组建时间 / 地点:1997年 / 贝林汉姆,美国
Death Cab for Cutie (DCFC),这组1997年成军于华盛顿州的摇滚团体,原本只是一位工程系但喜欢听独立摇滚的学生Ben Gibbard自己的一个音乐企划All -Time Quarterback,再招募了制作新手兼吉他手Chris Walla、贝斯手Nick Harmer和鼓手Jason McGerr后,发行了《You Can Play These Songs With Chords》卡带;1998年,DCFC正式在独立厂牌Barsuk下发行第一张专辑《Something About Airplanes》,并在2000年推出《We Have the Facts And We’re Voting Yes》,2001年的《The Photo Album》专辑及在不断的巡迴演唱下,DCFC在独立摇滚界闯出名声,并累积了不少死忠乐迷的追随。
乐队成员
Benjamin Gibbard – 主唱、吉他手、键盘手(1997年– 今)
Nick Harmer – 贝斯手(1997年 – 今)
Chris Walla – 吉他手(1997年 – 今)
Jason McGerr – 鼓手(2003年 – 今)
Nathan Good – 鼓手(1997年 – 1999年)
Michael Schorr – 鼓手(2000年 – 2003年)
乐队历程
从1997年成立至今,经过近15年的耕耘,Death Cab For Cutie在评论与商业方面均取得了骄人成绩:他们收获过多次格莱美专辑及单曲奖项提名、2007年发行的《Narrow Stairs》在美国“公告牌”Top 200专辑中取得排行第一、《Lack Of Color》等经典歌曲被数部黄金剧集/电影收录进原声——比如我们再熟悉不过的[The O.C](橘子郡男孩)、[CSI:迈阿密风云]、[暮光之城2:新月]等等……但Death Cab For Cutie从来不是大明星乐队,从签约独立厂牌Barsuk到从2005年开始转投Atlantic(大西洋唱片)至今,他们一直保持较为低调探索的姿态行进着,并且依然保持着他们旺盛的创作精力与从不停止的音乐探索,当然还有那份从最初就引人入胜的,美好而内省的,对生命的思考。
将Death Cab For Cutie称为“治愈系”摇滚恐怕并不为过,尽管他们有着一个颇与风格不符的名字——虽然这只是乐队顺手从The Beatles的电影[奇幻旅程]当中插曲的名字中获得的灵感罢了。主创兼主唱Ben Gibbard的唱腔具有天然的情绪安抚作用,被《Entertainment Weekly》形容为“邻家男孩般柔顺的声音”,颇具省思且充满美感的歌词以及或迷幻、或清爽、或扣人心弦的旋律以及时而跃动时而沉缓、不乏实验性的编曲等等,都是Death Cab For Cutie一直以来叫人百听不厌的法宝。
2011年5月,Death Cab For Cutie发行了成军15年来的第七张录音室专辑《Codes And Keys》,专辑发行后即在公告牌上跻身排行前三,其中单曲《You Are Tourist》更分获“另类”与“排行”榜单第一及第三。才情与人文思辨并进的他们减弱了对吉他的依赖,运用了更多的键盘元素,不乏惊喜却仍保持一贯的可听性。现在乐队正马不停蹄地在世界各地进行巡演,并于2012年3月9日、10日来到上海和北京,迎来他们的内地首次巡演。
录音室专辑
Something About Airplanes (1998)
We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes (2000)
The Photo Album (2001)
Transatlanticism (2003)
Plans (2005)
Narrow Stairs (2008)
Codes and Keys (2011)
英文简介 (转自 Allmusic)
Death Cab for Cutie's rise from small-time solo project to Grammy-nominated rock band is one of indie rock's greatest success stories. Launched in the bayside college town of Bellingham, Washington, the group was originally a side project for singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard, an engineering student at Western Washington University who split his time between school and music. Taking a break from his local power pop band, Pinwheel, Gibbard began recording an album's worth of solo material during the summer of 1997. Producer Chris Walla lent his help to the sessions, which resulted in an eight-song cassette entitled You Can Play These Songs with Chords. When the tape became a local hit, Gibbard reached into his circle of friends to form a band, hoping to play the new songs live. Bassist Nick Harmer (Gibbard's roommate) and drummer Nathan Good climbed aboard, and Walla enlisted as the band's primary guitarist (he would also go on to produce most of the band's future releases). With a lineup now in place, Gibbard's group rechristened itself Death Cab for Cutie (named after a song by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) and signed a contract with the Seattle-based Barsuk Records within a year's time.
The quartet made its studio debut with 1998's Something About Airplanes, an album that featured several re-recorded tracks from the You Can Play These Songs with Chords cassette as well as a dreamy, pop-oriented sound reminiscent of Built to Spill. Gibbard and Walla both continued to pursue their own projects (including Gibbard's successful stint with the Postal Service), but that didn't keep Death Cab for Cutie from returning to the studio for a second album, We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, which appeared in 2000. Nathan Good left the group just prior to the album's completion, and We Have the Facts introduced Michael Schorr as Death Cab's new drummer. The Forbidden Love EP arrived that same year, while a third full-length effort, The Photo Album, was released in 2001. By this time, a sizable audience had gathered around the band's emotional music, and Barsuk re-released You Can Play These Songs with Chords in 2002 with ten additional songs.
The polished, hook-laden Transatlanticism arrived in 2003 and announced the arrival of drummer Jason McGerr, who had previously played in a band with Nick Harmer before Death Cab's formation. The album also proved to be a very important step in the band's career, gathering positive attention from consumers and industry execs (including television producer Josh Schwartz, who prominently featured the band's music throughout several seasons of The O.C.). With their popularity at an all-time high, the bandmates issued a live disc, The John Byrd E.P., and later signed a worldwide major-label deal with Atlantic Records in November 2004.
Plans was released the following summer and debuted at number four, remaining on the Billboard charts for nearly one year and achieving platinum status on the strength of three singles (including the acoustic ballad "I Will Follow You into the Dark"). Death Cab for Cutie graced the cover of Spin magazine, appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live, and earned a Grammy nomination for their major-label debut. Work on a follow-up album coincided with the release of Chris Walla's solo effort, Field Manual, and Death Cab returned in May 2008 with Narrow Stairs, a darker effort that debuted at the top of the Billboard 200. The band proceeded to tour throughout the remainder of the year, while a deluxe version of Something About Airplanes (which was packaged with a recording of their very first show in Seattle) was released in November to introduce newer fans to Death Cab's early material.
Death Cab for Cutie continued touring throughout the first half of 2009, hitting Japan and Australia as well as an additional slew of American venues. The Open Door EP arrived that spring, featuring several scrapped songs from the Narrow Stairs sessions and a demo version of "Talking Bird." The guys incorporated some of those songs into their live sets, all the while preparing to return to the studio after the tour's completion. After a short hiatus -- not to mention a wedding for Ben Gibbard, who married actress/musician Zooey Deschanel -- they reconvened for 2011's Codes and Keys, which found the band relying less on the electric guitar and more on moody, Cure-inspired song textures. Later in 2011 (right around the same time Gibbard and Deschanel announced their split) they released an EP of remixes of songs from the album titled Keys and Codes Remix EP.