Death Cab for Cutie
is a Grammy nominated American indie rock band, formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Benjamin Gibbard (vocals, guitar), Chris Walla (guitar, production), Nick Harmer (bass) and Jason McGerr (drums). Gibbard took the band name from the title of the song written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall and performed by their group, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, in The Beatles' 1967 film, Magical Mystery Tour
.
Gibbard's first album, You Can Play These Songs with Chords
, was released as a demo, leading to a record deal with Barsuk Records. [1] It was at this time that Gibbard decided to expand the project into a complete band, and recruited band members to join. The band has released six studio albums, five EPs, and one demo to date. Their most recent album, Narrow Stairs
, was released on May 12, 2008 in the United Kingdom and on May 13, 2008 in the United States. [2]
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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE TICKETS
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History
Early years (1997–2004)
Death Cab for Cutie began as a solo project of
Ben Gibbard while he was the
guitar player for the band
Pinwheel and was recording under the name
All-Time Quarterback. As Death Cab for Cutie, Gibbard released a
cassette titled
You Can Play These Songs with Chords
; the release was surprisingly successful and Gibbard decided to expand the band into a complete project. He recruited
Chris Walla (who had also worked on the cassette) as a guitarist,
Nick Harmer as
bass guitarist, and
Nathan Good to play
drums.
[3] Death Cab for Cutie was officially formed at
Western Washington University in
Bellingham, Washington, and lyrics from early songs include local references that were important to the band's development.
[4] Many of the early songs were recorded in the basement of an Ellis Street home Gibbard lived in with several roommates in Bellingham.
[5]
The four released the
LP Something About Airplanes
on August 18, 1998. The album was favorably reviewed in the independent music scene and in 2000 the band released
We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
. Nathan Good left the band at some point during this album's production, replaced by
Jayson Tolzdorf-Larson. Good's playing on “The Employment Pages” and “Company Calls Epilogue” was kept, but Gibbard played drums on all other songs.
Although Tolzdorf-Larson did not contribute to the album, he did appear on the song, "Spring Break Broke" from the "Death Cab for Fiver" 7" record. He also joined the band on two tours, including their first full U.S. tour. He was later replaced by
Michael Schorr who would first appear on
The Forbidden Love EP
, released on October 24, 2000. In 2001, another LP was released, entitled
The Photo Album
. Limited editions of this album contained three bonus tracks, which were later released separately as
The Stability EP
.
[6]
In 2003, there was yet another change of drummer, with
Jason McGerr of
Eureka Farm replacing Schorr. McGerr would play drums on the next release,
Transatlanticism
,
which was released in October 2003.
Tracks from the album appeared in the soundtracks of the television shows
The O.C.
,
Six Feet Under
,
CSI: Miami
and
Californication
, and the films
Wedding Crashers
and
Mean Creek
. In spring of 2004, the band recorded a live
EP titled
The John Byrd EP
, named for their sound engineer. The EP was released on
Barsuk Records in March 2004.
Signing to Atlantic (2004–2006)
thumb music festival in
San Diego.
In November 2004, Death Cab for Cutie signed a “long-term worldwide deal” with
Atlantic Records,
[7] leaving their long-time label Barsuk Records. Gibbard stated on the official website that nothing would change except that "next to the picture of Barsuk holding a "7", there will be the letter "A" on both the spine and back of our upcoming albums."
[8] After signing to Atlantic, the band was still nervous about corporate economics, and encouraged fans to download its songs from the Internet.
[9]
The first and second singles from the band's Atlantic Record release
Plans
were “
Soul Meets Body” and “Crooked Teeth” respectively (which they performed on
Saturday Night Live
on January 14, 2006).
[10] The full album was released in August 2005.
Plans
was well received by critics and fans,
[11] [12] and received a nomination for the
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album of 2005. It achieved Gold Status in 2006 after charting on
Billboard for 47 consecutive weeks and was certified platinum by the RIAA at the beginning of May in 2008.
[13]
The band released a touring
DVD titled
Drive Well, Sleep Carefully
, in 2005. Known for their contributions to
animal rights, the band is supporting the activist group
PETA in giving away copies of the DVD to promote animal rights.
[14] In early 2006, the band announced the upcoming release of
Directions
, eleven short films inspired by songs from the
Plans
album, each directed by a different person. The videos were posted one at a time at the band's website and the DVD went on sale April 11, 2006. The
iTunes Store began selling the videos (formatted for
iPod) early on March 28, 2006.
Lance Bangs,
P.R. Brown,
Ace Norton,
Jeffrey Brown, Lightborne,
Autumn de Wilde,
Rob Schrab, Laurent Briet and Monkmus, as well as Aaron Stewart-Ahn, are among directors that have contributed to the project. An episode of
MTV2's
Subterranean
played these videos for the whole hour plus discussion with members of the band.
