After Baxter broke up we would have sporadic, impromptu jam sessions in my basement for a year, with no real intention of starting anything.

Either way, the songs began to take shape and we realized we needed someone else to complete the chaos, so we enlisted Todd to shred with us, and all the pieces fell into place.

Todd is out of LA right now doing a bunch of graphic design stuff and Geoff is doing Holy Roman and also doing his masters degree at UIC.

But who knows, we tend to do a show every year or so in Chicago somewhere.." Despite this claim, the Killing Tree has not performed live since 2004 or released any new music since 2006.

The Killing Tree's musical style is typified by longer songs and more prominent metalcore and Swedish death metal influences,[5] such as screaming vocals and aggressive breakdowns, than that of McIlrath's other band, Rise Against.