Death Cab for Cutie contemplates life at the top of the charts

by John Soeder / Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic

Tuesday June 10, 2008, 2:27 PM

DEATH BECOMES THEM: "I feel we couldn't have made a better record at this point," says Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, right. From left are bandmates Nick Harmer, Jason McGerr and Chris Walla.

PREVIEW
Death Cab for Cutie

When: 8 p.m. Friday, June 13.
Opener: Rogue Wave.
Where: The Plain Dealer Pavilion, 2014 Sycamore St., Cleveland.
Tickets: $32.50 at the box office and Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone, 216-241-5555 (Cleveland) or 330-945-9400 (Akron).

Alt-rock quartet Death Cab for Cutie's seventh album, "Narrow Stairs," sped to the top of the charts when it came out last month. Singer-guitarist Ben Gibbard, 31, gave us a call before a concert in Minneapolis.

ONLINE AUDIO: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE'S BEN GIBBARD

Q: Congratulations on the No. 1 debut.

A: Thanks. . . . It was never historically anything that I kind of paid attention to.

Leading up to the release of "Narrow Stairs," there were a lot of e-mails from management and from the label about what other records were coming out the same week as ours, to determine if it was possible for us to have a No. 1 record.

There was that couple weeks there where Toby Keith was supposed to come out the same week we were, and that was a little bit concerning, but thankfully, that wasn't the case.

It's kind of crazy even to be talking about it. . . . It had never been a goal of ours when the band started. It's funny how your goals and ideas about your own band shift as the thing grows, you know?

I feel we couldn't have made a better record at this point. I'm really proud of it.

The thing that's most interesting to me about this phase of the band is just to see where everything levels out for us.

The last record [2005's "Plans"] sold a million copies. I wouldn't say we're a household name, but we're certainly one of the more established acts of our specific genre of music.

It'll be interesting to see what that means as we continue forward, if this music that we make will continue to resonate with people, or if . . . we've reached a peak. Really, either one is completely fine with me.

I feel like this record and this phase of the band is almost an experiment. We want to see who's still hanging on.

Q: Much has been made of the extended intro to the single "I Will Possess Your Heart." Are you railing against the supremacy of the three-minute, verse-chorus-verse pop song?

A: The intention of the long intro wasn't necessarily political. It was just something we thought sounded really good.

It was a piano passage from a song that I'd written for "Plans" [the band's 2005 album] that didn't make the record, but I revisited it.

There was never any doubt in our minds there would be some sort of radio edit. . . . We'd had radio edits done on songs on "Plans," so it wasn't as if we were going to be upset.

We ran into some problems with "Soul Meets Body" being a single because the chorus didn't come in for the first minute and a half. That was this huge big deal . . . because if the chorus doesn't come in the first minute and a half, nobody would want to hear the song on the radio, nobody's going to call and request it and it's going to be a big flop.

"Soul Meets Body" is and was our biggest song on the radio. It seems like "I Will Possess Your Heart" is right behind it. Some stations are even playing the long version.

I guess it just goes to show . . . if you give people a hook, they're willing to wait another 30 seconds for it, or maybe even three minutes if they know it's coming.

Q: You wrote some of the new songs at Jack Kerouac's cabin in Big Sur, Calif. How was it there?

A: Over the years, it's been built on many times. . . . Now it's basically a rustic vacation home.

It's really deep in this chasm. The sun doesn't really hit it until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and then the sun's gone. There's a beautiful walk down to the beach -- you can watch the sun set there.

It's very daunting, the idea of going somewhere by yourself and then deciding you're just going to sit down at a desk and just write, unbothered for two weeks. I'm a product of a generation that has many distractions, so going to a place with no distractions is one of the more distracting things that I've ever done.

Q: I heard you guys met the Dalai Lama recently.

A: Yeah. It was pretty wild.

I'm a very analytical person. My brain is wired for science. That's what I studied in school.

As we were in the presence of the Dalai Lama, there's this feeling of you're meeting Bono and Barack Obama and the pope, all wrapped into one.

It was a very moving experience.

But of course, in my analytical mind, as soon as the event had worn off I immediately started trying to analyze it and trying to figure out, "Now did I feel this way because I was taught to feel this way? Is this charisma real?"

I've never been floored and in awe of a person in my life the way I have in the presence of the Dalai Lama. Bruce Springsteen was close, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's something I know none of us will ever forget.