Perhaps the most exciting and terrifying
aspect of life is its way of keeping us guessing about what’s
around the corner. Whether it’s the spontaneously purchased
scratch-off ticket that wins or the uncompleted car ride you never
should have taken, each decision we make has an impact and every
plan contains some degree of uncertainty. Thus, when a college student
named Ben Gibbard tracked down blossoming sound engineer Chris Walla
and comic book geek Nick Harmer in 1997 and asked them to be in
a band they’d later decide to dub Death Cab For Cutie (a reference
to a song by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band in the Beatles’ Magical
Mystery Tour movie), he probably didn’t expect they’d
still be together eight years down the line—let alone on the
tail end of a long-building explosion into mainstream consciousness.
Plans, Death Cab’s fifth full-length album and first
for major label Atlantic Records, is an amalgamation of the band’s
previously honed talents that spotlights Gibbard’s pointedly
soft lyrics and makes use of quite a bit more piano than the DCFC’s
previous work. The record touches on notions of unpredictability
and focuses on life, death and the transitions that lie between.
“Summer Skin” and “Soul Meets Body” (Plans’
rapturous first single) are two of the album’s most remarkable
songs—the first about a youthful relationship broken by the
change of seasons and the latter exploring themes of dying and living
on. And while weighty subject matter is nothing new for Death Cab
(Gibbard devotes one track on 2001’s The Photo Album entirely
to renouncing his deceased father, “a bastard in life and
a bastard in death”), it seems like the specific topics covered
here mirror the situation the band currently finds itself in: beginning
a new relationship with Atlantic, envisioning what lies ahead, and
charging directly into a whirlwind of attention while hoping to
keep its spirit strong and its soul intact throughout.
Then again, maybe I’m just being overly analytical and finding
connections where they don’t exist. Or, on the contrary, maybe
that’s precisely how Death Cab planned it. I spoke to Nick
Harmer, who plays bass, to find out.
Ann Arbor Paper: How does it feel to be in Death
Cab For Cutie at this moment in time?
Nick Harmer: This moment in time is kind of like
all moments in time, really. It’s pretty exciting. I’m
having a good time.
A2P: Rumor has it that you’ve come into money
as a result of your mainstream popularity. How much truth is there
to this?
NH: I think most people make a leap of judgment
that because you’re on a major label then suddenly you’re
swimming in cash, and that’s definitely not true anymore.
I can personally vouch for it. I can say with 100 percent certainty
that you will not see any of us on MTV’s Cribs any time in
the near future.
A2P: Spin’s recent cover story on DCFC mentions
two less-than-pleasant run-ins between you and Bruce Willis.
NH: Yeah—the Bruce Willis story actually
happened. Both times he told me to fuck off.
A2P: And one of the times you were just a kid,
right?
NH: I was 14 or 15 years old.
A2P: Wow. What an asshole.
NH: [Laughs] Maybe I just caught him on two bad
days, but I prefer to think that he and I are in fact mortal enemies.
I must have wronged him in a previous life, and we’ve been
fighting each other all through time. Whenever our current incarnations
cross each other’s paths we exchange words.
A2P: Why, again, did he say that to you?
NH: Well, the first time, I saw him with my cousin
in a grocery story in Idaho—my cousin said he was building
a house or something—and we walked up to him and asked him
if he was Bruce Willis. So he kind of looked at me and said, “Yeah.”
And when I asked him for his autograph he said, “Get the fuck
away from me, kid.” And I was like, “Really? Alright.”
Flash forward a whole bunch of years. Ben and I were in New York
last summer and I was coming into a hotel just as Bruce Willis was
walking out. We just kind of shared the same door space. I looked
at him and said, “Hey, how’s it going?” He looked
me right back, without skipping a beat, and said “Fuck you,”
and just kept walking to his limo that was parked out front. I didn’t
try to ask him for his autograph or get in his way or anything.
I was just being a nice guy like I would to anyone. It was hilarious.
A2P: You used to kind of fill in as the band’s
working manager. Is that not really the case anymore?
NH: Pretty much. We’ve always been self-managed,
but on the road I was always kind of the contact person for a lot
of that stuff—just kind of leading a lot of the decisions
and stuff. For the most part, though, it was definitely a group
effort early on. But now that we’re doing well enough we have
a tour manager and a regular manager, so a lot of my duties in that
realm have been kind of diminished. On tour now it’s been
more about keeping rested and practicing a lot.
A2P: So what have you been keeping yourself busy
with on the road, then?
