Photo Credit: Eliot Lee Hazel
DEATH CAB
for CUTIE
Photo Credit: Chris Rhoads
Records. By now, Nathan Good has been
added on the bass guitar and Walla was
taking on the task of producing. The album
includes the track “The Face That Launched
1000 Shits,” which is a cover of the original
song by label-founders Revolutionary Hydra.
1998–1999
The indie music scene begins praising Death
Cab following their first official album
release. The band plays a set at the 1999
iteration of the South by Southwest (SXSW)
festival, alongside artists like Tom Waits,
Built To Spill, Spoon, and The Flaming
Lips. They are eventually introduced to their
longtime manager Jordan Kurland, who had
attempted to see them at SXSW after hearing
the buzz. Although he did not make it to
the show, he later met them while touring
with another client. The same year, the band
began recording their next album.
MARCH 21, 2000
Death Cab for Cutie’s first-ever concept
album, We Have the Facts and We’re Voting
Yes, is released with no singles. Once
again produced by Walla and recorded in
The Hall of Justice, the album showed a
band playing through growing pains. Good
had unexpectedly left the band during the
recording process, and Gibbard was filling
in on drums. Gibbard plays the drums on
all tracks, except for on the Good-featuring
“The Employment Pages” and “Company
Calls Epilogue.” Despite the difficulties, the
album still received positive reviews. About
a week after its release, Pitchfork granted the
album a score of 7.5.
OCTOBER 24, 2000
The Forbidden Love EP is released,
featuring the newly-joined Michael Schorr
on drums. Two of the tracks are alternate
takes on songs originally released on their
previous album.
OCTOBER 9, 2001
The third studio album, The Photo Album, is
released on Barsuk and on the
London-based label Fierce Panda. The
album’s three singles – “A Movie Script
Ending,” “I Was a Kaleidoscope,” and “We
Laugh Indoors” – all charted on the U.K.
Singles Chart for the first time.
OCTOBER 31, 2001
Amidst a wave of success, Walla and
Gibbard begin feeling the pressure and