Variety Mix; 418; Death Cab for Cutie (recorded 2002-02-20)

Now I'm going to attack my 90.3 FM KEX PC at all. Our L Burnside wrapping up that set with Miss Maybell from the Mississippi Hill Country Blues release. Wow. That was loud. Right before that, Martin Mulan and you heard the Matthew Ship Quartet, Nick Drake starting the set with Pink Moon. That's the whole thing. My name's Matt. I'm filling in for Stevie Zoom this now afternoon and right in front of me I've got Ben and Chris from Death Cab for QD who are going to play live and acoustic for us. How are you doing?

Very well. Sweet. You guys going to play song? Yes. Okay. Why don't you go ahead? What song do we play? This is called I was a kaleidoscope, I put on my overcome and walked into winter my teeth and chatted rhythms and they were grouped into his or threes like a morris code message was sent from me to me and cars on slippery slopes were stuck people pushing through their mittens as I was beginning to feel it soaking through my shoes getting colder with every step I took to your apartment here and I was a kaleidoscope the snow on my lenses

distorting the image of what was only one of you and I didn't know which one to address is all your lips removed and this is what I forget to breathe and all the things I scripted they sound unfounded and it's that look that you're giving me that tells me exactly what you are thinking the same working anymore they got their mothers worked into a panic sliding down hills into one coming traffic and parents layered close until the children

got to move and then left them outside so their noses would move and I got left there so I put on my overcome and walked into winter my teeth chatted rhythms and they were grouped into his or threes like a morris code message was sent from me to me 90.3 FM KEXP hey that was death cap for cutie playing live at least Ben and Chris from death cap I was a kaleidoscope I went to a public high school I can do math yeah and hey stop it now bottle right sweet okay so I'd like to talk to you for a couple seconds

you guys just came back from tour in Spain and England by the way Michael and Nick are both here and if you can shot into a mic in some fashion that would be cool to if any of you have answers to these questions you just got back from touring over there what's you know Seattle crowds known for being a little bit subdued did you notice a difference in the crowds over there the Spanish crowds were very exuberant I think is a nice word did they dance they did funny things funny strange or funny haha funny all of the above just funny funny all right cute funny yeah yeah totally swell what about England did you just stand and stare there were American crabs there virtually all Americans actually what it was it was all 20 year old American exchange students yeah I was in England fair enough yeah I think we might have given our label in the UK maybe like not

necessarily accurate portrayal of how how well we do in in the London area based on the amount of Americans were at the shows like who are in England at the moment yeah kind of like stuff in the ballot box as far as you know you cheated we kind of did yeah no English people gave a damn about five I think maybe yeah no it was it was it was actually really it was pretty humorous just to realize how many Americans were just traveling overseas we're going to school and end up showing up the shows so there's some guys in this band with dietary restrictions vegetarian and veganism and all that what's it like dealing with that in Spain and England well luckily or depending on I look at it there are no more vegans in the band but they're really no but there are there are three vegetarians and it was it was the concept of vegetarianism just does not it just doesn't transfer like it doesn't translate I should say okay in Spain people there people eat meat and lots of it and you don't not eat meat so the there's really no option to not eat meat it's

very difficult so what what so what happened I mean did you just I mean did you tell them no meat please one of the things that we experienced is that like an incidental meat is not really considered to be meat like say say like if something comes with ground beef on top that's not me so you can order something vegetarian and come with a ground beef on top meat is a piece of meat yeah yeah if you if you're ordering meat you get steak yeah then the other thing is that there's like sometimes when you order something without meat they think you're doing it like to save money okay and like the Spanish people are wonderful and they're really nice and there are times where they'll like they'll bring it to you with meat anyway and they'll be like oh it's on me don't worry about it thank you gracias right yeah yeah by the way is there a language barrier thing at all I mean to most people speak English in Spain no no no the Spanish people speak like six different varieties of Spanish and they don't even understand one another from city to city like we had to bring it we had to have like a translator a lot when we were in the

northwest because he couldn't the guy who was with us we're off I couldn't understand the dialect up north wow it's really crazy pretty bizarre as a country like half the size of Texas and they have five different languages well I'll be damned hot diggity yeah hey okay enough chat that was fun right why another song is I suck at interviewing okay I think this is going rather well you think so yeah I wouldn't get down on yourself thank you Ben hey I think we're in good shape I'm gonna move this mic again yeah yeah that's awesome hey Chris can you play a little guitar really quick oh great okay that'll work this song is called Technicolor Girls and the conversations continue and we'll sleep

