{"id":2446148,"date":"2026-06-05T10:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2446148"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:30:08","slug":"death-cabs-ben-gibbard-on-enduring-divorce-and-going-indie-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/death-cabs-ben-gibbard-on-enduring-divorce-and-going-indie-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Cab&#8217;s Ben Gibbard on enduring divorce and going indie again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>Ben Gibbard remembers late 2023 as a time of competing realities.<\/p>\n<p>Onstage, the frontman of Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service was thriving as his <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2024-05-15\/ben-gibbard-postal-service-death-cab-for-cutie-just-like-heaven\">two bands toured together<\/a> to mark the 20th anniversaries of Death Cab\u2019s \u201cTransatlanticism\u201d and the Postal Service\u2019s \u201cGive Up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Behind the scenes, Gibbard\u2019s personal life was in shambles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was getting off phone calls \u2014 very difficult phone calls \u2014 20 minutes before going on in an arena,\u201d he says. The singer and his wife, photographer Rachel Demy, were in the middle of an agonizing breakup that would eventually lead to divorce. Yet audiences in the thousands were turning up nightly to see Gibbard reanimate the peak-millennial classics that made him one of indie rock\u2019s defining stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d just tell myself, You\u2019re a professional \u2014 you\u2019re gonna go out there and do it, and no one\u2019s gonna know,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was all waiting for me when I got offstage, of course. But for two hours I was able to disconnect and be a performer, which was incredibly \u2026\u201d Gibbard, 49, trails off into a laugh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if it was healthy,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it was helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"enhancement\" data-click=\"enhancement\" data-align-center=\"\">\n<div class=\"video-enhancement\" data-video-disable-history=\"\">\n<div class=\"video-enhancement-player\">  <ps-youtubeplayer data-video-player=\"\" class=\"youtube-video-player video-player youtube-video-player-facade\" data-player-id=\"f25e5b5cc2efb4941a3d44a136e180280\" data-video-id=\"xV3fDc1soOM\" data-video-title=\"Death Cab for Cutie trivia with... Death Cab for Cutie\" data-slot-name=\"\/21787098806\/web.latimes\/entertainment-arts\/music\/video\" data-lazy-offset=\"1.0\" data-autoplay-threshold=\"50\" data-miniplayer=\"\" data-internal-video-id=\"xV3fDc1soOM\" data-ad-slot-name=\"\/21787098806\/web.latimes\/entertainment-arts\/music\/video\" data-ad-provider=\"ima\" data-ima-sdk-url=\"https:\/\/imasdk.googleapis.com\/js\/sdkloader\/ima3.js\" data-ima-ad-tag-url=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ads?sz=640x480&amp;gdfp_req=1&amp;env=vp&amp;output=vast&amp;unviewed_position_start=1&amp;cmsid=2652439&amp;ad_rule=0&amp;plcmt=1\">  <picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi_webp\/xV3fDc1soOM\/maxresdefault.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"\/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/xV3fDc1soOM\/maxresdefault.jpg\"\/> <\/picture> <button type=\"button\" class=\"youtube-video-player-facade-button\" aria-label=\"Play\"> <svg class=\"icon\"><use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/styleguide\/assets\/misc-icons.svg#icon-youtube-play\"\/><\/svg> <\/button>      <\/ps-youtubeplayer> <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Two and a half years later, that split-screen experience \u2014 \u201cthis idea of how we compartmentalize our pain or our grief or our trauma,\u201d as Gibbard puts it now \u2014 forms a through line of Death Cab\u2019s ruminative new album, \u201cI Built You a Tower.\u201d Due Friday from Anti Records, where the group landed after leaving its longtime home of Atlantic amid a corporate shake-up, the LP sets thoughts of broken fences and never-ending storms against tuneful arrangements that can churn, shimmer or chime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI pledge myself to your misery \/ I kneel at its throne,\u201d Gibbard sings in his still-boyish tenor over the sleek new wave groove of \u201cTrap Door,\u201d \u201cRespecting your proclivity \/ To languish on your own.\u201d In the fuzzed-out \u201cEnvy the Birds,\u201d the frontman recounts an argument between two lovers \u201cspraying bullets of grievances\u201d; the driving \u201cRiptides\u201d is narrated by a guy \u201ctoo tired to end the war.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis record is definitely the result of a divorce,\u201d Gibbard says plainly during a recent visit to Los Angeles from his home in Seattle. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t want to make a score-settling record or an angry record. This wasn\u2019t an opportunity to defame someone or make this about how I\u2019d been wronged. People drift apart \u2014 relationships don\u2019t work. And I think how that\u2019s affected me at almost 50 is a very different mindset than I found myself in when I was 33 or whatever the last time it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gibbard means his first divorce, in 2012, from the actor and singer Zooey Deschanel \u2014 a split that inspired Death Cab\u2019s 2015 album \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/music\/la-et-ms-death-cab-for-cutie-ben-gibbard-20150331-story.html\">Kintsugi<\/a>,\u201d on which one song asks, \u201cWas I in your way when the cameras turned to face you?\u201d and another chides an unnamed celebrity: \u201cYou\u2019ll never have to hear the word \u2018no\u2019 if you keep all your friends on the payroll.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s some gnarly stuff on that record,\u201d says Gibbard, who\u2019d moved to L.A. to be with Deschanel then promptly left as soon as their marriage collapsed. \u201cIt\u2019s not exactly a kind album.