Death Cab For Cutie

Zooey Deschanel Files For Divorce From Ben Gibbard

04 Jan 2012 20:54:38 EST

'New Girl' star and Death Cab for Cutie frontman announced their separation in November.
By Kara Warner

It looks like there is no reconciliation in sight for Zooey Deschanel and Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard. After announcing their separation back in November, the "New Girl" star officially filed for divorce a month later.

According to People magazine, Deschanel filed the documents with L.A. County Superior Court on December 27. The papers list their actual date of separation as October 31 and cite "irreconcilable differences" as the reason behind the split.

Although Deschanel spoke with the magazine recently, she didn't have much to say about the end of her relationship with Gibbard but did mention that they will likely remain friends. "We're friendly," she told People. "It's all fine."

Check out a breakup playlist of Death Cab and She & Him songs.

Deschanel's statement reflects a similar sentiment that a source told Us Weekly at the time of their separation: "It was mutual and amicable. There was no third party involved."

Deschanel's star power has been on the rise over the past few years, particularly after her scene-stealing turn in "(500) Days of Summer" and "Our Idiot Brother," but more recently since the debut of her critically acclaimed and Golden Globe-nominated new sitcom "The New Girl." Gibbard has been equally busy with Death Cab for Cutie promoting the release of their seventh studio album, Codes and Keys, which was recently nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

The couple were introduced by their mutual manager three years ago. They got engaged in 2008 and were married in 2009. They have no children.

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Zooey Deschanel And Ben Gibbard: A Breakup Playlist

02 Nov 2011 15:13:37 EDT

In the wake of their divorce, we've compiled a list of the most heartbreaking She & Him and Death Cab for Cutie tunes.
By MTV News staff

On Tuesday night, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and singer/actress Zooey Deschanel announced they had decided to end their two-year marriage. It's a split that was not only unforeseen, but decidedly sad, too. After all, the pair were basically the go-to indie couple, especially with the recent separation of alt-rock figureheads Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon.

Given the rather expansive back catalog of heartbreakers Gibbard and Deschanel have penned over the years for Death Cab and She & Him, respectively, we're greeting the news with an exceptionally weepy playlist of their saddest songs. It's a rather somber day, so why not offer up some appropriate tearjerkers?

"405": Gibbard's hazy rumination on a (somewhat) long-distance relationship gone awry. Mistrust, lies, desperation ... it's the rare song that's honest (or smart) enough to admit that more often than not, distance does not make the heart grow fonder.

"Army Corps of Architects": A crushing Death Cab tune that details love's collapse through an extended engineering metaphor ("Call in the Army Corps of Architects/ To flatten the skyline and begin again"), it finishes with a typically boozy kiss-off ("So bring the discrepancies, I'll pour the drinks") before fading out with an extended, extra-sad instrumental. Uplifting, it is not.

"I Will Follow You Into the Dark": Gentle acoustic number that's become a sing-along staple of Death Cab's live sets, it's about loving someone so much that the hereafter seems like a mere afterthought. A beautiful sentiment, one that more often than not, never gets the chance to reach fruition.

"The Ice Is Getting Thinner": Harrowing Narrow Stairs closer that documents the gradual, sad deterioration of a relationship ("There was little we could say/ And even less that we could do/ To stop the ice from getting thinner/ Under me and you") and all the hopelessness that goes with it. Try not to get goose bumps during Chris Walla's winsome, winding guitar solo in the middle. It's impossible.

"If You Can't Sleep": Haunting She & Him tune that brims with the promise of true love and wrestles with the specter of separation ("If you can't sleep/ I'll be there in your dreams"), it's a lullaby in more ways than one.

"Sentimental Heart": Another She & Him selection, this one pairs bright instrumentals (trilling strings, shiny piano chords, soaring vocal harmonies) with lyrics that are very much about the aftermath of a brutal breakup and the rather daunting task of attempting to pick up the pieces.

"Someday You Will Be Loved": This Death Cab tune leaves us on a (relatively) optimistic note of future love. But no matter how hopeful the lyrics appear to be ("You may feel alone when you're falling asleep/ And every time tears roll down your cheek/ But I know your heart belongs to someone you've yet to meet"), it's hopeless to convince the newly heartbroken that they will ever find love again.

