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Artist News Releases
Listen to Death Cab For Cutie’s first live show in 1997
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 23 November 2017
Marking their 20th anniversary, Death Cab For Cutie have released a recording of their first ever show in 1997.
The show was recorded on a Dictaphone in the living room of a friend, Trevor Adams, on 22 Nov 1997. The house gig took place after recording had been completed on a demo album for what was then a solo project for Ben Gibbard.
“Sprawled across couches and sitting crosslegged on the floor were 25 of our closest friends and fellow musicians”, recalls Gibbard. “Everyone played acoustic or semi-acoustic with no PA. Trevor made and passed [around] bowl after bowl of microwave popcorn because he was (and I assume still is) a great host”.
He continues: “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”, he concludes. “It was one of the greatest nights of my life at the time and its significance has only grown since”.
All proceeds from the sale of the recording will be donated to Seattle-based homelessness charity The Aurora Commons.
Stream and download the show here:
