Death Cab For Cutie
Emo / Indie Rock
Death Cab for Cutie was accidentally formed in Bellingham, Washington (a small college town 90 miles north of Seattle), just as the Pacific Northwest was beginning to regain its sanity at the end of the Era of Big Grunge Stars. Intending only to test some recently-acquired studio equipment by documenting a batch of songs by Ben Gibbard (who played all the instruments used for the session), young producer Chris Walla recorded You Can Play These Songs With Chords, a cassette-only release that quickly caught the attention of just about everyone who heard it. Surprised both by how well the recordings turned out and by the enthusiastic response their tape received, Walla picked up some guitar duties from Gibbard and the pair quickly recruited friends Nick Harmer (bass) and Nathan Good (drums) to form a live band. TO release "Something about Airplanes." The seconded album "We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes" was released by Barsuk in the spring of 2000, anticipation in indie rock circles was feverish. The record was a huge step in the maturation of the band: Gibbard’s reflective lyrics and heartbreaking melodies displayed his deepening songwriting talents, and Walla’s production and the band’s playing were consistently brilliant (interestingly, Gibbard played most of the drum tracks on Facts, following the departure of longtime drummer Good). Only very rarely do pop bands manage to muster such effortless lyrical and musical grace. With increasing attention from the music press and a growing reputation for energetic live shows, Death Cab found itself with an unexpectedly large national fanbase, routinely selling out both all-ages clubs and bar shows from Seattle to San Diego to Orlando to New York City.
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