"Stay Young, Go Dancing": A Death Cab song that Gibbard seemingly wrote about his relationship with Deschanel, it opens with him very much at ease with her in Los Angeles ("Life is sweet/ In the belly of the beast"), a town he had very vocally disparaged on the old track "Why You'd Want to Live Here." From there, it goes on to examine the joy of being with the one you love and staving off the mounting uncertainties of the future simply by believing. And dancing.

"Steadier Footing": A deceptively simple song about wanting to express your love, yet never really having the guts to rise to the occasion, it runs less than two minutes, yet still packs an emotional wallop, a tact Death Cab would employ with similarly crushing effect on the Narrow Stairs track "You Can Do Better Than Me."

"Transatlanticism": Quite possibly the long-distance relationship song to end all long-distance relationships, it finds Gibbard openly pining for the love he's separated from, and cursing the great expanses that keep them apart. The fact that it builds to a crashing crescendo and an open-hearted plea ("So come on!") only makes the inevitability that much tougher to handle.

"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?": Decidedly upbeat She & Him song that's really about throwing yourself at a love who may or may not be interested in returning the favor. Its positivity ("I think you're just so pleasant/ I would like you for my own") belies the rather sad desperation contained within.

What did we miss? Share your Death Cab and She & Him playlist suggestions in the comments.

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Zooey Deschanel And Ben Gibbard Call It Quits

01 Nov 2011 19:37:08 EDT

'New Girl' actress and Death Cab for Cutie frontman were married for two years.
By James Dinh

Lasting much longer than Kim Kardashian's 72-day marriage, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel announced their separation after two years of marriage.

Deschanel's representative confirmed the news to Us Weekly on Tuesday afternoon (November 1). A source described the split as "mutual and amicable." The insider added: "There was no third party involved."

Gibbard and Deschanel were first introduced by their mutual manager three years ago. In September 2009, the pair tied the knot near Seattle after dating for a year. According to People, Gibbard pulled out all the stops for his proposal with a three-carat diamond and platinum Neil Lane ring.

In a recent interview with New York magazine, Gibbard spoke about his initial meeting with his wife. "I was just awestruck that she was even talking to me," he admitted.

Throughout the year, both parties have had a busy work schedule, with Death Cab for Cutie dropping their seventh studio album, Codes and Keys, in May, and Deschanel working on her Fox sitcom "New Girl."

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Death Cab For Cutie Play Private KCRW Show

14 Oct 2011 11:04:27 EDT

Santa Monica, California, radio station will air performance and interview on November 1 episode of 'Morning Becomes Eclectic.'
By Matt Elias

SANTA MONICA, California — Death Cab for Cutie treated about 150 fans to a private performance Thursday night. The tiny show took place at legendary producer/mixer Bob Clearmountain's Berkeley Street Studio in Santa Monica, California.

If you weren't one of the lucky few to attend the intimate affair, don't fret: Local public radio station and tastemaker KCRW served as the evening's host and will air the performance on the November 1 episode of "Morning Becomes Eclectic." It will be available in KCRW's archives the same day.

The cozy space was a perfect setting for the Seattle quartet's lush melodies. While the room was small, Death Cab didn't seem to scale down their performance one bit, playing as if they were onstage at an arena.

They opened their 10-song set with "Crooked Teeth," off 2005's Plans. Many of the songs that followed were from the band's recent release, Codes and Keys, including "You Are a Tourist" and "Stay Young, Go Dancing."

About halfway through the set, the band sat down with KCRW DJ Anne Litt for a Q&A, which will also air on the "MBE" episode in November. The band chatted about the inspiration behind the lyrics in "You Are a Tourist," books they're reading and being enthralled by the Foo Fighters' stage presence — something they witnessed firsthand after opening for them. It was their ability to absolutely own the stage that singer Ben Gibbard said he admired most about the Foos, who were doing just that across town Thursday night, playing to a sold-out crowd at the Forum.

Death Cab ended with a two-song encore, or "noncore," which Gibbard said happens when a stage is too small for a band to exit before returning. Despite the tiny venue, the band did its best to make the audience feel like it was in an arena.

