October 21, 2004
Death Cab for Cutie (Gothamist Interview)
Once upon a time, in a college town in the Pacific Northwest, four young men formed a band. They chose a name (the title of a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song that appeared in the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour), made a few records, developed a local and regional presence, and unglamorously toured the country in that grueling, indie, young twenty-something kind of way. They worked hard and remained modest, cultivating a following and garnering critical acclaim. All was calm in the land of Death Cab for Cutie when a surprise-hit television show dropped down from the sky. The band would be name-dropped in the script, and one of their songs would be broadcast on-air in millions of households. Since that fateful day, Death Cab have been pretty much everywhere doing pretty much everything, including the recent political ventures such as Vote For Change concert tour with Pearl Jam and the Future Soundtrack for America compilation.
Death Cab for Cutie are Ben Gibbard (guitar, vocals), Chris Walla (guitar), Nick Harmer (bass) and Jason McGerr (drums). They are currently on their fall tour, stopping in New York tomorrow night. [and D.C. this weekend — ts] Gothamist has attended an embarrassing number of their many New York shows in the last 12 months, but only because they’ve played so ridiculously many. So many, in fact, we suspect they might know a few things about New York that we do not. Nick Harmer lets us in on some of his insights, below.
