The farm that bred Death Cow was a residence hall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where frontman Connor Worden and drummer Sam Crisler shared a freshman-year dorm room. Worden, sparked with a newfound interest in the irreverence-filtered angst and bombastic power chords of ’90s alt-rock acts like Pixies and Nirvana, grabbed a guitar for the first time and was writing songs by the next week. Weekend jam sessions at Crisler’s parents’ house a half hour east drew Crisler’s sister Mari into the practice space and soon into the band. The then-three-piece played its first show in August 2016.

Punk-leaning guitarist Reed Tiwald of Mari’s indie pop band The Way Out joined that fall, forming Death Cow’s lineup today. Death Cow released its debut LP, Slow Drown (See You Never Records) on June 8, 2018, and played its first shows outside of Nebraska the next week. Since then, the band has grazed the plains of the Midwest and the South on four tours and has dropped a Christmas EP titled Death Cow Christmas.

In 2019, Death Cow plans to release an EP and tour to Colorado, Texas and the East Coast.