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Death Cab, Blink-182, Skrillex Remember Classic Albums From 1991

07 Sep 2011 12:49:00 EDT

The Cults also recall how My Bloody Valentine's Loveless was a "game-changer."
By

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31 Aug 2011 14:47:25 EDT

With Nevermind anniversary weeks away, music's biggest bands reflect on the other indispensible albums from a great year for rock.
By James Montgomery

On September 24, Nirvana's epochal Nevermind album turns 20, a milestone that will be marked with much coverage, celebration and consternation in the media ... not to mention a sundry of other events, including a high-profile benefit concert at Seattle's Experience Music Project and a Jon Stewart-hosted Q&A with Nirvana's surviving members.

And understandably so. After all, Nevermind was a game-changer in every sense of the term — the kind of album that brought about seismic shifts in music, fashion and culture in general, one that defined a generation and, as such, deserves to be mythologized. And, in the coming weeks, we suspect you'll see no shortage of stories that do just that.

And while Nevermind casts an indelibly lengthy shadow, it bears mention that there was no shortage of other magical, massive and equally mythological albums that hit stores in 1991 ... ones that, had Nirvana never broken through, would probably be getting the royal treatment right now. In 1991, rock truly rocked, so, in celebration of that fact, we've asked some of today's biggest bands to discuss their favorite albums from that rather amazing year.

Don't worry, we'll give Nevermind its due ... but right now, we're paying tribute to 1991's other indispensible albums, in the words of their biggest fans.

Dinosaur Jr., Green Mind
Sludgy, somnambulant fourth album from Amherst, Massachusetts' premier purveyors of bad-posture rock, Green Mind represents Dino Jr. at a great divide: Not only is it their first album without original member Lou Barlow, it's also their first for major label Sire Records. Still, neither of those factors managed to sap its power, as mastermind J Mascis shouldered the load (it's basically a solo album) on tracks like the squalling "The Wagon" and the roiling "Puke & Cry." Of course, the band would later reconcile, but Green Mind still stands as a high-water mark, one that, from its iconic cover image to its shambolic moments of pure grandiosity, still stands the test of time.

As remembered by Mark Hoppus, Blink-182: "I got it when it came out and I just loved it, from the second that I listened to it. And I remember going to watch them at the Hollywood Palladium, and I think, actually, Nirvana opened that show maybe, or maybe not. [Editor's note: Nirvana did, in fact, open for Dino Jr. at the Palladium in June 1991.] But they played the Palladium, and it was the loudest show that I'd ever been to and my ears rang for three days afterwards and I was deathly afraid that I'd permanently ruined my hearing, which I probably did, but it was well worth it."

My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
The rare album that can be summarized entirely by its cover, MBV's Loveless is 48-odd minutes of guitars slowly corroding, collapsing and combusting into a gloriously woozy, decidedly pink hue. Then again, you should probably listen to it, if only to marvel at the sheer size of the thing: an epic sonic collage that echoes for days, full of ringing, winging chords, ruddy drum loops and ethereal, barely there vocals. It sounded like nothing else at the time and, really, that's still true today. Recorded in 19 different studios over the course of two years, it brought the band and its label, Creation, to the brink and was so huge an endeavor (in every regard) that, 20 years later, MBV have yet to record the follow-up. But that hasn't stopped an entire generation of musicians from taking cues from Kevin Shields' masterful din, most notably, the rather tricky art of learning how not to play guitar.

As remembered by Brian Oblivion, Cults: "In the same vein as Nevermind, Loveless is another game-changing album. There's that clichéd saying about the Velvet Underground, that they didn't have many fans, but all their fans started bands, and that's definitely the same thing with My Bloody Valentine. Like, every single one of my friends who heard that record immediately went out and bought a delay pedal and ... I'm not very good at guitar at this point in my life, and that's mostly because of My Bloody Valentine, because I'd just sit around in my basement and just make noise with loops and pedals and never learned how to actually play, like, 'Kevin Shields can't play, he's an artist.' To me, that album is all about texture, it's not about notes or melody or lyrics even ... the sound of a guitar became the sound of a cello, the sound of an orchestra, anything, and it kind of opened up the possibilities for everybody to do different kinds of music."

