About
Death Cab for Cutie is a popular indie band led by Ben Gibbard that combines sensitive songwriting, catchy melodies, and rich, wistful vocals. They are best known for their hit song, “I Will Follow You into the Dark.”
While an engineering student at Western Washington University, Ben Gibbard released his debut album, You Can Play These Songs With Chords, in 1997, which had minor success and led Gibbard to put together a full band comprised of bassist Nick Harmer, drummer Nathan Good, and guitarist Chris Walla. Within a year, the newly dubbed Death Cab for Cutie secured a contract with Seattle’s Barsuk Records.
In the early 2000s, Death Cab for Cutie went through personnel changes and released a few EPs including The Forbidden Love, The Photo Album, and a re-release of You Can Play These Songs With Chords with ten additional songs. They had begun to gain a following, and with the release of 2003’s Transatlanticism, the band caught the attention of industry execs and mainstream consumers. The albums critical and commercial success led to a label deal with Atlantic Records in 2004.
Death Cab for Cutie’s major label debut came with 2005’s Plans, which produced the Top Five single “Soul Meets Body,” debuted at number four, and remained on Billboard charts for almost a year. Plans also went platinum and received a Grammy nomination partly thanks to the popular acoustic ballad “I Will Follow You into the Dark.” That album was followed by Narrow Stairs (2008), which went number one on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammy Awards. The band continued to refine its sound over the next few years, releasing the commercially and critically successful Codes and Keys (2011), and Kintsugi (2015), an album named after the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery.
In 2018, the band welcomed guitarist Dave Depper and keyboardist Zac Rae and recorded Thank You for Today, which debuted at 13 on the Billboard Top 200. Death Cab for Cutie currently performs regularly at sold out venues, and is often booked for private parties and corporate entertainment events.
