“We’re just a bunch of average Joes,” says Death Cab For Cutie bassist Nick Harmer, trying his best to sound convincing. “We like running, going to the movies, we like talking about books and music, you know? That’s about it,” he laughs. “Until we put our instruments on – than all bets are off!”
You’d wager it takes more than a handful of mediocre Joe Blows to sell out venues around the world and amass a following of more than 2.5 million people on social media, all the while maintaining their reputation as one of the most influential and respected indie bands of the last 25 years. “Unless I’m standing onstage, I’m fairly anonymous in my life,” counters Harmer. “In fact, I’m very rarely recognised in any other context than a Death Cab show.”
Harmer claims to have flown under the radar many times in Australia – it’s one of the reasons he can’t wait to come back this month, as Death Cab For Cutie begin the Australian leg of their world tour on the back of their eighth studio album, Kintsugi. “I’ve taken a couple of vacations in Australia, independent of touring, and I try to visit as much as possible. It’s one of those countries that every time I leave, I’m a little sad that I can’t stay longer.”
The Washington State natives last toured here in 2012, and since that time have undergone some massive changes – the most significant being the departure of founding guitarist and keyboard player Chris Walla, who was also the band’s solitary producer up until the recording of Kintsugi. “One thing we’re trying to be clear about is that Chris was definitely with us during the entire recording process,” says Harmer. “He announced to us in the middle of making the album that this was going to be his last and that he was going to concentrate on other things in his life.”
Harmer admits that Walla’s decision came as a shock to all concerned, but adds that they made a point of carrying on as though it was business as usual. The cavalry arrived in the form of LA producer Rich Costey (Sigur Rós, Muse, Foster The People), and under his watchful eye Death Cab set about making their most important album since 2005’s Plans.
Another significant event that inevitably left its imprint on the album was the demise of frontman Ben Gibbard’s marriage to actor Zooey Deschanel and his subsequent return home to Seattle from Los Angeles. Gibbard’s signature songwriting style has always dealt with loss, love and heartbreak, and these themes take precedence in tracks like ‘Little Wanderer’, ‘The Ghosts Of Beverly Drive’ and ‘No Room In Frame’.
“A lot of the songs on this album really came out of a few years of demoing from Ben,” says Harmer. “He was looking back at a lot of things in his life that he’d been going through personally and reflecting on them. He’d also been listening to a few of our friends that had been going through some painful situations in their lives, too. He has an incredible talent for wrapping all these different experiences up into the format of a song. Similar to what I was saying before – we’ve always tried to be transparent in our lives and about the fact that when we’re not holding our instruments, we’re just normal guys doing normal things and experiencing life’s highs and lows.”
With that in mind, it’s easy to imagine the moment Harmer stumbled upon an art blog explaining the philosophy behind the Japanese art of kintsugi – repairing cracked ceramics with gold to highlight flaws instead of hiding them. He knew he’d found the perfect name for Death Cab’s very personal recordings.
“This band is our life’s work – we’re not going to slow down,” he says. “I’m very encouraged and excited about what lies ahead of us. I’m very proud of everything we’ve accomplished and I really love making music with Ben and Jason [McGerr, drums].
“It’s a gift that after 17 years of playing in this band I can stand onstage and it feels very fresh and new to me. It’s so inspiring – the atmosphere is electric, and I think Jason, Ben and I are reenergised spirits.”
Harmer is quick to give some of the credit for the band’s reawakening to their newly appointed touring members Dave Depper and Zac Rae, who’ve taken on the guitar and keyboard duties since Walla’s departure. “So far, we have [had] a really amazing time playing with Zac and Dave,” he says. “We’ve kind of built a brotherhood with them – we’ve known them for years, so they’re not just total strangers plucked out of nowhere.
“It’s also incredibly fun because we’ve never had five players up onstage with us before. Not only has it allowed us to do a great job of recreating all of the stuff that we wanted to on Kintsugi,but it’s also allowed us to go back to our old catalogue and rethink some of the material we’ve been playing live. With five people, we didn’t have to cut out little textures or counter-melodies. It’s just added a whole new depth and dynamic to the live show, and every night it really blows me away.”
Death Cab For Cutie’s album Kintsugi is out now through Warner. They play the Amphitheatre on Friday at 7:45pm at Splendour 2015, and Sydney Opera House on Saturday August 1 and Enmore Theatre on Sunday August 2.
