Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is composed of Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper, Zac Rae, and Jason McGerr (drums).
The band is known for a melodic sound that blends indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock, characterized by sensitive, introspective songwriting.
named after: Death Cab for Cutie
members: Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer, Jason McGerr, Chris Walla, Nathan Good, Michael Schorr
formed in: Western Washington University
labels: Atlantic Records, Barsuk Records, Warner Music Group
genres: indie rock, emo
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
Death Cab for Cutie emerged in the late 1990s out of the Pacific Northwest independent music scene, spearheaded by singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard. The group first formed in Bellingham, Washington, a small college town north of Seattle, in 1997. Gibbard was studying at Western Washington University and had been performing for many years in the pop-punk group Pinwheel, but began to write songs he felt were unsuitable for the project. Bassist Nick Harmer, a year older, was booking campus gigs when he first met Gibbard. Gibbard and Harmer first got their start in a band called Shed, which later became the band Eureka Farm; Harmer and future Death Cab drummer Jason McGerr rounded out a later lineup. Gibbard met guitarist and producer Chris Walla...
The four released their debut album, Something About Airplanes, on August 18, 1998. Airplanes was created at the group's rented bungalow off of Ellis Street in Bellingham. With Walla's bedroom in the attic, the band inserted a microphone through a hole in the floor to the living room where vocals were tracked on the Tascam. It was an embryonic, anonymous time for the trio: given space to experiment and fail, they began to forge an identity though trial and error. Gibbard's singing voice is more adenoidal in tone, and his songwriting ranges from descriptive but obtuse. The album performed well locally, and led to a sold-out show in December 1998 at the Crocodile Cafe—an early highlight for the young artists. (It was recorded, and later...
Death Cab for Cutie's music has been labeled indie rock, indie pop, emo, and alternative rock. Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan wrote, "These days, it's common for a band to exist within both the emo scene and the indie rock scene, but in the 2000s, there weren't many who managed to do it. Death Cab were one of the few. [...] If you ever need to remind yourself why emo can claim Death Cab For Cutie, just revisit those first few albums." Alternative Press argued against the emo classification for the band, stating the opinion that Ben Gibbard's vocals are "missing a key component: emotion." The publication suggested that the band was erroneously labeled as emo due to their similarities to Sunny Day Real Estate. The band's early material also...
Underlined songs have their story further down.
Are you them, or do you know them? The mail slot is open.
"Meet Me on the Equinox" is a song by American indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie that was released as the first single from the soundtrack to the 2009 film The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The song debuted on September 13 during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
The music video, directed by the Walter Robot team, premiered in October.
Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor on New Moon, provided scenes from the film to some of the artists featured on the soundtrack as a guide.
Evan C. Jones of Billboard praised the song's guitars and melodies and said its lyrics "convey an eerie sensuality appropriate for a teen-vampire love story."
"I Will Follow You into the Dark" is a song by American rock band Death Cab for Cutie, the third single from their fifth album, Plans (2005), released on July 17, 2006.
The song was written entirely by Death Cab for Cutie's lead singer and guitarist Ben Gibbard.
Originally planned to be recorded later in the sessions for Plans, technical issues arose with one set of headphones while tracking the vocals for a different song. Producer and guitarist Chris Walla told Gibbard to take a break while the issues were being addressed. Gibbard picked up his guitar and began playing "I Will Follow You into the Dark", which was still going through the vocal microphone. Walla was impressed by the sound, leading him to suggest they do a quick tracking of the performance. It was this mono recording, with the only editing being mild compression and de-essing, that was eventually featured on the album and released as a single. Due to the impromptu nature of the recording, the vocals on the track are mixed louder...
The music video, filmed in Romania and directed by Jamie Thraves, features Ben Gibbard in a small sparsely decorated apartment, playing the song while sitting on his bed. The video premiered on June 6, 2006 via Yahoo! Music and the bands website.
