...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Secret Macines, Ume

In Wake Of Guitarist's Departure, The Secret Machines Return To Roots

The Secret Machines have been through a lot in the past two years. Although their first two albums received favorable reviews, disappointing sales cost them their major-label backing. Also came the news that founding member Benjamin Curtis was leaving the band to focus on his School of Seven Bells side project.

The resulting self-released, self-titled effort was a sonically thumping album that saw the band reverting back to the Zeppelin-esque classical style of their debut album while retaining the spacey psych-rock essence they are known for. Former Tripping Daisy guitarist Phil Karnats, who had played with remaining members Brandon Curtis and Josh Garza back in their Dallas days, was a natural fit as Ben's permanent replacement. Expect the set list to alternate between pounding arena-rock anthems and 10-minute-long droning psychedelic jams.

Austin art-rockers ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, who co-headline this Granada bill, have been through a similar set of circumstances. After receiving critical praise early on, they too were eventually dropped from their label (Interscope Records), lost a founding member and re-emerged with a visceral self-released album. Expect their set to include beautifully noisy fist-pumpers, dual drumming, plenty of instrument switching and their patented reckless abandon.