History Music / DeathCabForCutie

Already well known in the Seattle area, Death Cab's breakout hit was their 2003 album ''Transatlanticism,'' which saw exposure in television shows such as ''Series/TheOC'' (in which it forms part of Seth Cohen's indie starter pack) and ''Series/SixFeetUnder.'' The attention prompted them to move from Barsuk Records, which had accommodated Gibbard and company for the past decade, to Creator/AtlanticRecords. Since their move to Atlantic, they have steadily become more popular, with their following albums: ''Plans'' and ''Narrow Stairs'' becoming increasingly popular and well selling.

* TheOtherRainforest: They hail from Bellingham, WA.

!! DeathCabForCutie contains examples of:

* NonIndicativeName: According to them: "The glove compartment is inaccurately named and everybody knows it, so I'm proposing a swift orderly change, because behind its door there's nothing to keep my fingers warm".

Already well known in the Seattle area, Death Cab's breakout hit was their 2003 album ''Transatlanticism,'' which saw exposure in television shows such as ''Series/TheOC'' (in which it forms part of Seth Cohen's indie starter pack) and ''Series/SixFeetUnder.'' The attention prompted them to move from Barsuk Records, which had accommodated Gibbard and company for the past decade, to Atlantic Records. Since their move to Atlantic, they have steadily become more popular, with their following albums: ''Plans'' and ''Narrow Stairs'' becoming increasingly popular and well selling.

-->--'''Death Cab for Cutie''', "I Will Follow You Into the Dark."

** Also on ''Plans'' in "What Sarah Said:"

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Discussed in the song "I Will Follow You Into the Dark:" "When heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the nos on their vacancy signs."

* CessationOfExistence: {{Discussed}} in "Saint Peter's Cathedral:"

* ContinuityNod: In "Why You'd Want to Live Here" (a huge TakeThat at the city of Los Angeles), Ben refers to L.A. as "the belly of the beast." He must have had a change of heart at some point, because "Stay Young, Go Dancing" starts with the line "Life is sweet in the belly of the beast." (It's worth noting that when the latter song was released, he was married to Hollywood actress Creator/ZooeyDeschanel. Although the song is also about happiness in grim circumstances -- "though winter's advancing / we'll stay young, go dancing" -- so it may not be much of a compliment to the city after all.)
* CoverVersion: Ben Gibbard's solo project [[HeavyMetalUmlaut ¡All-Time Quarterback!]] covered [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnetic_Fields The Magnetic Fields']] "Why I Cry."

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The trio of "Tiny Vessels," "Transatlanticism," and "Passenger Seat" on ''Transatlanticism.''
** Almost every song on the album Transatlanticism, if you turn up the volume and listen closely. The only exceptions are "Expo '86," "The Sound of Settling," and "Death of an Interior Decorator."
* {{Flatline}}: Heavily implied in "What Sarah Said:"

* FourMoreMeasures: "I Will Possess Your Heart," which takes ''four minutes'' of gradual instrumental build up to get to the first line. That said, it is an ''[[EpicRiff epic]]'' four minutes.

** "Scientist Studies." Dear God.

** How about "No Sunlight," a beach pop tune about the loss of innocence?
** Or "Death of an Interior Decorator," whose subject is cheated on by her husband, witnesses DCFC's most tumultuous wedding ceremony, and is slowly withering away through life?
** Or "The Sound of Settling," which is a indie pop CrowdSong about crippling shyness?

** And now from Codes and Keys, we have "Underneath the Sycamore," an upbeat tune that begins with the character in the song dying in a terrible car crash! The song goes on to say that that the character finds their peace "underneath the sycamore" aka six feet under in a graveyard. Cheery!

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Subverted to hell and back in "Styrofoam Plates," a rant by a young man, raised by a poor single mother, who refuses to talk nice about his dead father just because he's dead.

* NonIndicativeName: According to them: "The glove compartment is inaccurately named and everybody knows it, so I'm proposing a swift orderly change, because behind its door there's nothing to keep my fingers warm."

* NotStayingForBreakfast: "Someday You Will Be Loved:"

** Also, in "Pity and Fear."
* ObsessionSong: "I Will Possess Your Heart," which has lyrics as creepy as it sounds.

* StalkerWithACrush: "I Will Possess Your Heart."
* StopAndGo: "Why You'd Want to Live Here."
* StudioChatter: Found in the beginning of "Title Track," in which Ben is presumably talking to Chris, who gets cut off as the music begins.

* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Played for tragedy in "Company Call Epilogue."

