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• Ben Gibbard is an American indie rock musician and the frontman for the bands Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service. He is often recognized for his distinctively soft and textured vocals.

  On July 5, 2009, Death Cab for Cutie will make their Hollywood Bowl debut alongside the LA Philharmonic orchestra.http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-bowl21-2009jun21,0,807260.story

• Fast Facts

  1. Full Name: Benjamin D. Gibbard
  2. Birth Date: August 11, 1976
  3. Birthplace: Bremerton, Washington
  4. Lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service
  5. Was in jazz band in high school
  6. Played for the bands Odd Fellows Local and The Junk Puppets in high school
  7. Takes inspiration from Jack Kerouac
  8. Is vegan and an advocate for animal rights
  9. Engaged to actress Zooey Deschanel

• Background

  Upon graduation from high school, Ben Gibbard left for Bellingham to attend Western Washington University, where he would graduate with a degree in environmental chemistry. It was during this time that he joined a band called Pinwheel and first met Chris Walla.

• Death Cab for Cutie

  After Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla met, Walla began to produce songs Gibbard had already been working on under the name Death Cab for Cutie. In order to play the songs live, however, a band was needed. Gibbard recruited his roommate Nick Harmer, who at the time was a dj for the campus radio station, to play bass and Nathan Good to play drums.

  The band's debut album, Something About Airplanes, was released in 1998 on the Seattle label Barsuk. Barsuk would go on to release three more of their albums before they signed with major label Atlantic Records in 2004.

• All-Time Quarterback

  In-between tours in the Spring of 1999, Ben Gibbard embarked on his first solo project, recording a series of songs which he did not think worked for Death Cab for Cutie. Using a guitar, four track, and a few old keyboards, he released the songs as two separate EPs under the moniker All-Time Quarterback and followed up with a short solo tour before rejoining Death Cab for Cutie to record their second album. In 2002, both EPs were no longer in print. Barsuk combined the best tracks from both EPs along with a video for the song "Plans Get Complex" and released them as a self-titled album. The video was the first one ever shot by Aaron Stewart-Ahn, who would go on to co-direct Death Cab for Cutie's recent single "I Will Possess Your Heart."

• The Postal Service

  Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborella formed The Postal Service as a side project and released their first album, Give Up, in 2003 on Sub Pop. Neither Gibbard nor Tamborella were prepared for the overwhelming success of the album, which garnered a positive reception from fans and critics alike. The album went on to become Sub Pop's second most successful album after Nirvana's debut Bleach. Although Gibbard has said a second album will eventually be produced, he has given no indication of when, nor has he hidden the fact that his main priority is with his other band, Death Cab for Cutie.

• Quotes

  "I think my high school bands were basically like anybody's high school bands, an amalgam of every potential new influence in your life all jammed into one pretty terrible band."Kitsap Sun: Q&A with Death Cab for Cutie Frontman Ben Gibbard

  "In a weird way, if you want to generalize my general outlook on life, it's a sense of romanticism filtered through this pessimistic realism, having a hard time enjoying something when you know there's an end to it. I can't imagine that would make a very good first dance by any stretch of the imagination!"Washington Post: Death Cab, Full Speed Ahead (October 21, 2005)

• Related Mahalo Pages

  The Postal Service | Death Cab for Cutie | Rilo Kiley | Jenny Lewis | Chris Walla | The Shins | Bright Eyes | Nirvana | Kurt Cobain | Pedro the Lion | Zooey Deschanel

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