Murder By Death

Indiana-based Murder by Death first caught the attention of Thursday's Geoff Rickly while playing a gig together one night in their hometown of Bloomington, IN. Rickly promptly brought the band, then called Little Joe Gould, to the attention of his friend Alex Saavedra (Eyeball Records owner), and the group was signed immediately. The band was comprised of vocalist/guitarist Adam Turla, drummer Alex Schrodt, bassist Matt Armstrong, cellist Sarah Balliet, and pianist Vincent Edwards. They issued a… Show more 2001 self-titled EP as Little Joe Gould before the band eventually decided to change its name to Murder by Death, taken from the 1976 Robert Moore mystery of the same name. The bandmembers felt the new name better represented their ominous sound, which combined elements of artists like Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Johnny Cash, and the Decemberists.
Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?

Their first full-length, Like the Exorcist But More Breakdancing, was released on Eyeball in August 2002. Touring early on with bands like Cursive, Interpol, and the American Analog Set, the band did a summer 2003 split with Volta Do Mar before following up that fall with the well-received Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them? The record was something of a concept album based around the Devil waging war on a small Western town. A benefit 7" appeared at the year's end in memory of Ten Grand's Matt Davis, and the band continued to turn heads nationwide on tours with the likes of Lucero, the Weakerthans, William Elliott Whitmore, and Rasputina.

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