* NewSoundAlbum: While the band's sound has been evolving gradually since the beginning, "Codes and Keys" makes the most drastic stylistic jump. The lyrics are more optimistic than usual (probably because Gibbard was happily married at the time of its release) and there is a heavier emphasis on electronic instrumentation.
** The LP before, ''Narrow Stairs,'' is cited by the band's fans as their turn to DarkerAndEdgier, with songs like "Grapevine Fires" and "The Ice is Getting Thinner" taking the superficial emo categorization of Death Cab to a whole new level of half truth.
* NonAppearingTitle: Many songs, such as "Transatlanticism," "Title Track," "Lightness," "President of What?," "No Joy in Mudville," "Expo 86," Grapevine Fires," etc.

* PostRock: Borders onto this territory with the title track from ''Transatlanticism.''

The other members continue to freelance elsewhere in their spare time, launching side projects wherever they see fit: Most notably, Gibbard teamed up with electronica musician Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel) to form Music/ThePostalService, and former member Chris Walla is a well known record producer for other bands such as Music/TeganAndSara, Music/TheDecemberists, and The Thermals. [[LuckyBastard Gibbard was also]] [[http://pitchfork.com/news/36543-death-cab-for-cuties-ben-gibbard-and-zooey-deschanel-get-married/ married]] to actress and musician Creator/ZooeyDeschanel, though they [[http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673591/zooey-deschanel-death-cab-for-cutie-ben-gibbard-split.jhtml/ later separated]].

-->-- '''Death Cab for Cutie''', "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"

Death Cab for Cutie are an indie rock band from Bellingham, Washington, formed in 1997 as a solo project of FaceOfTheBand Ben Gibbard, a twenty-something science graduate who had previously been in other local bands such as Pinwheel and ¡All-Time Quarterback!. By 1998, Gibbard had recruited several band mates from his previous bands, most notably Music/TheRevolutionaryHydra, into a full-fledged band. The name was taken from the Music/TheBonzoDogBand song of the same name, performed in The Beatles film ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour''.

Already well known in the Seattle area, Death Cab's breakout hit was their 2003 album ''Transatlanticism'', which saw exposure in television shows such as ''Series/TheOC'' (in which it forms part of Seth Cohen's indie starter pack) and ''Series/SixFeetUnder''. The attention prompted them to move from Barsuk Records, which had accommodated Gibbard and company for the past decade, to Atlantic Records. Since their move to Atlantic, they have steadily become more popular, with their following albums ''Plans'' and ''Narrow Stairs'' becoming increasingly popular and well selling.

!!Principal Members (Founding members in '''bold''', current members in ''italic''):

!!Discography:
* ''You Can Play These Songs With Chords'' (demo 1997, re-release 2002)

* ''Codes And Keys'' (2011)

The other members continue to freelance elsewhere in their spare time, launching side projects wherever they see fit: most notably, Gibbard teamed up with electronica musician Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel) to form Music/ThePostalService, and former member Chris Walla is a well-known record producer for other bands such as TeganAndSara, Music/TheDecemberists and The Thermals. [[LuckyBastard Gibbard was also]] [[http://pitchfork.com/news/36543-death-cab-for-cuties-ben-gibbard-and-zooey-deschanel-get-married/ married]] to actress and musician Creator/ZooeyDeschanel, though they [[http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673591/zooey-deschanel-death-cab-for-cutie-ben-gibbard-split.jhtml/ later separated]].

!!DeathCabForCutie contains examples of:

** In the lines "But while you debate half empty or half full..." in Marching Bands Of Manhattan, there is a subtle bit of this involved.

** Also on ''Plans'' in "What Sarah Said".

* AshesToCrashes: ''Styrofoam Plates'':
-->There's a saltwater film on the jar of your ashes; I threw them to sea,
-->but a gust blew them backwards and the sting in my eyes

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Discussed in the song "I Will Follow You Into The Dark": "When heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the nos on their vacancy signs."
* BookEnds: ''Transatlanticism'' begins and ends with the same mid-range undulating synth tone, which is a major third above the tonic of both songs ("The New Year" and "A Lack of Color").

* CessationOfExistence: {{Discussed}} in "Saint Peter's Cathedral"
-->"... when our hearts stop ticking, this is the end, there's nothing past this."
* ConceptAlbum: ''We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes'' is considered by most fans to be a disguised example, at least for the first eight songs, which chronicle a relationship starting with a one night stand and ending with the guy crashing the girl's wedding to another guy. It's disputed whether the last two songs fit into the narrative or not.

