Here you go:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/ben-gibbard-of-death-cab-for-cutie,16766/

Seems like it was made during the Neil Young tour, and focuses a lot on the Airplanes re-issue, but more importantly how it was made. Good read.

Thanks for sharing it's so interesting

Well I enjoy reading the part that Ben recalls the days when Chris and he are young thus simple and fearless. Like their whole world's a small recording bedroom filled with the love for music.


& I really really want to know if they still keep the $1,000 microphone...cuz that could be the very first valuable (or costly) remembrance of DCFC......

quote:

Originally posted by Kkibou:
Thanks for sharing it's so interesting

Well I enjoy reading the part that Ben recalls the days when Chris and he are young thus simple and fearless. Like their whole world's a small recording bedroom filled with the love for music.


& I really really want to know if they still keep the $1,000 microphone...cuz that could be the very first valuable (or costly) remembrance of DCFC......

Chris probably still has it. AKG 414s are super-useful mics.

Wow that was probably the best ben interview i've read. Looks like they caught him in a particularly reflective mood (or he liked them). I should be less surprised than I am about the truth about the reason for fact's name, and I'm surprised he'd actually come out and say what.he thinks their weakest record is - though I guess it's not that surprising a choice

He has always refered to the era around Photo as the worst in their career as well as it being their worst album ... i don't agree, but apparently it was rushed and they could've done better. To me, the fact that it was rushed out, and still sounds the way it does is just damn amazing.

The fact that he admits it was rushed makes me feel a lot better about songs like Information Travels Faster and Coney Island (two of the weakest Death Cab songs ever). I love how Chris worked at Starbucks. He loses so many hipster points for that one.

OT: I should take out the money I have in my Apple stock and buy some gear. Maybe I will be placed on a similar lifeline.

To me the difference of recording quality on hte Photo Album is what's amazing.

The $1000 AKG mic story was hilarious. It's always hard to explain microphone purchases to people (especially parents). People seem to just assume that a microphone is like a $27.99 investment or something. I remember one time I was just getting a backup 57 or something for around $100 and one of my friends was flipping out that a mic could cost $100 haha. It's like the cheapest you can go for a mic.

Yeah, Steven, I know exactly what you mean. I was picking up a 57 over the holidays and my parents were like, "What? $100? Don't they have them at Costco?" I feel like recording is one of the toughest things to explain to people outside the field.

quote:

Originally posted by pile of wood:
Yeah, Steven, I know exactly what you mean. I was picking up a 57 over the holidays and my parents were like, "What? $100? Don't they have them at Costco?" I feel like recording is one of the toughest things to explain to people outside the field.

The funny thing about 57's is that they are the costco mics hahaha. I wouldn't be surprised to see like a set of 3 of them at costco for $250 some day.

It's embarassing, but I did some research on that mic they're talking about and it's supposedly a great mic... there were some reviews on the Japanese site I go to and much to my surprise one of the guys was saying how well it goes with the Australian NT2As that I picked up late last year (which people seem to be busting a nut over because they're relatively cheap and have great qualities). I think I'm gonna get a C414B-XLII once I get settled in. It seems like you can't go wrong with it.

what a fantastic interview! he certianly was in a reflective mood, although interviews with the AV club in the past have more often than not been the most in depth and enlightening reads that the band have done.

i find it really interesting becuase i came to the band around 2001-2002, when they were still relatively unknown on a major scale, and everything felt very different back then. its amazing how much has changed this decade, how prevalent the iternet and new media has become in shaping peoples opinions of what music is, indie rock cultures new found status through the OCs and garden states and the like. i long for the innocent days too, the idealised times when things all seemed in front of us and much less complicated...

i love the photo album. i dont think it sounds rushed at all. it was a very fertile point in regards to bens songwriting, and it was a turning point from the more obscure to the more literal imagry which permeates the last few albums.

