The American band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead was formed in 1994 in Austin (Texas) by Jason Reece (singer, guitar) and his friend Conrad Keely (drummer). Later Kevin Allen (guitarist) and Neil Busch (bassist) completed the group's lineup.

The band's heavy music, with some experimental rock elements, was initially compared to the sound of bands like Sonic Youth and At the Drive-In. The track "Richter Scale Madness" was the highlight of their first album, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (1998). From the second album,Madonna (1999), released by the Merge label, the band began to be one of the most celebrated names in American independent rock.

In 2001, Trail of Dead performed in Brazil, playing in six cities: Rio de Janeiro, Goiânia, Curitiba, São Paulo, Caçapava and São Carlos.

After signing to Interscope Records, the band released in 2002 the excellent album Source Tags & Codes. Following came the EP The Secret of Elena's Tomb (2003), the albums Worlds Apart (2005) and So Divided (2006). Neil Busch left the band in 2004.

With the departure of Interscope Records, Trail of Dead created its own label, Richter Scale Records. In 2009, the band released the album The Century of Self, which had Tao of the Dead (2011) as its successor.

In 2012, the band recorded material for a new album in Hanover, Germany. Titled Lost Songs. This work was released in October of the same year. Their ninth studio album, IX, was released in November 2014. X: The Godless Void and Other Stories, the tenth, arrived in 2020. In 2022, Trail of Dead released XI: Bleed Here Now, a work recorded in quadraphonic sound and with guest appearances by Amanda Palmer and Britt Daniel (Spoon).