* ContinuityNod: In "Why You'd Want to Live Here" (a huge TakeThat at the city of Los Angeles), Ben refers to L.A. as "the belly of the beast." He must have had a change of heart at some point, because "Stay Young, Go Dancing" starts with the line "Life is sweet in the belly of the beast." (It's worth noting that when the latter song was released, he was married to Hollywood actress Creator/ZooeyDeschanel. Although the song is also about happiness in grim circumstances - "though winter's advancing / we'll stay young, go dancing" - so it may not be much of a compliment to the city after all.)
* CoverVersion: Ben Gibbard's solo project [[HeavyMetalUmlaut ¡All-Time Quarterback!]] covered [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnetic_Fields The Magnetic Fields']] "Why I Cry".
** The band recorded a cover of "Earth Angel" by The Penguins for the ''VideoGame/StubbsTheZombie'' soundtrack.

** The B-side "Stability"—actually an alternate version of the album track "Stable Song"—crosses the twelve-minute mark.
** "We Looked Like Giants" can stretch to as long as ten minutes live, while versions of "Scientist Studies" and "Blacking Out the Friction" can reach nine.[[note]]The last case is only a partial example, though, as it generally segues into a cover of Music/{{Bjork}}'s "All is Full of Love" in the second half.[[/note]]
** The ''Something About Airplanes'' recording of "Line of Best Fit" is just over seven minutes, the last three of which (approximately) consist of a full-blown guitar and drum jam, though it starts slowing down towards the end.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The trio of "Tiny Vessels," "Transatlanticism," and "Passenger Seat" on ''Transatlanticism''
** Almost every song on the album Transatlanticism, if you turn up the volume and listen closely. The only exceptions are "Expo '86", "The Sound of Settling", and "Death of an Interior Decorator".
* {{Flatline}}: Heavily implied in "What Sarah Said."

* FourMoreMeasures: "I Will Possess Your Heart", which takes ''four minutes'' of gradual instrumental build up to get to the first line. That said, it is an ''[[EpicRiff epic]]'' four minutes.
* GlorifiedSpermDonor: ''Styrofoam Plates''
-->It's no stretch to say that you were not quite a father
-->But a donor of seeds to a poor single mother
* LastNoteNightmare:

** "Scientist Studies". Dear God.
* LiveEpisode: In what's possibly the first MusicVideo example, the band's video for "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkk5wViJo-I You Are A Tourist]]" aired live in a single take, over the internet on April 5, 2011.

** How about "No Sunlight", a beach-pop tune about the loss of innocence?
** Or "Death of an Interior Decorator", whose subject is cheated on by her husband, witnesses DCFC's most tumultuous wedding ceremony, and is slowly withering away through life?
** Or "The Sound of Settling", which is a indie-pop CrowdSong about crippling shyness?

*** The dissonance is heightened in this ''even more upbeat'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HECF_RHAYo cover by The Shins]].
** "You Can Do Better Than Me" sounds fairly upbeat and cheery, until you realize that the lyrics are about about someone who feels as though their relationship is falling apart, but their lack of self-esteem means that they're willing to cling to the relationship.
** And now from Codes and Keys, we have "Underneath the Sycamore", an upbeat tune that begins with the character in the song dying in a terrible car crash! The song goes on to say that that the character finds their peace "underneath the sycamore" aka six feet under in a graveyard. Cheery!
** "Your New Twin Sized Bed" is a catchy song about insecurity and failing relationships.

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Subverted to hell and back in "Styrofoam Plates", a rant by a young man, raised by a poor single mother, who refuses to talk nice about his dead father just because he's dead.

** The LP before, ''Narrow Stairs'', is cited by the band's fans as their turn to DarkerAndEdgier, with songs like "Grapevine Fires" and "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" taking the superficial emo categorization of Death Cab to a whole new level of half-truth.
* NonAppearingTitle: Many songs, such as "Transatlanticism", "Title Track", "Lightness", "President of What?", "No Joy in Mudville", "Expo 86", "Grapevine Fires", etc.

* NotStayingForBreakfast: "Someday You Will Be Loved."

* ObsessionSong: "I Will Possess Your Heart", which has lyrics as creepy as it sounds.

* PostRock: Borders onto this territory with the title track from ''Transatlanticism''.

* StalkerWithACrush: "I Will Possess Your Heart".
* StopAndGo: "Why You'd Want To Live Here"
* StudioChatter: Found in the beginning of "Title Track", in which Ben is presumably talking to Chris, who gets cut off as the music begins.
--> Chris: "Rolling"
--> Ben: "This is the count-out?"
--> Chris: "Yep."
--> Ben: "The cue?"
--> Chris: "Oh, no, that's-"
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Played for tragedy in "Company Call Epilogue".
--> Crashing through the parlour doors,
--> What was your first reaction?
--> Screaming, drunk, disorderly, I'll tell you mine.

