Murder by Death is an American six-piece indie rock band from Bloomington, Indiana. Their name is derived from the 1976 Robert Moore film of the same name. Murder by Death released its first studio album (Like the Exorcist, but More Breakdancing) in 2002, and has since released eight more studio albums. The band's current lineup consists of two founding members, Adam Turla and Sarah Balliet. Balliet plays cello for the band, an instrument that has been present consistently throughout the band's evolution. Murder by Death's 2012 album Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon reached #76 on the Billboard 200, making it the band's most successful release. History Early years (2000–2002) Murder by Death was formed in 2000 in Bloomington, Indiana, by guitarist Adam Turla, cellist Sarah Balliet, percussionist Alexander Schrodt, keyboardist Vincent Edwards, and bassist Matt Armstrong. One of the group's first shows was at the Channing-Murray Foundation's cafe The Red Herring in Urbana, Illinois, with former American Football drummer Steve Lamos' solo project DMS. After the show, the head of the TEAM AV record label with which Lamos was working offered to help Turla and his bandmates secure additional shows. Around the same time the band met Thursday vocalist, Geoff Rickly, when the two bands played on the same bill at a gig in their hometown of Bloomington. Rickly introduced the band, known at the time as Little Joe Gould, to his friend Alex Saavedra (owner of Eyeball Records), who also took an interest in the band. In 2001 the band self-released the eponymous Little Joe Gould EP and early the next year contributed the song "I'm Afraid of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" to the TEAM AV compilation Foreign Nationals. A short time later the group changed their name to Murder By Death, which they felt better represented their sound. First works (2002–2006) While still performing under the name Little Joe Gould, the band headed out on an 11-date tour stretching from California to Louisiana with the Chicago-based band Volta Do Mar. On this tour the band honed the songs for their debut album, which was recorded in several Chicago studios with Tim Iseler, then a guitarist with the TEAM AV-affiliated band Re:Rec. Both the tour and the recording engineer were arranged by the TEAM AV label, and the resulting Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing was released on Eyeball in August 2002. The band extensively toured behind the album