by Andrew Leahey Originally hailing from Boston, MA, the Dead Trees combine alt-country strains with a back-to-basics approach to rock & roll. The band formed in December 2006, when longtime friends Matthew Borg (guitar), Noah Rubin (drums), Tad Dahlhoff (bass), and Michael Ian Cummings (vocals/guitar) convened to record several songs that Cummings had written. After spending two weeks in a Massachusetts basement, they emerged with the Fort Music EP. Proud of the resulting disc, the musicians banded together as the Dead Trees, pulled up stakes in Boston, and relocated to Portland, OR. The EP was eventually released in early 2008, and the band increased its fan base by joining Albert Hammond, Jr. on a national tour. King of Rosa, the Dead Trees' proper studio debut, then arrived in October 2008.