When …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2020 with the release of X: The Godless Void And Other Stories, they certainly weren’t planning on creating a follow-up quite so soon. Two years on, multi-instrumentalist Conrad Keely tells Prog how XI: Bleed Here Now was inspired by a certain Canadian band and why they decided to embark on their very own journey into quadraphonic sound.

Words: James McNair Images: Dave Creaney

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of our quadrophonic sound!

T “Itwas fun to set up an archery range outside the barn where we were recording,” he says down the line from his home in Austin, Texas. “It’s a very meditative thing that requires calmness and a careful breath response; great things to access when you’ve just been stressing over a take. I’d go outside, take aim, and loose the arrow. There are all sorts of metaphors that can go along with that, of course.”

he links between music and archery are not often discussed. Intriguing, then, that Conrad Keely believes his band’s current album, XI: Bleed Here Now, benefited from him accessing his inner Robin Hood.

Today he’s chipper as he reveals …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead have just been filming a promo video for Millennium Actress, a Bleed Here Now song that seems to count the cost of fame. “Later today we’ll rehearse for a couple of hours and last night we worked on our three-part harmonies,” he adds.

“Indifference is the ultimate evil; the most dangerous thing. We have to get people to care again.”

Both Keely and fellow multi-instrumentalist/ToD co-founder Jason Reece have turned 50 since making 2020’s X: The Godless Void And Other Stories, but Keely says there was “no big drama” and they still feel like 20-year-olds.