Have Death Cab, Will Travel

On Friday, Lisa and I caught the world premiere of Drive Well, Sleep Carefully, a documentary that follows Death Cab For Cutie during the last few weeks of its Spring, 2004 tour. The film is currently running at The Seattle International Film Festival. Just to get this out of the way, initially I was disappointed that the film didn't cover a longer period of time on the tour. And I was disappointed that it wasn't an insider's view of what happens to bands on tour: no scenes of what's going on in the tour bus; no fights between band members; no perspective from the road crew; no comments from individual fans; no drug or alcohol binges. In fact, save for a few moments (the usual contrasting the way they used to tour -- crammed in a van; inspirations and the song-writing process; the honesty to say that they weren't going to stay with their independent label forever), the interviews with the band didn't provide much insight, keeping us at arm's length. But I realized that this is part of the band's personality: private, low-key, no fuss, business-like, punctual. We did get some glimpses of what the band is like away from the stage and what they do before shows. I particularly liked the scene of playing catch in front of the stage. Guns and Roses, they are not. They're the anti-rockstar band, well-behaved, honest, and unpretentious.

But let's get to the good stuff. The lack of revealing dialogue gives way to amazing concert footage, with many closeups of the musicians from the side of the stage. It made you feel like you were a roadie, waiting for your chance to run onstage to hand Ben Gibbard a freshly-tuned guitar, or maybe a towel to the ever sweating Nick Harmer. The performances, mainly comprised of songs from their latest album, Transatlanticism are energetic, which is always surprising, given that by the time the film crew caught up with the band, the band had been on the road for a long time, playing the same songs over and over. The band realizes that playing the songs can get exhausting and tiresome, but to their credit, they make it sound new and put on a good show for their grateful fans. Appreciation should be given to the film's director to show complete song performances, and limiting interruptions and cutaways. My favorites were "We Laugh Indoors", "We Looked Like Giants", and the brutally honest "Tiny Vessels".

The last show of the tour was at The Showbox, at home in Seattle. Lisa and I happened to be at that show, and I remember sitting in the farthest corner of the club, blown away. I bought their music a while back, but I had never seen them live before. They were on the verge of great things, with their unique style of pop, poignant lyrics (may Ben never get away from his semi-depressed Elliot Smith-like songwriting) and versatility. It was an honor be a witness to it. I really haven't been the same since. I place Ben Gibbard alongside Grant Lee Phillips as the great musicians and songwriters of our time. Lisa and I love Death Cab, and this year, to honor our pact of going out of town at least once a year to see a concert, we're headed to NYC in August to watch the band play the Central Park concert series. I guess we're Death Heads.