Why Murder By Death Is Calling It Quits After Denver Shows

With ten albums and 25 years on the road under its belt, six-piece indie rock band Murder By Death is ready to step back and take it easy. After releasing its final studio album, Egg & Dart, in June, a supporting 51-stop farewell tour across the United States marks the end of an era.

Meeting at Indiana University, frontman Adam Turla, cellist Sarah Balliet and their fellow college dorm mates started their music careers with a band named Little Joe Gould. The band was going to perform at a local bookstore when post-hardcore band Thursday had a show in town slated for the same day canceled; Thursday asked Turla if it could join his group at the bookstore.

Once Turla gave the green light, Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly was impressed by Little Joe Gould and introduced the members to Alex Saavedra, the owner of Eyeball Records, who expressed interest in the group. After much convincing and support from Thursday, Turla and the other members took the band seriously and self-released their eponymous EP in 2001.

"We started opening gigs that were bigger and bigger, getting out of town and opening some big shows in Chicago," Turla says. "We kept meeting people in the industry that were like 'You guys are doing something special' after we've been doing this for a couple of years."

Shortly after, the group changed its name to Murder By Death since the members believed it better represented their sound. As MBD toured with bands such as Volta Do Mar, its debut album, Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing, released in August 2002.

Balancing touring and releasing new music was a challenge, especially when doing more than 250 shows for two years straight. Former pianist and Turla's longtime friend,  Vincent Edwards, left MBD in 2004 to return to academia and is now an artist in Arkansas. Turla says that when members moved on from the band, it was "really hard" to find musicians that fit the MBD sound. "We didn't have a ton of options because we were living in such a small town and it's not like we were able to put out a casting call in [Bloomington]," Turla says, adding that Edwards's departure "was a total reformation, because at that point we were like, 'Okay, we're basically just a live band and we need somebody to show up and play these gigs.'"

Although Edwards later contributed to track "Ball & Chain" and performed with MBD at the Stanley Hotel in 2014 (which eventually became a yearly-residency), new members such as drummer Dagen Thogerson and multi-instrumentalist Scott Brackett joined the band and became permanent figures, including violinist Emma Tiemann. For eight years, MBD was a four-piece band until new members like David Fountain and Tyler Morse either replaced former members or brought a new instrument to the band.

For its sixth album, Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, MBD utilized Kickstarter to fund the project and raised over $180,000. Not only did the band continue to use Kickstarter for the rest of its projects, but Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon made it to the Billboard Hot 200 chart and song "Go to the Light" caught the attention of game developers Rockstar Games and Bungie.

But the band's final album hit all the right notes, becoming the third highest-grossing music related Kickstarter of all time. Egg & Dart touches on themes of sadness, loss and endings while marking the end of the band's journey.

"I wrote twenty songs for this album, which is more than I have ever finished for any other album," Turla says. "It was kind of wonderful to be like 'I don't fucking care, I'm doing it on my terms.' It doesn't really matter how the album does or is received because we're saying goodbye."

While writing the album, Turla says the experience was "freeing and challenging" — it wasn't just the creative liberty, but capturing the final moments of the band together.

In regard to the band's decision to retire, Turla notes that he not only writes the music, but helps with tour and travel logistics, which takes a toll on him and Balliet, his wife. Turla says that he didn't want MBD to break up like other bands have from "people running out of rope," which leads to an exhaustion that causes groups to "explode."

"The [band] that I have right now is such a wonderful group of people. I think we just really get how to tour together and hang out, which is ironic that it's also when we're calling it a day," Turla says. "I wanted to leave the touring life behind me while I was still was having fun with it."

As the band prepares for five shows in Colorado in the next two months, the two shows at the historic Gothic Theatre will sure be ones to remember. Titled "Murder By Death & Friends," musicians William Elliott Whitmore, Samantha Crain and Andy Wild will join MBD on August 21 and 22 for the special performances.

Since Colorado has given the band "a lot of support," Turla says the musicians will join forces and play music together as a collective. He notes that hearing classic MBD songs in "ways that aren't typical" will be exciting not just for the audience, but for the band as it reaches the end of this chapter.

"I feel very lucky that I've gotten to do this in my life, and that's why I want to stop the touring part now before it wears me down too much," Turla says. "I've enjoyed it so much that I want to keep really positive memories of this period of my life. So, thanks for the memories, its been an incredible run."

Murder By Death, 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, August 21-22, Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway. Tickets are $57.17.