Technicolor boys transistor radio plastic they're troubled and they argue men saw disputed after school in the parking lot as the teacher's bands patiently waiting for courting boys and braids but everyone would know

what the letter jacket wasn't yours to own and it proved to be on a temporary one they all the truth will be understood

that didn't turn out the way I thought it was it was rather charming wasn't it yeah we'll call it charming all right so that was definitely playing five an acoustic it was fine it was good as a DJ I know people love it when you mess up because that shows your human you're not just perfect and plastic right so that's just that's right that happens a lot I imagine more than you think actually it's a little bit of grit he's a little bit some character draw it in is that right right in and right in

sweet wow hey that was really really pretty it wasn't a certain point yeah so I should comment that I think that better I have both like we've each had two or three packets of therapy today just for fun or what now we're just sick is tick is all darn get out and stuff that stuff works yeah it totally works I can't feel my life always right I hit the therapy pretty hard yeah that's right yeah those are the days yeah those were the days can I use be used for recreational purposes why not sure just cut a few lines all right tricks are too yeah can be a tricks he's midnight runner you know what I'm sorry do you just make that up wow you're a witty fell so it's been a long road I guess how well how long ago did this become a band death that death cat for Katie going from being just like a side project for you to be coming a band what was that like four years ago I guess it was like 97 or so 97 almost five years ago coming up on five years ago five years ago and three full length albums you ever played

with a band that you were just thrilled the pieces to be playing on a bill with yeah that's my ears name name a couple that that just possum Dixon we got to play a show with the first like year we were a band and they were like my favorite thing in the world yeah sweet anybody else China says Michael yeah we played five shows with China and they're fantastic we've got yeah the plan tour the dismember death and dismemberment tour that's right beginning at the EMP on Friday that's right you're playing live here we got a rock show I hope we can remember the song better than we do today now it's not maybe we should just cancel the whole thing I don't want to do any more do you know the fellows in the dismemberment plan very well yeah we've got to know them we met we met them last year on when we're touring through Manhattan DC and we kind of send each other like fan males back and forth like you know I think your band's great like oh we like your band too it's kind of

you know just talking back and forth and the campus I can't remember exactly who pitched the idea of the death and dismemberment tour I can't remember who came up with that phrase but like we were all sitting around just talking about it and it was just like oh we can't not do it yeah I'd like the death and dismemberment tour we can't not do it it has to happen it's too good of a name it's true yeah but they're great I mean I think I see they're very much similar to us as people and in and I think and just you know we get along with them rather well so it's gonna be a fun trip I think and a veil as well on this tour is this their first tour do you know it's not their first no I think they've been out a couple times yeah yeah it's okay it's a first tour then wow you guys are Michael's correcting me that's that's cool they're they're a great band and they're super swell people yeah but I I hear there's a burrito restaurant they're gonna take us to outside of San Diego and they've mandated that we're going there there's no way we're getting out of it okay and Jeff's vegan so you're gonna have to help him out yeah I think he's got figured out though yeah we

talked about that at one point that's good I think he's buying a bunch of food and he's gonna have like a cooler cliff bars and right nice snatch so if you guys weren't in a rock band what would you be doing I would mean I'd like to call you for members of the band on this one by the way you'd be making coffee I'd probably still be making coffee at Starbucks and I'd be I just said Starbucks I'm really sorry whatever and I and I and I also I'd probably I'd probably still be making records on my track course I'm still making records on my track anyway sometimes yeah so mister man what about you I would imagine I'd probably be possibly still at the same job I was when I'm this band star I was working at this oil refinery ferndale surprised like doing environmental testing and and just doing a lot of weird stream sample chemical analysis kind of stuff did you wear a lab coat I did have a lab coat a fireproof lab he was sexy in his lab coat and I had I had a jumpsuit as well what did you wear under the lab coat I'm wide wear jeans have you seen Tom of Finland no it looks

like that oh yeah but the great thing is when you had to wear the jumpsuits you could just go just with your with your gotchies on and yeah it was not sweet especially in the summer very comfortable yeah so all right Nick what would you be doing if you weren't in a rock band I'd probably still be in school yeah maybe I would be in some strange theater group somewhere doing plays and performance art just in excuse to get naked and stage or some plays you can study that there's no reason for you not afraid not really this band what about you Mike I'd probably go back to school I'd like to my ultimate fantasy would be like design video games or something silly like that cool so how long you think you can ride this rock band thing before it fistles out I don't I don't see any reason why this can't keep going on forever I'm yeah like a hundred years that was such a negative thing for me to see it's not really yeah so you're hoping that you'll be able to do this forever and always well with the new developments in cloning technology true I

