ToD Begin Recording "So Divided" Epilogue in Austin
02/11/2008 -- by merlin

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Prolific freelance virtuosos ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead gathered together from across the country last week Monday in their historical home of Austin, Texas to begin recording the newest chapter in the band's wide-ranging decade-long catalog.

Despite its raw status, Trail of Dead's sixth studio album promises to mark a turning point in the band's career, being the first recording with their new-look line up, and, perhaps most importantly, the first away from their long-time benefactors, Interscope Records.  Regardless of these seeming instabilities, Trail of Dead co-frontman Conrad Keely feels the band will pick up right where they left off with 2006's "So Divided".  "To be perfectly honest, I don't look at this album as a follow-up so much as I do an epilogue," declared Keely.  "We never really finished the last one.  It didn't feel complete after we were done mastering.  It felt like a mystery novel that lacked a solution.  I think a lot of people, our fans, friends, critics, when they first heard it, felt the same way.  We're looking forward as if the last album was just the first side of this record, and the new album, when it's finished, will be side two.  Trust me, you'll understand what we were trying to do with the first one when you hear the conclusion."

Given their present label-free status, Trail of Dead find themselves in the unaccustomed situation of recording on their own terms without a pre-arranged timeframe.  "Do I think it will be a problem?" asked co-frontman Jason Reece.  "I don't think so.  Things are a lot more flexible now than they ever were before.  We don't have deadlines, we don't have a budget, everything is being done on our own time with our own money.  Of course we're setting goals for ourselves, but it's not as if they're all set in stone.  We're looking to the European tour at the start of May as our first goal.  Should we finish [the entire record] by then, fine, if we don't, we don't have anyone pushing us off the cliff before we've packed our parachute."

"I look at it this way," continued Reece.  "The White Album took, what, two weeks to record?  Three months for us should be no problem."

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