Slint, Spiderland
How is it possible that four kids from Louisville, Kentucky, could sound so preternaturally old? That's just one of the questions raised after listening to Spiderland, the second (and last) album from Slint, a band whose legacy far outweighs their actual output. A creaking, claustrophobic collection of songs that practically seethe tension (which sort of lends credence to the rumors that, following its recording, at least one member underwent psychiatric treatment), Spiderland crashes and coils in ways few other albums do: in a downright terrifying manner. Just give "Good Morning, Captain" a spin and try to say otherwise. And they looked like such nice young men on the cover.

As remembered by Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla, Death Cab for Cutie
Gibbard: "Kids, when they kind of get into music that they think is big and powerful and scary and loud, they gravitate towards hardcore, they gravitate towards punk rock, [because] to that point, that was the biggest, scariest, most aggressive kind of sounding thing that I had heard. But when I first heard Spiderland, it was the juxtaposition between the quiet and the loud that made it even a more powerful listening experience than listening to a hardcore band, because it was so quiet and it was so loud, and kind of feeling the dynamics between the loud and the quiet ... the scope between those things was really powerful."

Walla: "Spiderland is in a handful of records from the early '90s that are sort of recording-geek go-to's. And that was a record, for me, that was really a testament of how you can put together and structure a rock and roll recording in a way that didn't sound like Stone Temple Pilots. Rock and roll had gotten pretty big and pretty produced by that point and, for me, there were a handful of records that kids like me, who had a couple of microphones and an 8-track, sort of felt like, 'Oh, maybe I can do this and I should do this.' "

Share your favorite memories of our other seminal 1991 albums in the comments below!

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Death Cab For Cutie's Guide To Seattle: Well-Worn Studios, Bathroom Libraries

03 Jun 2011 12:15:31 EDT

In the final stop on our 'Seattle Sonics' tour, DCFC take us to the city's legendary Avast! Studio.
By James Montgomery

SEATTLE — The Avast! Recording Company, the final stop on our "Death Cab for Cutie: Seattle Sonics" tour, jokingly proclaims on their official site, "We pledge to have a website by 2010." Of course, they've got one, but the humor lies in the fact that the pledge is a very Seattle statement: slightly self-effacing, sure, but also steadfastly defiant. This is a town that, when it comes to music, likes to adhere to the old standard that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Which is why, in the many studios that dot the landscape here, you won't find a whole lot of high-end gadgetry. Instead, the rooms are packet with rickety pianos, dented Fenders and, in Avast!'s case, a massive Trident A-Range console, a legendary bit of gear (only 13 were ever assembled) that has attained near-mythic status in the recording industry. It's just part of the reason local bands have flocked to the studio over its 20-year history — everyone from Soundgarden to Fleet Foxes have recorded here — and it's most definitely why Chris Walla decided to take us here.

Because not only is Walla an unapologetic studio guy (he operates his own, called Hall of Justice, which was in the middle of a rather messy overhaul when we were in town), but he's worked here too: DCFC's Transatlanticism was mixed at Avast!, and he used the studio to put the finishing touches on their just-released Codes and Keys. And, above all else, he considers Avast! to be a second home ... and a key cog in the city's studio scene.

"I think Seattle has my favorite collection of studios and studio community of any town I've worked in," he said. "This is really a town where you can call the studio down the street and say, 'My tape machine's broken; do you have something you're not using?' And someone will probably say, 'Yeah, we can totally help you out.' "

And the epicenter of that comfortable, community feel seems to be Avast!, which, with its wood-paneled walls, vintage consoles (in addition to the Trident, they've also got Lenny Kravitz's old API Legacy board in Studio B — "I feel like I'm sitting at the captain's chair of the Enterprise," Walla joked from behind its expanse) and delightfully worn décor, recalls nothing more than a massive rec room ... albeit one that comes with an espresso machine. It's where bands come to work on their records in a way that's largely unchanged from 20 years ago: no bells and whistles, just time-tested methods and well-aged gear. And it will probably never change.

For further proof of that, Walla showed us the studio's tape library — shelves of precariously stacked master recordings that contain a large portion of the recorded history of Seattle. And, somewhat fittingly, it's located in the bathroom.

"It's like half of what has ever been recorded in Seattle, I think, is probably stored in here," Walla laughed, ducking inside the tiny room. "[It's a] tape library; Seattle style."

