Death Cab For Cutie

Death Cab For Cutie biography

Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Chris Walla (guitar, production, keyboards), Nick Harmer (bass) and Jason McGerr (drums).

Gibbard's first album, You Can Play These Songs with Chords, was released as a demo, leading to a record deal with Barsuk Records. 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 seven studio albums, five EPs, and one demo to date. The band released their seventh album, Codes and Keys, on May 31, 2011.

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 project into a complete band. He recruited Chris Walla (who had also worked on the cassette) as a guitarist, Nick Harmer as bass player, and Nathan Good as drummer . 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. Many of the early songs were recorded in the basement of an Ellis Street home Gibbard lived in with several roommates in Bellingham.

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.

In 1998 the band met their long-term manager Jordan Kurland. Kurland had heard good things about them and after a failed attempt to see them play at South By Southwest finally hooked up with them when touring with his then client the band Crumb.

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, 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 The band had been contacted by major labels on and off for several years but it was only after Transatlanticism had proven very successful that they decided to start talking to labels about a potential deal. Having already achieved considerable success meant that they would be able to negotiate a lot of creative freedom. According to Kurland they spoke to "pretty much all of them" and then decided they were most excited by what Atlantic had to offer.

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