mean with that little kitten that they did right at Tech Sam I mean I think humans are definitely next oh I mean they're theoretically well man our astronauts already got that whole thing we're not real clones maybe you guys should do a kitten tour right like a clone kitten thing like all death cap members in kittens somehow kitten form kitties have for kittens I like kitties yeah you got to credit me if you ever do that okay okay all do that's it's filed away up here yeah yeah you're pointing out okay how are you Dr. Nichols are you all right I'm feeling okay okay good but you know I've never really interviewed a band let alone like beyond during the daytime because there's a Stevie zoom slot but it's nice to be here and it's nice that you guys are here with me it's fine I meant Stevie last night at the airport that's right because Stevie went to Cuba with your girlfriend that's right they had it whoops oh man scandal all over now so you met Stevie yeah and he was he was right not nice for just having up back from a trip from to Cuba with my girlfriend yeah yeah you didn't act funny or anything no no he didn't act funny it was nice

he's a nice belly he's a good guy and I'm sure tomorrow is gonna have many many many many songs to play from his trip because I heard that your girlfriend was tell me he picked up quite a few records when he was in Cuba yep excitement I mean first this and now that damn Todd Diggity the midday is once again this week you want to play another song for us sure okay sweet what are you gonna play we're gonna play a song off our last LP what song is that your on player yeah long player contact disc really yeah but that's just tech talk really I'm sorry yeah it's too much jargon yeah fire on this room I don't you know it's this it's called company calls up a log and I think this one will probably go better than the last one god I sure hope so I want to hear that back actually I see how fast I got all those words in the like ones all right we'll send a copy to your folks okay yeah please do synapse the synapse the possibilities then I'm dressed up for free drinks and family greetings on your wedding you're wedding your wedding day

figures and plastic on the wedding cake so I kept distance the complications cloud the postcards and blips fiber optics as the girls with the pigtails were running from little boys wearing bow ties their parents bought them all catch you this time crashing through the parlor doors what was your first reaction screaming drunk disorderly I'll tell you why you were the one but I can't

spit it out when the dates pants said the wire would seem to be unjust so they can drive up and down the main drive people would turn to see is making the right

kid it's not the first time when they lay down the fish will swim upstream and I'll contest but they won't listen when the casual pension for second best one for harm screaming drunk disorderly I'll tell you why you were the one but I can't spit it out

when the dates pants said the wire would seem to be unjust cute You were the one, but I can't spit it out. The date's been set, the wide routine, to be ingested and accurately.

You just played like one of my favorite songs that you guys have ever recorded. That was great. Thank you. That was Ben and Chris from Death Capricuity, playing acoustically. That was company calls Epilogue. Very nice. Thank you. All right. A couple more questions. Now, I want to do a little bit, a short amount of Death Cap 101. For instance, the band name. I know it's been written in like every article, every time. You know, there's an interview or anything like that. But let's just one more time for fun. Where'd you get the name? Death Capricuity. It's a name of a Bonzo Dog Song, which was this kind of 60s British spoof band. And they played it in the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour movie. The song with Death Capricuity was played in the movie. Was the band in the movie?

The band was in the movie as well, playing the song. The dream sequence, right? Was John Lennon's shoveling spaghetti up or something? No, it's actually, it's at the end. There's a strip show involved. And they're at a strip club and the band's playing in the background. Death Capricuity. Well, a young lady's taking her clothes off. It's very wholesome. John and Paul are really high, and I think it's really funny. Right. Okay. Um, what was, oh, yeah. So Bellingham, you're from Bellingham. You moved down here a couple of years ago. How come? Hmm. Um, yeah. Let's go back. Well, you can't think of a good reason. So we're going to go back. Yeah. It was just, it's a business decision. No, it wasn't really a business decision. I mean, in a college town full of 20 somethings, you really only have like five years worth of sort of emotional and or social development that can happen. And then it starts to feel like it's happening again. Because people are just cycling through and then you have to get out.

So you felt restless. Yeah, it's like they hand you a, they hand you like a ticket when you get in a town. And then like, like to take it explodes. If you don't leave the city within five years. So do you go back to Bellingham to visit much? Um, I have, we have friends still up there, but it's kind of, you know, I think coming to Seattle was something that at least I personally had planned to do regardless of any kind of, I think all of us, any kind of band activities. Just absolutely. We finished school. It was like, well, you, you, you go to the city after you finish school. You know, and that's just kind of the idea. Yeah. I mean, I still have, we still have a couple of friends up there, but virtually everybody that we're close with from, from Bellingham years, either lives in Seattle or, or has moved somewhere else. So, I mean, there's a couple of people up there still, but they're, they're also in the process of like, I got to get out of here. You know, I've been here too long. I got to get out of here. You know, there's a fellow named Brent Cole, you, you know, who I'm talking about. He runs, he runs a little magazine up there called What's Up. And, uh, Brett and I email occasionally, and he talks about how he is very staunchly in support of people who stay in Bellingham.

