Harmer’s modesty is endearing, but it takes more than a handful of Joe Blows to sell millions of albums and consistently pack out venues worldwide, all while maintaining a reputation as one of the most influential and respected bands in indie rock. “Unless I’m standing on stage, I’m fairly anonymous in my life,” Harmer insists. “In fact I’m very rarely recognised in any other context than a Death Cab show.”
Harmer claims to have flown under the radar many times in Australia, which is one of the reasons he can’t wait to come back next month. Regular visitors over the last 15 years, the Seattle foursome are coming back in support of their eighth studio album Kintsugi.
“I’ve taken a couple of vacations in Australia, independent of touring, and I try to visit as much as possible,” he says. “It’s one of those countries that every time I leave, I’m a little sad that I can’t stay longer.”
Since their last trip to Oz in early 2012, Death Cab have undergone some monumental changes – the most profound of which being the recent departure of founding guitarist and keyboard player Chris Walla, who was also the band’s in house producer. “One thing we’re trying to be clear about is that Chris was definitely with us during the entire recording process,” Harmer says. “He announced to us in the middle of making the album that this was going to be his last and that he was going to concentrate on other things in his life.”
While Walla’s decision came as a shock to all concerned, the band made a point of carrying on with business as usual. They had help from LA producer Rich Costey (Sigur Ros, Muse, Foster the People), whose input enabled Death Cab to make their most important album since 2005’s Plans.
Another significant event that left an imprint on the album was the demise of frontman Ben Gibbard’s marriage to actress Zooey Deschanel and his subsequent return to Seattle from Los Angeles. Gibbard’s songwriting has always dealt with loss, love and heartbreak, and these themes take precedent in tracks like Little Wanderer, The Ghosts of Beverly Drive and No Room In Frame.
“A lot of the songs on this album really came out of a few years of demo-ing from Ben,” Harmer says. “He was looking back at a lot of things in his life that he’d been going through personally and reflecting on them. He’d also been listening to a few of our friends that had been going through some painful situations in their lives too. He has an incredible talent for wrapping all these different experiences up into the format of a song. Similar to what I was saying before, we’ve always tried to be transparent in our lives and about the fact that, when we’re not holding our instruments, we’re just normal guys doing normal things and experiencing life’s highs and lows.”
With that in mind, it’s easy to imagine the eureka moment when Harmer stumbled upon the Japanese art of kintsugi, which involves repairing cracked ceramics with gold to highlight flaws instead of hiding them. “This band is our life’s work,” he says. “We’re not going to slow down. I’m very encouraged and excited about what lies ahead of us. I’m very proud of everything we’ve accomplished and I really love making music with Ben and Jason [McGerr, drums]. It’s a gift that after seventeen years of playing in this band I can stand on stage and it feels very fresh and new to me. It’s so inspiring – the atmosphere is electric and I think Jason, Ben and I are re-energised spirits.”
BY NATALIE ROGERS