NH: It’s funny. We have all these lofty ambitions
every time we leave for tour to do crazy stuff, and we end up a
lot of times just watching a lot of movies. I always bring out a
ton of books that I want to read—like real dense, heady novels—and
at some point along the way I’ll end up finding a Tom Clancy
novel someplace and just end up reading that. After a certain point
your brain starts to become a little bit mushy, or at least your
attention span starts to become a little shorter. It’s harder
for you to find time and really dedicate yourself to something intellectual.
We actually do a pretty good job of not watching crappy movies;
we bring DVDs with us that are actually worth something. We used
to bring skateboards but we don’t really skateboard anymore
because we don’t want to run the risk of breaking our wrists
in the middle of tour. We bring baseball mitts and play catch, and
we play a lot of chess, card and dice games.
A2P: So no OC DVDs?
NH: No. Not at all.
A2P: I kind of had to ask. You’ve pretty
much become permanently associated with that show now, whether you
want to be or not.
NH: Yeah, I’m not quite sure how that happened,
but I guess that’s sort of our lot in life at this point.
A2P: You’re just going to leave it at that?
NH: Well, yeah. We got written into the show and
became one of Seth Cohen’s favorite bands. That was a choice
that a scriptwriter at some point made on the show. They never really
asked us if that would be cool, because it’s kind of up to
them. When we saw it on TV we were just kind of like, “Okay.
Whatever.” Really, though, our exposure on the show hasn’t
been anymore than Bright Eyes, The Killers, Modest Mouse or any
of those bands. So I mean, whatever. It is what it is. We’ll
probably be a band much longer than that will be a show, so I’m
not too worried about it.
A2P: Speaking of Bright Eyes, who do you think
would win in a fight: Ben [Gibbard] or Conor Oberst?
NH: Oh, that’s tough. I think they both wouldn’t
fight each other. I think they’d hug it out.
A2P: Were there any mentionable highlights or stories
from your experience playing on the Vote For Change tour last year
with Pearl Jam?
NH: Oh, there are so many. It’s so weird.
I don’t even know where to start without sounding like I’m
bragging because it was just such a surreal and exciting experience
the whole time. Just from the start, Pearl Jam was so nice to us,
took care of us and extended us pretty much every courtesy that
they had. We flew from show to show on their private plane with
them, and the opening band was Tim Robbins and his brother, David
Robbins. So here we are hanging out on a plane with Tim Robbins
and Pearl Jam, like it’s all normal and you’re friends.
It’s really strange, but it was totally great. We had the
best time ever. We had an experience in Philadelphia where Ben and
I were standing outside of our hotel after just getting in and wondering
what we were going to do. So Little Steven [Van Zandt] came out
of the hotel…
A2P: And told you to fuck off?
NH: [Laughs] No. You know, he plays guitar with
Bruce Springsteen and he’s Silvio on The Sopranos; he’s
the guy who’s like, “Every time I try to get out, they
pull me back in.” He works at the strip club. The Bada Bing.
So he just kind of walked out and was like, “So what are we
doing? What do you guys want to do? Let’s go get a drink.”
So Ben and I and Little Steven went to this little bar and the owner
of the bar recognized Little Steven, so he just kind of shut the
bar down and closed the blinds but kept pouring us drinks. We just
hung out and talked all night and had a great time. It was surreal.
It was really amazing. He was one of the nicest guys I’ve
met in the music business by a long shot.
A2P: That’s great.
NH: So that was one of the best personal moments.
We had little moments along the way where we actually met people
in cities who had changed their opinion about who they were voting
for. They would just kind of show up at the show or have some kind
of story to tell or emotion to share. It was a really powerful time
because at the same time all of the presidential debates were going
on. A lot of things were happening and it was really starting to
feel like things were moving in the right direction. And then, of
course, the morning of November 3rd happened and it was a sad morning.
For us, anyway. I guess some people were happy . . . but they’re
sad now!
A2P: Right. It turns out that might not have been
such a hot idea after all.
NH: I hate to be the one to walk around and say
“I told you so,” but this time we fucking told you so.
A2P: What, in your own words, is Plans all about?
NH: I think it’s really sort of about transition.
It’s like that transition of realizing the relationship you’re
in with someone is going to be a long one, or maybe you’re
hoping it will be. It’s hard to say because there are a lot
of different themes on the record, really, and I think overall it’s
a record that asks more questions at times than makes statements.
But then there are some songs that could counteract that. I don’t
know. That’s a really good question. I should take everything
back and say I don’t know how I’d describe it. I just
know that I like the bass lines [Laughs].
A2P: I also think I’m pretty much obligated to ask
about your recent switch to a major label, even though you’ve
probably discussed it in every interview you’ve done recently.
NH: No, just every other interview. Our relationship
with the label and our experience so far on the label has been fantastic.
