An old West saloon, an ominous haunted house, and an opulent orchestra: these places and more are the inspiration for the indie-folk rock band Murder By Death. The band includes college buddies Adam Turla, vocals, guitar; Sarah Balliet, cello, keys; Dagan Thogerson, percussion, and Matt Armstrong, bass. Tonight, the band will be coming to Baker Theater for ACRN’s Lobsterfest. The Post’s Kelly Kettering spoke with Armstrong about the band’s start and its inspirations.
The Post: How did the band originate?
Matt Armstrong: We all went to Indiana University together. The band started right out of college. We all thought, why not play together? We all met through friends of friends at parties and stuff.
Post: What was it like to be discovered by Geoff Rickly, vocalist of Thursday?
Armstrong: Geoff went to some of our early shows and met up with us afterwards. Once Thursday became big, he was able to help us get out there more, and he hooked us up with Eyeball Records.
Post: How was working with Eyeball Records?
Armstrong: Well, Geoff called Alex from Eyeball and set that up for us, they were very helpful and supportive.
Post[/b]: Why do you self-release albums now?
Armstrong: We just wanted to try something else; we didn’t have a bad break from Eyeball or anything. (The music industry) is such a weird business, and there are so many ways to put out a record. We are just trying to find the best way for us, it’s quite an educational experience to release your own records.
Post[/b]: Your old band name is Little Joe Gould; why did you switch to Murder By Death?
Armstrong: We thought that the new name would work better. People thought we were a one-man blues act with the old name. We wanted to change it to something dark and stupid.
Post: How is it that as a band from Indiana, you have such a diverse group of intellectual influences, like the Italian In Bocca al Lupo?
Armstrong: It comes from being a serious reader, and we all like to watch a lot of movies.
Post: What is it like to tour with such a diverse group of bands from such different genres such as Lucero and Against Me!?
Armstrong: It has been very cool to tour with different bands with different crowds. If you’re just a metal band, for example, you just play with other metal acts. You don’t learn as much as we do, or have the opportunity to gain such a unique fan base.
Post: How do you decide to come up with albums with such a detailed narrative, like your record Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them?
Armstrong: We just realized we liked it and it kind of made the writing easier. The first album we created was just an album to do an album. The concept album was something nice and creative to work with.
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