2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the formation of Death Cab For Cutie, and to celebrate they have released a rare audio recording of their very first show.
To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Death Cab For Cutie have released rare recording of their very first show, taped on a dictaphone in 1997.
As SPIN note, the show took the Saturday before Thanksgiving ’97, and frontman Ben Gibbard had just completed the demo tape, You Can Play These Songs With Chords.
Apparently just 25 people attended the acoustic performance, one of which taped the half hour set on a dictaphone.
In a statement, Gibbard writes, “None of us thought we were starting a band nor did our ambitions for DCFC extend very far past this particular evening. We simply thought it would be fun to play these songs for our friends before moving on to other things…It was one of the greatest nights of my life at the time and its significance has only grown since.”
Read the full statement and listen to the recording below via Bandcamp. You can download it here, all the proceeds from the release will go to Seattle non-profit Aurora Commons, a neighbourhood community organisation.
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This is a recording of the first ever Death Cab for Cutie show. It was made by our friend Trevor Adams on his dictaphone at The Pacer House in Bellingham, Washington on November 22, 1997. Sprawled across couches and sitting cross-legged on the floor were 25 of our closest friends and fellow musicians. Everyone played acoustic or semi-acoustic with no PA. Trevor made and passed bowl after bowl of microwave popcorn because he was (and I assume still is) a great host.
Chris Walla and I had just finished the ‘You Can Play These Songs with Chords’ cassette and we thought it would be fun to play a few shows around Bellingham to celebrate the release. We recruited Nick Harmer to play bass and Walla’s childhood friend Nathan Good to play drums. None of us thought we were starting a band nor did our ambitions for DCfC extend very far past this particular evening. We simply thought it would be fun to play these songs for our friends before moving on to other things.
I remain forever grateful to Trevor for inviting us to play in his living room 20 years ago today. It was one of the greatest nights of my life at the time and its significance has only grown since.
Benjamin Gibbard
Death Cab for Cutie
November 22, 2017