And that's not much love for people who lead. Is, is, is paper published in National article about us after we laugh. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah. Actually, Brett and I have debated an email many times about, you know, is it really worthwhile to spit so much venom at a city? Because that's what he does. He hates Seattle and loves Bellingham. And, you know, our music scene's good and yours is bad. And the people here are good and the people there are bad. I don't know. It seems kind of weird. Oh, I mean, I hate beat. But you're not going to go like shoving your opinion on somebody else. I'm not angry about it. You could start a magazine, though. I hate beats. That's what it's called. I hate beats.org. Very nice. Lovely. So you're planning on Friday at the MP, the beginning of the death and dismemberment tour. You're going around the country. Dude. Yeah. Word. What after that? What's the plan for the band or not the band or whatever? What are you doing? We're taking a break. Okay. All right. That's what I can do for how long. I don't know exactly.

It's kind of, it's, I think that we're not going to do anything really at all for the summer and then we're going to reconvene and the fall and start working on some new stuff. I think we're going to try and just move slowly for the next record and like try some different things and just kind of see what happens a little bit. And we've all got like different stuff we're doing. Like Ben's down a record with them. With this guy from L.A. and Jimmy Tamarello, I guess it's going to be called Postal Service. That's the idea. What's that about? He's, he did a record under the name Dintel recently and he kind of had a lot of different guest vocalists singing on the songs when I was down visiting. Some friends I went over and did a song with him and it went well and it's just kind of, he just, he just does a lot, it's kind of dance-y electronic stuff and he's just sending me the music and I'm just, you know, putting words and melodies to it and kind of cutting things up and moving it around. It's a fun little project. It's coming together well so far. So sweet.

So you're just going to kind of just, I don't know, do your own side projects or whatever. Oh yeah. I mean we've all got stuff going on. I mean I think Nick's going to, Nick's in the process of making a movie or writing a script or something. And he's, he's going to learn how to make furniture this summer. Cool. And Michael I'm sure is going to cover a television record with Tracker. I think that's the plan. And he's probably also going to write code for video games. And you're going to produce album. And I'm going to live in the studio. And I'm going to turn into a mole because there's no windows in there. What's it like running a studio that bleach was recorded in? I know that's kind of a silly question. Does the place still smell like flannel or what? Um, it, yeah it does. How's that? This is Grunt Smell. You know, the record, the over and over and over the record that freaks me out the most. Because there's so many records that have been done at that space. The older, super cool space, the old John and Stu spaces now. The Holocaust. The Holocaust is our studio. And like there's all all subpop stuff was done there. And then like a lot of the killer rock star stuff did the 90. The record that kills me over and over that was done there was the,

um, the team Josh personal best record. Is like that's every day when I unlocked the door. I was like, wow, personal best. But you know what? I hate to correct you on air. Oh, that's right. That's right. That's right. I always thought it was done at John of Tuesday. Sorry. Sorry. So when you walk in, now you can start going. That record wasn't recorded here. That was a max. All right. Well, um, I just said the bad thing in the air. Oh, no. Is the, um, so anyways. All right. It was lovely having you boys down. It was like, we're done now. Was it really? Yeah. Um, go see death camp for cutie. I mean, if you already have a ticket since I believe it's sold out Friday at the EMP with Aveo and the dismemberment plan. And, uh, yeah, I guess that's about the deal. Thanks for coming. No problem. Thanks for having us. It was my pleasure. All right. Now, I'm going to tell you the music. Now this is KELC Seattle. Ha ha ha. Hey, thank, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, it's the major seven in there. Yeah, it's the major seven in there. You're punk rock connection, K-E-X-P Did you get that? Okay, cool Then what are we doing from now? What was Matt and I called out? What was that? Was he ever sure? No, he wanted one for, uh, Mario Yeah, it was time, bro Yeah, I know, I know it's time It comes out, like, next, what do you think is something?

Yeah, it comes out really soon Who's putting it out? Um, I also don't expect it out No, okay Which means it's not really coming out Yeah We just do all the same, like, like, just do the same song for everyone Let's do a really dry straight one Mine, this is Ben from Dead for CUNY You're listening to the only station That doesn't make me feel sick This is Benjeman Giberd from Death Cab for CUNY You're listening to the only station That doesn't make me physically ill 90.3, K-E-X-P Normally, when I flip around the channel, I get really mad Can I find 90.3, and I'm not mad

It doesn't make me mad Check Hello, this is Benjeman Giberd from Death Cab for CUNY You're listening to the only station that doesn't make me physically ill 90.3, K-E-X-P, Seattle Are you ready? Hi there, this is Chris from Death Cab for CUNY You're listening to Matt Nichols overnight on K-E-X-P, Seattle You're listening to the station

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