but. Ok, so they write about zombies and the Devil. And, at times, the cello (yes, we said cello) is so haunting that it gives you the heebie-jeebies. On second thought, maybe Murder By Death is a little bit scary—but in a totally good way.
Inspired more by filmmakers than musicians, the members of Murder By Death -- guitarist/singer Adam Turla, bassist Matt Armstrong, keyboardist Vincent Edwards, cellist Sarah Balliet and drummer Alex Schrodt -- were first discovered in a bar in Bloomington, Indiana, by Thursday singer Geoff Rickly. So impressed by their unique sound (kinda like the mood and mystery of a killer horror movie soundtrack) and lyrics (kinda like the most captivating ghost story told around the campfire), Geoff even put in a good word with Eyeball Records, which eventually put out the band’s debut, Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing, and latest release, Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?
Murder By Death has opened for pop bands (Straylight Run), goth bands (Lacuna Coil) and hardcore bands (Poison The Well), seducing new fans at every show, ranging from big metal dudes with mullets to pop princesses sporting Juicy couture. “A big part of it is just being who you wanna be,” says Alex of the band’s crossover success. “We’ve been lucky in that we come from different places, musically and as people. When we came together, our music was different but we weren’t concerned with sounding like a certain genre. And we definitely don’t dress alike. It’s fun like that: You don’t have to look a certain way to be a certain way.”
While the boys of Poison The Well screamed their hearts out onstage at a tour stop in Cleveland, Ohio, we caught up with Murder By Death backstage to dish about where the band came from and where they’re going.
No strings attached
The boys of Murder By Death had already christened themselves a band, but it wasn’t until they met Sarah at a smokin’ soiree on the campus of Indiana University that they solidified their line-up. “I met these guys at a party,” remembers Sarah, “and they were talking about how they were in a band and they used to have string players but the string player’s teachers threatened them with expulsion if they kept on playing in a rock band. They said it ruined their technique. [The rest of the band] thought there was a missing link and I kind of stepped in...” Sarah adds with a mischievous giggle, “I am the missing link!”
Hey kids, what’s that sound?
Whether or not it’s between bites at Thanksgiving dinner or wiping off an aunt’s sloppy kiss at a family reunion, when the members of MBD tell people they’re in a band, the next logical question is “What do you sound like?” After all, grandparents aren’t always down with the lingo. “I always tell people it’s like rock ’n’ roll, but there’s some classical influence and it’s pretty dark,” says Sarah. “But then some people ask, ‘Oh, like Marilyn Manson?’” interrupts Adam. “I’ve gotten that a bunch of times. So I say it’s dark rock music but we have cello and piano so it’s not heavy. If they ask for a band, I’d say Johnny Cash meets Radiohead.” Adds Matt, “I think what made my parents understand [was me saying] if Johnny Cash made a horror movie about cowboys, [we’d be] the soundtrack.” Uh, okay.
Sometimes the best films have subtitles
The band is less inspired by musical trends and more by the moods found in film. A favorite director is Dario Argento, an Italian filmmaker who co-wrote the original version of Dawn Of The Dead, a cult-classic horror movie. (The film was actually just remade, starring Sarah Polley and Mekhi Phifer and opening in theaters March 19.) “That’s a mood our heavier, darker stuff definitely comes from,” explains Adam. "He’s been described as the Hitchcock of Italy.” Guess you better dial M for Murder.
The Devil made us do it
Filled with lush orchestrations and insane lyrical imagery, Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them? is a well-crafted story, from start to finish. “The Devil gets shot in a bar fight in Mexico and he vows to have revenge on the town where it happened,” explains Adam. “It’s about good versus evil and all these pathetic townspeople waiting to die. Some of the songs are from the perspective of them, some are from the perspective of people who want to fight the Devil, and some are from the Devil himself.” Listen closely, and you can even hear Thursday’s Geoff Rickly sing back-up on “Killbot 2000” and My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way donate some screams to “The Devil In Mexico.”
Power to the people
“Our first show was in the dorm at [Indiana University],” remembers Adam. “During our last song, the instrumental ‘Those Who Left,’ we blew the power out for t - Teen People.com
From Spin
date of publication: 03-01-04
body text comes from this website:
author: Jon Dolan
More New Music to Hear Now:
Murder by Death
'Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them?'(Eyeball)
This doom-country album about a frontier town overrun with demons was recorded by a bunch of Indiana indie rockers who dress like tent-revival preachers and sound like Thursday after watching 'Unforgiven' 20 times. Finally, freaky Christianity without the unwelcome Goth aftertaste.
- spin magazine
You can only break a heart so many ways. That's the problem facing today's glut of emo bands--open-tuned guitars, weepy lyrics, and fan sing-alongs won't separate you from the maudlin pack. To combat this musical malaise, a new crop of instrumentally ambitions groups has emevged, bringing a classical sensibility to teenage breakup anthems. Though non has (as of yet) adopted what has been scientifically determined to be the most emo of classical instrumnets-the oboe-the following instruments add an ineffable touch of class to songs that might otherwise wallow in the indignities of study hall.
INSTRUMENT: Piano
Practitioners: Something Corporate, Murder by Death, Straylight Run
Relevant Predecessors: Franz Liszt, Elton John, Schroeder from 'Peanuts'
Pros: Since your're alread wearing glasses, sitting and tickling the ivories makes you look even more bookish, wounded, and (sym)pathetic.
