Trail of Dead Rock SPIN's New Office!

It Happened Last Night

Trail of Dead's Conrad Keely / Photo by Ben Shapiro
Trail of Dead's Conrad Keely / Photo by Ben Shapiro

In this economy, most workers would be stoked for a nice cheese plate upon arriving at a new office space. Not SPIN: We honored our just-opened digs in lower Manhattan Tuesday night with a party featuring a private performance from SPIN's talent search winners Rantings of Eva, up-and-coming songstress Lissy Trullie, and ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, who roused the neighbors with their ear-splitting volume.

Atlanta-based alt-rockers Rantings of Eva opened the party, pleasing the 250 assembled SPIN staff and friends with songs like the super-catchy "Fracture," while also showing how they won over judges like Peter Bjorn & John's Peter Moren and the Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer to beat nearly three thousand other contestants in SPIN's 2008 Hot Pursuit talent contest.

Conrad Keely

New York-based songstress/fashionista Lissy Trullie followed, stomping her heels and flopping her tawny, boyish haircut from side-to-side to the beat of her best song, "Self-Taught Learner." Newcastle beers held high by fans saluted the crunchy rhythm guitar on its anthemic chorus: "Ohh… I want to die with you / Are you lonely?"

But there was no amount of booze that could drown the sound of …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. The alt-rock six-piece, whose latest album received four stars from SPIN, pulverized with a seven-song set, including new tunes "Bells of Creation" and "Far Pavilions," which saw co-frontman Conrad Keely and Jason Reece trade spirited shouts over a wall of guitar and crashing drums. "You guys get enough to drink?" Keely asked before ripping into a set-closing rendition of the "You Will Smile Again." "I see case after case of beer back there!"

Welcome to SPIN's new office.

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