[15] In 2006, the band made their first appearance at
Neil Young's annual
Bridge School Benefit. The band completed their lengthy 2006 tour of the USA on December 10, 2006, finishing with a show at the
Key Arena in
Seattle, Washington.
[16]
Narrow Stairs
(2007–2008)
Walla claimed on October 18, 2007 that the new album was "in full swing" and that they had six songs completed.
He went on to call the new music "weird", "spectacular", and "creepy", saying that it contained "lots of blood".
He noted that the album had a "
Can jam" that lasted 10 minutes, which Walla said that he would have never imagined doing in 1998.
[17] In a
Billboard
piece in January '08, the band promised the album to be a "curve ball", and said that although it would have slower songs, there would be some surprises. Walla said, "I'm really excited about it. It's really got some teeth. The landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records."
[18] Walla added that the album was "louder and more dissonant and... abrasive." They claimed that they were influenced by "
synth-
punk band
Brainiac."
The album, titled
Narrow Stairs
, was released on May 12, 2008.
The band released the first single,"
I Will Possess Your Heart" from the album on March 18, 2008.
[19] . The radio edit version does not include the extended introduction. In an album review, MTV writer James Montgomery said "Narrow Stairs is a great album, one that could make them very famous, but could very well also kill their careers."
[20], and although "Death Cab for Cutie had gone insane," he believed the LP could be "an early contender for the best album of 2008." Indeed,
Narrow Stairs
was nominated for "Best Alternative Music Album" and "I Will Possess Your Heart" received a nomination for "Best Rock Song". The band won in neither category, but prompted debate after appearing at the ceremony sporting blue ribbons to protest against what they view as the excessive use of
Auto-Tune in the music industry.
[21] Narrow Stairs
was their first album to reach #1 on the
Billboard 200 chart on May 31, 2008. "No Sunlight" is the third single from the album.
[22] On March 31, 2009, the band released
The Open Door EP, containing tracks left off
Narrow Stairs
as well as the "Talking Bird" demo. When purchased on iTunes, the package also includes the music video for "Grapevine Fires".
Soundtrack Contribution
Death Cab for Cutie will contribute the lead single on the soundtrack for the upcoming
New Moon film, the second in the
Twilight series. A song written specifically for the film called "Meet Me On the Equinox" will debut September 13 during the
2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
[23] Bassist
Nick Harmer says, "We wrote 'Meet Me On the Equinox' to reflect the celestial themes and motifs that run throughout the
Twilight
series and we wanted to capture that desperate feeling of endings and beginnings that so strongly affect the main characters."
[24]
Musical style
Death Cab for Cutie's early work on
You Can Play These Songs with Chords
was described by
Rolling Stone
as "emotion through its lack of emotion".
[25] Pitchfork Media also remarked that the work on the cassette was "ultra-lo-fi".
[26] On
Something About Airplanes
the band's style remained similar, with some new instrumental work introduced; "flute, synth, or cello" were noted by
Allmusic's Nitsuh Abebe.
[27] On
We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
the band again expanded their use of unorthodox instruments, including
organ and
glockenspiel. Pitchfork Media called them a "gentle niche" in the current rock climate, compared with bands such as
Modest Mouse and
Built to Spill.
[28]
Rolling Stone
reviewed
Transatlanticism
and commented that it contained "melodic, melancholy songs about feeling both smart and confused, hopelessly romantic but wary of love."
[29] Gibbard's voice was described as "plaintive boy-next-door"
Entertainment Weekly
commented on the music on
Plans
, saying "The lush arrangements are long on hothouse organs and pianos, but short on the squirmy guitars and squirrelly beats that, on Gibbard's best work, offset his sweet voice and borderline-maudlin poetics with a sense of emotional danger."
The band's music on
Plans
was described by the
Dallas Morning News
as "a literate, whispery style, the kind of stuff that normally sounds better in headphones than in large venues".
[30]
Members
- Benjamin Gibbard - vocals, guitar, piano (1997-present)
- Chris Walla - guitar, production, piano (1997-present)
- Nick Harmer - bass (1997-present)
- Jason McGerr - drums (2003-present)
Former
- Nathan Good - drums (1997-1999)
- Michael Schorr - drums (2000-2003)
Discography
Studio albums
- Something About Airplanes
(1998)
- We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
(2000)
- The Photo Album
(2001)
- Transatlanticism
(2003)
- Plans
(2005)
- Narrow Stairs
(2008)
EPs
- The Forbidden Love EP
(2000)
- The Stability EP
(2002)
- Studio X Sessions EP
(2004)
- The John Byrd EP
(2005)
- The Open Door EP
(2009)