"I Will Follow You into the Dark" has two separate United Kingdom-exclusive, colored vinyl 7" releases with B-sides recorded as part of the band's Rolling Stone originals session. The part-one release is printed on teal vinyl with "Photobooth" from The Forbidden Love EP as the B-side, and the part-two release is printed on clear orange vinyl with a B-side of "Brothers on a Hotel Bed". The CD single was also only released in the UK and contains the same "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" B-side.
"Soul Meets Body" is a song recorded by the American rock band Death Cab for Cutie for their fifth studio album Plans (2005). It was released as the lead single from Plans in 2005, through Atlantic Records.
Death Cab for Cutie emerged from the Pacific Northwest in the early aughts and built a following with its confessional lyricism and straightforward indie rock sound. "Soul Meets Body" was their first single for Atlantic, the major label with which they signed in 2004.
"Soul Meets Body" was written by frontman Ben Gibbard, and produced by guitarist Chris Walla. The song was recorded at Long View Farm, a farmstead in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. The song opens with the sound of an uptempo acoustic guitar, leading to a chorus where Gibbard exclaims, "You're the only song I want to hear / A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere."
The song's music video was directed by Jon Watts. In the clip, frontman Gibbard waltzes across a magical woodland as foliage transforms into music notes. Gibbard picked Watts, a relative outsider, to helm the clip as he appreciated that his treatment was not simply a literal reading of the song's prose: "It's hard to pick videos, because when I write lyrics I try to make them as descriptive as possible, and I find it hard to find a treatment that's not just mimicking what's happening in the song [...] Plus this one was a little weird," he said. It was filmed on August 3, 2005 at a ranch-style house located in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles. Writers for Entertainment Weekly described the clip as "odd and lovely." The band later issued a...
"Soul Meets Body" was the lead single from Plans, though the band debated over which single to lead with, between it and second single "Crooked Teeth". In the end, the group chose the former because of its "slower build and [lack of] a traditional radio-friendly chorus," so as to not overachieve. The song was leaked online prior to its official release, which prompted Walla to respond, "I love it. The more anarchy we can give to the record industry, the better." The song debuted on July 16, 2005, available to stream at the band's MySpace page until July 22. It was a popular song on the site, garnering 400,000 streams within two months. From there, it was available for listening on the band's official site, with the label delivering it to...
"Soul Meets Body" was received to mostly positive reviews from critics. Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone considered a high point on Plans, complimenting its "R.E.M.-style jangle, sped up to electro-disco tempo." Joe Tangari, in his review for Pitchfork, suggested it was one of the better "experiments" on Plans, calling it a " a sleek pop track." James Rettig of Stereogum interpreted the song's lyrics as more bleak than romantic, noting that "Gibbard's describing the joining of body and mind, but he’s making it clear that there’s only emptiness in between the two." Nick Sylvester at The Village Voice criticized the band's risk-taking, but nonetheless felt the single was "expertly produced and succinctly written." Marc Vera at Entertainment...
"You Are a Tourist" is a song by American rock band Death Cab for Cutie, the first single from their seventh album Codes and Keys, released on March 28, 2011.
The song's transient lyrical themes were shaped in part by frontman Ben Gibbard's upbringing and lifestyle as a touring musician. Gibbard, whose father served in the U.S. Navy, spent much of his childhood moving frequently, an experience that left him with a fluid and sometimes uncertain sense of home.
The song debuted on Seattle radio station 107.7 The End on March 28, 2011, and was available for digital download the following day. The band performed the song live on VH1 Storytellers on May 27, 2011.
The official music video for "You Are a Tourist" was filmed live, and streamed online on April 5, 2011. The clip was shot on a soundstage at 204 Studios in Hollywood, California. The idea for the video stemmed from the band's longtime collaborator, Aaron Stewart-Ahn. According to the band, "You Are a Tourist" was the first ever live, scripted, one-take music video shoot. Though previous videos had been filmed live, "You Are a Tourist" utilizes complicated choreography and camera moves. The video was directed by Tim Nackashi and accomplished in one take, using multiple cameras, and no edits or re-takes. The production employed dancers, actors, and projected images.