It’s really been everything we hoped it would be for us once
we made that decision to go. I don’t think we could be any
happier with our experience so far. We worked hard for a lot of
years to be able to have some bargaining chips and be able to get
a contract that was open and creative enough to be able to do what
we wanted to do without having to sacrifice anything to a suit sitting
at a desk. We’ve met a lot of really talented and super intelligent
people at the label who really know music. What that ultimately
means for the history and the arc of our career it’s hard
to say right now, but things have been so far so great. I think
the one drawback of all of it—that we knew was going to happen
and we just kind of braced ourselves for it—is the fact that
whenever you make the switch from an indie label to a major label
you move into a little bit more of the public eye and you’re
just kind of out there for more attacks and more opinions. You’re
sort of further out on the branch of the same tree, and it’s
been interesting.
In the press I think some people have been going out of their way
to take some pretty mean swipes at us now that they never would
have cared to write about us in the past. Like, “Who’s
that band? Oh they’re nobody. Never mind.” Some of the
press has been trying to put us in a really defensive position,
but I think that’s kind of normal. If you go back and read
the reviews and press surrounding REM’s Green, when they switched
to a major label from an independent, the similarities between the
reviews and the press regarding their “major label debut”
[and the current reviews and press regarding Plans] are
uncanny.
A2P: Who said that?
NH: I guess I could rattle off a bunch of names,
but to be quite honest I’ve only really sort of pieced things
together here and there. I don’t read everything that comes
out, but occasionally something catches my eye or a friend will
send a link saying, “Check out what this asshole said”
or “Check out this awesome review.” Like I said, it’s
nothing to really complain about or worry about. It’s just
kind of a symptom of the shift more than anything. We kind of expected
it and now it’s sort of happening.
A2P: Do you know what’s happening with [Gibbard’s
other moderately huge band] The Postal Service?
NH: They’re just kind of hanging out. Jimmy
[Tamborello, the second half of the band] is working on another
DNTEL record. After things kind of wind down with Plans,
we’ll probably take a break like we always do and Ben and
he will probably start working on some stuff again. As far as I
can tell from listening to Ben talk about it, though, it’s
something Ben’s excited to get back and working on—but
obviously there’s a lot of really cool stuff in front of him
to do as well. It’s not like he’s wringing his hands
and wishing he could be doing something else right now.
A2P: Does it ever feel like Ben gets all the credit?
NH: Well, you know, he’s the front guy, so
it’s in the same way that Bono gets attention for U2 or Chris
Martin gets attention for Coldplay. It’s totally natural.
That’s kind of how the world works. They like a leader; they
like a front guy. So, yeah. And you know what—he deserves
it. He writes the lion’s share of the songs in the band and
he’s prolific like that.
A2P: Were there any noteworthy changes regarding
the production of this record vs. past records you’ve made
with the band?
NH: We went out to the middle of nowhere in Massachusetts
for a month and really had the four of us sit down and focus on
the music and the recording. We knew there was going to be a lot
riding on this record, and we really needed to get away from everything
in Seattle and really focus on it, take our time and make sure the
decisions we were making on it were ones that we wanted to make.
That was really interesting because we’ve never really done
that as a band before. A lot of the instrumentation we used on this
record was different too. We used way more keyboards and piano and
stuff on it than guitars, really. Which isn’t necessarily
to say that’s how we’re going to sound forever in the
future, but just this record seemed to call for that a lot more
than anything else.
A2P: Are you still affiliated with your long-time
label, Barsuk Records?
NH: Barsuk is doing the vinyl for Plans and it
was part of our contractual stipulations that their logo still appear
on our record because they are so involved in some other aspects
of this record. They’re doing a lot of consulting work with
Atlantic—marketing plans and coming up with different angles—and
keeping us connected to the people and record stores that were really
good to us at the beginning of our career. One thing that we didn’t
want to have happen is go to Atlantic and make it feel like we’re
turning our back on college radio and independent music stores and
all the other things that happen sometimes when other bands do the
major label thing. Barsuk has really been instrumental in helping
us stay in contact with all of that stuff.
A2P: Can you name a few bands from Seattle or elsewhere
you think we should know about?
NH: I’ve been really excited about the new
John Vanderslice record called Pixel Revolt. And there’s a
record called Black Sheep Boy by this band called Okkervil River.
I really like the new record from Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah.
A2P: Where do you see Death Cab For Cutie in five
years?
NH: In five years we will be releasing another
record or just getting done recording one. We’ll just be doing
it all over again.
Death Cab For Cutie’s October 14 show at the Michigan
Theatre is sold out. Maybe you can catch them another time—how’s
five years from now sound?
|
