A Long Cab Ride to Stardom for Death Cab for Cutie

In 1997, in Bellingham, Washington, Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla began the band Death Cab for Cutie, taking the name from The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film, from a performance by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. Joined by Nick Hammer, they created what was, then, only a cassette release, "you can play these songs with chords" (the album was later expanded to include band rarities and released on CD by Barsuk records in 2002).

As the years, and two more albums, passed, the members realized that the band had become less of a college extra curricular activity and more of a career. To avoid becoming jaded about their music, they took some time off, time which Gibbard used to form the electro-pop ensemble, The Postal Service with Los Angeles producer Jimmy Tamborello (The Postal Service album, Give Up, sold more than 600,000 copies and lent songs to movie, television and commercial soundtracks).

In 2003 the band returned to Seattle, and to Barsuk, to release Transatlanticism. Although still considered an independent release, Transatlanticism led the band on a ride toward fame; a ride which was not hindered by Fox's The O.C.'s Seth Cohen's resounding declaration of his devotion to the band, or, for that matter, by a rendition of the title track sung by the younger members of the cast of HBO's Six Feet Under. The album could also be found lurking in the shadows of many other television and film soundtracks and references to the band began cropping up in other aspects of the media.

Even though it has been eight years since the college band produced their first cassette bound EP and even though Transatlanticism rocketed them into the public ear, as it were, 2005 marks Death Cab for Cutie's official break into mainstream musical society with their major label release of Plans in August, 2005, on Atlantic Records. According to the band, despite the name, there was no plan to the Plans album.

It simply fell together, spawned from the momentum of Transatlanticism and the world tour that accompanied. Plans is less of a follow-up and more a continuation of Transatlanticism. According to drummer Jason McGerr, "If Transatlanticism is the inhale then Plans is the exhale." It has also been referred to by Nick Hammer as the brother, or sister, album to Transatlanticism.