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Death Cab For Cutie's Guide To Seattle: Selling Out Shows, Making Curfew

02 Jun 2011 06:53:07 EDT

In ongoing 'Seattle Sonics' series, DCFC take us to a pair of venues that helped shape the band: Crocodile Cafe and OK Hotel.
By James Montgomery

All four members of Death Cab For Cutie grew up in and around Seattle, during a time that outsiders have since deemed "The Grunge Explosion." But for those living around the city — particularly those not old enough to get in to most shows (thanks to the city's now-abolished Teen Dance Ordinance) — they didn't know anything about an explosion. They just knew there were a ton of really great bands they were missing out on.

And back then, as is still the case today, most of those bands played Seattle's Crocodile Cafe, with gigs being advertised in the city's late, lamented free paper The Rocket. And for kids on the outside, like DCFC's Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer, both of those things were the source of never-ending frustration.

"We both grew up in the Northwest, and we'd look at the shows at the Crocodile, seeing them in this weekly music magazine The Rocket, and be like, 'Aw, I wish I could go to that show,' " Gibbard told MTV News. "But it was a 21-and-over venue at the time, so we couldn't go, and all our favorite bands were playing [at the Crocodile], and we could never come see shows there."

But, as they got older, and formed Death Cab for Cutie in the college town of Bellingham, Washington, things started to change. The band started coming to shows at the Croc (Gibbard remembers seeing Bedhead with DCFC guitarist Chris Walla at the club in 1998) and even managed to score a gig or two there. And finally, at the end of '98, they played a sold-out show at the legendary venue. It was, to say the least, a highlight, and the reason Gibbard and Harmer took MTV News to the Crocodile as part of our "Seattle Sonics" tour: The club played an integral part in their lives, both before and during Death Cab.

"Every once in a while, people will ask, 'Oh, what are the highlights of your band's career?' And without fail, I always reference the first time we ever headlined the Crocodile Cafe. ... It was in, I think, December 1998, and it was on a weekend, a Friday or a Saturday, and we sold the club out," Gibbard said. "There used to be a wall they'd put in that would diminish the capacity down to 300, from 600 or so, so we played a wall-in sold-out show, which still for us was a huge deal. And I remember coming offstage in the little backstage area that used to be here, between our main set and the encore, and becoming flushed with emotion, like, really, it was too much for me to handle, because I couldn't believe we had done it. We had actually sold out and headlined the Crocodile Cafe.

"And it was this turning moment, I think, for all of us. ... We had this realization that, 'Wow, we can really do this. We're a real band. We're not just four guys in a college town goofing off on the weekends and practicing after class. If we could get 300 people into this room to see us play, we can do it in Portland, we can do it in San Francisco. It can happen,' " he continued. "So not only was it kind of the fulfillment of a dream I've had since I was a teenager — since we were all teenagers — but it was a powerful moment for me, because I finally felt like we were on to something."

And while the band's first-ever headlining gig at the Croc was a milestone (made even more because, as Gibbard beamed, "Afterwards I got to meet Peter Buck from R.E.M. in the bathroom"), there's another venue in town that holds an even dearer place in their hearts: the legendary OK Hotel, one of Seattle's most celebrated all-ages venue, since shuttered and reopened as a gallery space. Located in a decidedly seedy part of town — beneath a viaduct near the piers on Alaska Way — it was one of the few places where kids could actually go to shows and a stop for any band not yet big enough to sell out a 21-plus venue. Not surprisingly, Gibbard and Harmer spent plenty of time there, and they made sure to take us to the spot on their tour.

"I saw Superchunk and Sunny Day Real Estate here, Low, bands I loved. This was a really important place for me, because as a kid, it made a real impression on me, seeing bands loading their own equipment and setting up their own stuff, because before coming to places like this, the only places you saw rock bands play were in arenas and large venues. I wasn't used to seeing bands do it themselves. You heard about it, but you actually never saw it," Gibbard said. "The only options to see shows as a teenager in Seattle were this place or bands that were so big they were playing arenas or a venue that was large enough to take out an insurance policy. So this was a venue where a lot of touring bands came through, because this was the only place you could do all-ages shows, legally."

But since he was still living with his parents across the Puget Sound in Bremerton, Gibbard never really got to see full shows. His curfew saw to that. But sprinting across the street to catch the last ferry home is part of the reason the OK Hotel will always hold a special place in his heart: It was a piece of his youth.

"There's a ferry terminal right across the street, and I had to be on, I believe it was a 10:50 ferry to be home by curfew," he laughed. "So if the show started at 8 or 9 here, it meant I was running across the street to catch the ferry at 10:40 ... so I have memories of going to see Superchunk here when I was 17 and hearing the beginning chords of 'Package Thief' and just running out from the venue, across the street and just barely making the ferry."

"Death Cab for Cutie: Seattle Sonics" concludes Friday on MTVNews.com with a look at the iconic Seattle studio where the band put the finishing touches on their brand-new album Codes and Keys.

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Death Cab For Cutie's Guide To Seattle: Coffee And Drum Lessons From Dave Grohl

01 Jun 2011 06:53:01 EDT

In part two of our 'Seattle Sonics' series, the band takes us to their Sip & Ship 'nerve center' and American Music shop.
By James Montgomery

SEATTLE — Chris Walla is a bit of a multitasker: That much is clear just by his rather prodigious output as a producer, solo musician and full-time member of Death Cab for Cutie. So it should probably come as no surprise that, for MTV News' second edition of "Seattle Sonics," Walla decided to take us to one of his favorite spots in Seatown: Sip & Ship, the kind of place that defines multitasking.

See, S&S is the sort of place that seemingly only exists in Seattle: A communal, cozy combination shipping depot/coffee bar that also happens to be a gift shop. Oh, and they make a mean grilled cheese, too.

Located in the city's Ballard neighborhood — right down the block from a nefarious FedEx Office outpost — Walla first visited the shop six years ago (after a rather terrible experience at said FedEx), and in the time since, Sip & Ship has become the de facto home office for all things Death Cab. Merch, master tapes of albums, musical instruments and the occasional eBay purchase all pass through S&S.

Walla has become close friends with the shop's owners (one of them, Diana Naramore, even made a cameo in his "Sing Again" video) and the coffee's really great, too.

"This place has become a communications and shipping and caffeine and calorie hub without which I don't think Death Cab for Cutie would actually be able to do any business at all. This is one of the Seattle nerve centers of the band," Walla explained. "We did a whole series of test-pressings for the new record, and we got four or five shipments of them here. We'd pick 'em up and then go home and listen to records."

Drummer Jason McGerr also chimed in: "It's a far safer bet than my doorstep — which I don't even step on all that often," he said, laughing.

And while Sip & Ship has been an important cog in the Death Cab machine for six years, there's another spot nearby that's been part of their lives for much longer: American Music, a Seattle institution since it first opened its doors in 1973 and the place where local bands (you know, like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains) went to get their gear. It's not surprising that both Walla — who grew up nearby — and McGerr — who worked there in 1994, when he was 19 years old — chose it as the next place they took our cameras.

"I traded all my paychecks for equipment, and I got to know a whole lot of local drummers," McGerr said from his old post behind the American counter. "And there were times, 10 minutes before close, Dave Grohl would come in and sit down and just start blowing on drums and the front door would shut and we'd sit there and watch him. ... There was always a scene happening within the store. If you played music and you got your supplies in Seattle, it was from American Music."

And American was also where you'd find Walla hanging out as a slightly awkward teenager, doing "double drummer stuff" with friend (and former Death Cab drummer) Nathan Good. And he did it mostly out of necessity, because back then, there weren't many places 15-year-old music obsessives could hang out, due mostly to Seattle's oppressive Teen Dance Ordinance, which made all-ages shows all but impossible to organize. And, really, to Walla, that's what makes the place much more than a music store. It's sort of his home away from home.

"I got a lot of stuff here that was cast-off junk, but I still use it," Walla said. "There are tons of music stores that are just enormous boxes, that are full of guitars and drums and cymbals and whatever, and they might have more stock than a place like American does, but American has the heart and soul of a music store that I want when I walk into a music store."

Death Cab for Cutie: Seattle Sonics continues all week on MTVNews.com. On Thursday, we'll head to a vaunted (and now defunct) all-ages venue where DCFC learned how to be a band — and still made it home in time for curfew.

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