* TitledAfterTheSong: The band's name is a reference to a Music/TheBonzoDogBand song in ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour''.

** The band recorded a cover of "Earth Angel" by The Penguins for the Main/StubbsTheZombie soundtrack.

The band currently operates as a trio, with three former members as well:
* Ben Gibbard: vocals, guitar, and piano (1997 to present)
* Nick Harmer: bass guitar (1997 to present)
* Jason [=McGerr=]: drums (2003 to present)

* Chris Walla: guitar, piano, and production work (1997 to 2014)
* Nathan Good: drums and percussion (1997 to 1999)
* Michael Schorr: drums and percussion (2000 to 2003)

...and have released eight albums and three [[=EPs=]] of note.

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: Usually averted, which makes its appearances in "Title and Registration" that much more noticeable:

The other members continue to freelance elsewhere in their spare time, launching side projects wherever they see fit: most notably, Gibbard teamed up with electronica musician Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel) to form Music/ThePostalService, and former member Chris Walla is a well-known record producer for other bands such as TeganAndSara, Music/TheDecemberists and The Thermals. [[LuckyBastard Gibbard was also]] [[http://pitchfork.com/news/36543-death-cab-for-cuties-ben-gibbard-and-zooey-deschanel-get-married/ married]] to actress and musician ZooeyDeschanel, though they [[http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673591/zooey-deschanel-death-cab-for-cutie-ben-gibbard-split.jhtml/ later separated]].

[[quoteright:492:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb3795bfd7532e10a7bd9fa99e450b23.png]]
[[caption-width-right:492:(Left to right: Jason [=McGerr=], Ben Gibbard, and Nick Harmer)]]

[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dcfc3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:l. to r.: Walla, Gibbard, Harmer, [=McGerr=]]]

Death Cab for Cutie are an indie rock band from Bellingham, Washington, formed in 1997 as a solo project of FaceOfTheBand Ben Gibbard, a twenty-something science graduate who had previously been in other local bands such as Pinwheel and ¡All-Time Quarterback!. By 1998, Gibbard had recruited several band mates from his previous bands, most notably Music/TheRevolutionaryHydra, into a full-fledged band. Except for two drummer changes, the lineup has stayed constant ever since. The name was taken from the Music/TheBonzoDogBand song of the same name, performed in The Beatles film ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour''.

The band has four members:
* Ben Gibbard: vocals, guitar, and piano
* Chris Walla: guitar, piano, and producer
* Nick Harmer: bass guitar
* Jason [=McGerr=]: drums

...and have released seven albums and three [[=EPs=]] of note.

The other members continue to freelance elsewhere in their spare time, launching side projects wherever they see fit: most notably, Gibbard teamed up with electronica musician Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel) to form The Postal Service, and Walla is a well-known record producer for other bands such as TeganAndSara, Music/TheDecemberists and The Thermals. [[LuckyBastard Gibbard is also]] [[http://pitchfork.com/news/36543-death-cab-for-cuties-ben-gibbard-and-zooey-deschanel-get-married/ married]] to actress and musician ZooeyDeschanel, though they [[http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673591/zooey-deschanel-death-cab-for-cutie-ben-gibbard-split.jhtml/ recently announced their separation]].

Death Cab for Cutie are an indie rock band from Bellingham, Washington, formed in 1997 as a solo project of FaceOfTheBand Ben Gibbard, a twenty-something science graduate who had previously been in other local bands such as Pinwheel and ¡All-Time Quarterback!. By 1998, Gibbard had recruited several band mates from his previous bands, most notably [[TheRevolutionaryHydra The Revolutionary Hydra]], into a full-fledged band. Except for two drummer changes, the lineup has stayed constant ever since. The name was taken from the Music/TheBonzoDogBand song of the same name, performed in The Beatles film ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour''.

* BlackSheepHit: "I Will Follow You Into the Dark".

Illuminate the "No"s on their vacancy signs\\

Death Cab for Cutie are an indie rock band from Bellingham, Washington, formed in 1997 as a solo project of FaceOfTheBand Ben Gibbard, a twenty-something science graduate who had previously been in other local bands such as Pinwheel and ¡All-Time Quarterback!. By 1998, Gibbard had recruited several band mates from his previous bands, most notably [[TheRevolutionaryHydra The Revolutionary Hydra]], into a full-fledged band. Except for two drummer changes, the lineup has stayed constant ever since. The name was taken from the Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band song of the same name, which that band performed in ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour''.

* TitledAfterTheSong: The band's name is a reference to a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song in ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour''.