Cons: Vanessa Carlton
Cryability Rating: High. Something Corporate singer Andrew McMahon is so impassioned about saving sad-eyed coeds that he stands up while bashign the keys. Kinda like Jerry Lee Lewis, but with 13-year-old fnas instead of a 13-year-old wife.
INSTRUMENT: CELLO
Practitioners: Cursive, Murder by Death
Relevant Predecessors: The tortured son in Ingmar Bergman's 'Smiles of a Summer Night'
Pros: Rich, dramatic sound adds texture to songs about how sex is so very cunfusing.
Cons: Explaining the cello case to the bouncers at CBGB's
Cryability Rating: Medium-but it's the only way you're gonna get a girl into an emo band outside of feceral quotas.
- spin magazine
From ALTERNATIVE PRESS
date of publication: 02-01-04
body text comes from this website:
author: Leslie Simon
WHILE YOU WERE READING:
AP's Editors Pick of The Year's BEST MUSIC:
#1. Murder by Death: Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them? (Eyeball)
Perhaps one of the most beautifully crafted records, well, ever. Listen once, and you'll notice the instrumental and lyrical artistry. Listen twice, and you'll hear an eerie tale of the Devil terrorizing a small town. Listen three times and you'll make Murder by Death your new religion
- alternative press
date of publication: 02-01-04
body text comes from this website:
author:
OVERHEARD:
You have all issue to read what we thought of the past year-so we pulled some of AP's cover stars to find out what flicked their Bics in 2003. Here's what they had to say:
GEOFF RICKLY, THURSDAY
Favorite Song: Murder by Death, "Devil In Mexico" - alternative press
date of publication: 12-30-03
body text comes from this website:
author:
Once and a while you go to a show and are completely blown away by a band that you've never heard of before. Well, this is what happened tonight-and I know I wasn't the only one to be affected this way by Bloomington, IN's Murder by Death. The first thing I happened to notice when they were setting up was that there is a cute girl in the band who plays and electric cello...and who is this kid playing the keyboard? Well, they soon just blew away and most of the venue. Their new CD is called 'Who Will Survieve, And What Will Be Left Of Them?' It Is a story about revenge and the Devil wiping a small Western town off the map. They started off with the first song off the CD, "The Devil in Mexico", and right away I knew that they were different. They sounded like a full orchestra at times, with many different layers of sound. The Audience seemed surprised, as well, yelling things out like, "You guys rock!" They continued telling their tale with "Until moral improves the beatings will continue", and then with a song that singer Adam Turla introduced as "a song about Zombies" called "Killbot 2000". It starts off sounding a little like Steely Dan meets E.L.O. Next time they come through town, check out Murder by Death. In the meantime, go to their website at http://murderbydeath.com
- skratch magazine
Discography
Like the Exorcist but More Breakdancing
Released August 23, 2002
Eyeball Records
Split with Volta Do Mar
Released July 17, 2003
Arborvitae Records
Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?
Released October 14th, 2003
Eyeball Records
Matt Davis Tribute 7"
Released December 16th, 2003 (Matt's Birthday)
Self-released
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?" is not only thetitle of Murder By Death's latest effort on Eyeball Records it is also the question that will lead your journey through their sophomore release. This album depicts a brooding tale of survival in a small western town whose residents are plagued with demonic assaults. They begin to question their own mortality as the Devil wages war on their homeland.
Part horror movie climax, part western barroom brawl and a gloss of wintry distortion, "Who Will Survive..." is a well-delivered follow up to their debut, "Like the Exorcist, But More Breakdancing" (EB021). Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly brought the band to Alex Saavedra's (owner of Eyeball Records) attention after playing together in their hometown of Bloomington, IN. Both Saavedra and Rickly were enamored with the band, then called Little Joe Gould, and signed them immediately.
After a year of tumultuous touring as Little Joe Gould the band decided it was time for a moniker that better represented their foreboding sound. They appropriated Murder By Death from Robert Moore's 1976 murder mystery film by the same name. In their first three years as a band, Murder By Death has toured and shared the stage with such diverse artists as Thursday, Cursive, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Interpol and American Analog Set.
As the days get shorter and an eerie chill begins to whisper through the trees, Murder By Death unveils "Who Will Survive..." set to be released on October 14, 2003. "The album opens with an old fashioned sounding barroom piano piece that narrates the story," explains Murder By Death frontman, Adam Turla. "The Devil has been drinking and preaching the night away at a bar in town until a local shoots him in the back."
Throughout "Who Will Survive..." Alex Schrodt's percussions march you through the dark twists and turns of the town's fate. In the somber dirge of "Three Men Hanging," Matt Armstong's reassuring bass line wraps itself around your supple neck and thrusts you skyward. The album then takes a mischievous turn with "The Desert Is On Fire." Sarah Balliet's deceitfully optimistic cello take flight with Vincent Edwards' piano jaunts while Turla forewarns, "I'll leave a trail of fire across this desert just to see the desperation in your eyes."
The album comes to a close with the desperate finale "End of the Line" illustrating the final hours of our beloved little town. It shows the resilience and fortitude of the human spirit. They will fight until the last breath escapes from their frail lungs; there is still hope for them. The song closes with the war-torn and frantic threat of, "I'll be waiting for him this time. I am stronger now and I can fight it. I'll be waiting at the end of the line." This leaves one question left, who will survive, and what will be left of them?
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