i admire how bens willing to open up about things, all these little stories which come out in interviews like this about ben and chris cashing out to buy a microphone and learing the story behind the album titles. this stuff is like gold for me! a lot of bands and songwriters hastily dismiss there early period, or, claim that they haven't changed at all. ben seems far more tuned in, and honest about it. he aknowledges the changes that have happened over time and can see where and how and perhaps why they have occured. and its what sets him apart from a lot of other songwriters i think.

quote:

Originally posted by Edison:
i admire how bens willing to open up about things, all these little stories which come out in interviews like this about ben and chris cashing out to buy a microphone and learing the story behind the album titles. this stuff is like gold for me! a lot of bands and songwriters hastily dismiss there early period, or, claim that they haven't changed at all. ben seems far more tuned in, and honest about it. he aknowledges the changes that have happened over time and can see where and how and perhaps why they have occured. and its what sets him apart from a lot of other songwriters i think.

Yea! I feel like a lot of the interviews I've read recently have been stifled by something- and now he suddenly opened up! I think it's really great. Maybe I'm weird, but for some reason it's stories like these that can make a band so much more interesting (i used to hate that idea... maybe even a few months ago).

The band called The Band has a lot of wonderful stories, too... that's one of the things that makes them so great! I hope DCFC keeps telling some stories like these...

"We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes came from a thrift-store T-shirt that our friend found."


THANK YOU JESUS!!! I've been wondering where that title came from for years!!!!!!!



awesome interview by the way

quote:

Originally posted by Steven.:

quote:

Originally posted by Edison:
i admire how bens willing to open up about things, all these little stories which come out in interviews like this about ben and chris cashing out to buy a microphone and learing the story behind the album titles. this stuff is like gold for me! a lot of bands and songwriters hastily dismiss there early period, or, claim that they haven't changed at all. ben seems far more tuned in, and honest about it. he aknowledges the changes that have happened over time and can see where and how and perhaps why they have occured. and its what sets him apart from a lot of other songwriters i think.

Yea! I feel like a lot of the interviews I've read recently have been stifled by something- and now he suddenly opened up! I think it's really great. Maybe I'm weird, but for some reason it's stories like these that can make a band so much more interesting (i used to hate that idea... maybe even a few months ago).

The band called The Band has a lot of wonderful stories, too... that's one of the things that makes them so great! I hope DCFC keeps telling some stories like these...

Stories can definately make a band more interesting for me also... I seem to fall in love with bands who could easily be much bigger than they are/were but for some reason, something went wrong, and they never were.... like the Zombies - one year after their breakup they have a huge hit with "Time of the Season" from one of the greatest psychedelic pop albums of the 60's (Odessey & Oracle). But when they first released it as a final attempt at "making it" noone cared ...

quote:

Originally posted by Kasper:

quote:

Originally posted by Steven.:

quote:

Originally posted by Edison:
i admire how bens willing to open up about things, all these little stories which come out in interviews like this about ben and chris cashing out to buy a microphone and learing the story behind the album titles. this stuff is like gold for me! a lot of bands and songwriters hastily dismiss there early period, or, claim that they haven't changed at all. ben seems far more tuned in, and honest about it. he aknowledges the changes that have happened over time and can see where and how and perhaps why they have occured. and its what sets him apart from a lot of other songwriters i think.

Yea! I feel like a lot of the interviews I've read recently have been stifled by something- and now he suddenly opened up! I think it's really great. Maybe I'm weird, but for some reason it's stories like these that can make a band so much more interesting (i used to hate that idea... maybe even a few months ago).

The band called The Band has a lot of wonderful stories, too... that's one of the things that makes them so great! I hope DCFC keeps telling some stories like these...

Stories can definately make a band more interesting for me also... I seem to fall in love with bands who could easily be much bigger than they are/were but for some reason, something went wrong, and they never were.... like the Zombies - one year after their breakup they have a huge hit with "Time of the Season" from one of the greatest psychedelic pop albums of the 60's (Odessey & Oracle). But when they first released it as a final attempt at "making it" noone cared ...

Does that mean you like Youth Group due to Forever Young? Or do they get disqualified because now they think they are decent?