Death Cab For Cutie Tickets : The Song's Name Was In Turn Taken From A Pulp Fiction Crime Magazine

Death Cab for Cutie is an American indie rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar), Chris Walla (guitar, production), Nick Harmer (bass) and Jason McGerr (drums).

Gibbard took the band name from the title of the song written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall and performed by their group, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, in The Beatles' 1967 film, Magical Mystery Tour. The song's name was in turn taken from a pulp fiction crime magazine.

Gibbard's first album, You Can Play These Songs with Chords, was released as a demo, leading to a record deal with Barsuk Records. It was at this time that Gibbard decided to expand the project into a complete band, and recruited band members to join. The band has released six studio albums, five EPs, and one demo to date. Their most recent album, Narrow Stairs, was released in May 2008.The band will be releasing their next album, Codes and Keys, on May 31, 2011.

Walla claimed on October 18, 2007, that the new album was "in full swing" and that they had six songs completed. He went on to call the new music "weird," "spectacular," and "creepy," saying that it contained "lots of blood." He noted that the album had a "Can jam" that lasted 10 minutes, which Walla said that he would have never imagined doing in 1998.

In a Billboard piece in January '08, the band promised the album to be a "curve ball," and said that although it would have slower songs, there would be some surprises. Walla said, "I'm really excited about it. It's really got some teeth.

The landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records."Walla added that the album was "louder and more dissonant and ... abrasive." They claimed that they were influenced by "synth-punk band Brainiac." The album, titled Narrow Stairs, was released on May 12, 2008.

The band released the first single, "I Will Possess Your Heart" from the album on March 18, 2008. The radio edit version does not include the extended introduction. In an album review, MTV writer James Montgomery said "Narrow Stairs is a great album, one that could make them very famous, but could very well also kill their careers," and although "Death Cab for Cutie had gone insane," he believed the LP could be "an early contender for the best album of 2008."

Indeed, Narrow Stairs was nominated for "Best Alternative Music Album" and "I Will Possess Your Heart" received a nomination for "Best Rock Song" at the 51st Grammy Awards. The band lost in both categories, but prompted debate after appearing at the ceremony sporting blue ribbons to protest against what they view as the excessive use of Auto-Tune in the music industry. "Narrow Stairs" was their first album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 chart on May 31, 2008. "No Sunlight" is the third single from the album.

On March 31, 2009, the band released The Open Door EP, containing tracks left off "Narrow Stairs" as well as a demo for "Talking Bird".The Open Door EP was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards. In 2009, the band wrote the song, "Meet Me on the Equinox" for the The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack. "Meet Me on the Equinox" was the first song that Death Cab for Cutie contributed to a soundtrack.

In a recent interview the band announced the details of their upcoming album, Codes and Keys. The album will be released on May 31, 2011.Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer have both been quoted as saying that the album will be "a much less guitar-centric album than we have ever made before," and likened the record to Another Green World by Brian Eno. In March 2011, Ben Gibbard performed the title track at a solo concert in San Francisco.The tracklisting was released on their website on the 15th of March, 2011.

Death Cab for Cutie's early work on You Can Play These Songs with Chords was described by Rolling Stone as "emotion through its lack of emotion". Pitchfork Media also remarked that the work on the cassette was "ultra-lo-fi". On Something About Airplanes the band's style remained similar, with some new instrumental work introduced; "flute, synth, or cello" were noted by Allmusic's Nitsuh Abebe.

On We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes the band again expanded their use of unorthodox instruments, including organ and glockenspiel. Pitchfork Media called them a "gentle niche" in the current rock climate, compared with bands such as Modest Mouse and Built to Spill.