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bassist Nick Harmer, who formed Death Cab with Gibbard in the late \u201990s after the two met as students at Western Washington University, agrees that \u201cI Built You a Tower\u201d represents a shift in perspective. \u201cThere\u2019s so much more self-examination \u2014 and so much more self-indictment,\u201d he says. (Death Cab\u2019s other members are drummer Jason McGerr, guitarist Dave Depper and keyboardist Zac Rae.)<\/p>\n<p>Which isn\u2019t to say that Gibbard entirely resists placing blame. In \u201cTrap Door\u201d he sings about \u201ca trap door in your heart and a button on your desk well-worn from being pressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The frontman says that in recent years he\u2019d \u201ctried to get away from using the word \u2018heart\u2019 because that had been a touchstone for so many of our early records.\u201d Yet this line seemed worth holding onto when it came to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI Googled it to see: Did I already write this?\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cOr is there a very popular song called \u2018There\u2019s a Trap Door in Your Heart,\u2019 and now I\u2019m just rewriting it? We\u2019ve made a lot of songs at this point \u2014 you gotta check your work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, \u201cI Built You a Tower\u201d is Death Cab\u2019s 11th studio LP. After the band\u2019s previous album, 2022\u2019s \u201cAsphalt Meadows,\u201d fulfilled its deal with Atlantic, Death Cab reupped with the major label for one more record, Gibbard says, based on its strong relationship with the company\u2019s then-CEO, Julie Greenwald.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJulie was our shepherd and our protector the whole time we were there,\u201d the singer says of Death Cab\u2019s nearly two-decade run at Atlantic, which began with 2005\u2019s Grammy-nominated \u201cPlans.\u201d Yet just days after they reached an agreement for \u201cTower,\u201d Greenwald was fired and replaced by a new leader, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2023-04-20\/elliot-grainge-lucian-sofia-richie-ice-spice-10k-projects-universal-music-group\">Elliot Grainge<\/a>, about whom the band felt less than optimistic.<\/p>\n<div class=\"enhancement\" data-click=\"enhancement\" data-align-left=\"\">\n<figure class=\"figure m-0\"> <picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/86e330e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/320x480!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 320w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/502a48a\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/568x852!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 568w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4bb8e55\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/768x1152!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 768w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/c32cbd0\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/1080x1619!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 1080w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4bc70f4\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/1240x1859!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 1240w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/8b72528\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/1440x2159!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 1440w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4c476d7\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/2160x3239!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 2160w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img class=\"image\" alt=\"Ben Gibbard\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/1ecbf26\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/320x480!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 320w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/b9d30e0\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/568x852!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 568w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/b53a692\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/768x1152!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 768w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/5f29e25\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/1080x1619!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 1080w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4b71792\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/1240x1859!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 1240w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/8028f97\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/1440x2159!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 1440w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/a99b677\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/2160x3239!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg 2160w\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2999\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/8e1c5b4\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5464x8192+0+0\/resize\/2000x2999!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcf%2F9c%2F854bee884a94a61b10c1e66f4247%2F1551226-et-death-cab-for-cutie-1959.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/picture>\n<div class=\"figure-content\">\n<p>Ben Gibbard<\/p>\n<p>(Cielito Mercado Vivas \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe weren\u2019t given the impression that Elliot had spent a lot of time with \u2018Transatlanticism\u2019 in college,\u201d Gibbard says of the 32-year-old exec, who made his name signing rappers like Ice Spice and Trippie Redd. With Greenwald\u2019s help, Gibbard says, Death Cab negotiated an exit from Atlantic with ownership of the new album.<\/p>\n<p>Did Grainge try to persuade the band to stay?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNever heard a word,\u201d Gibbard says.<\/p>\n<p>In an email, Grainge (whose father is Universal Music Group Chairman and Chief Executive <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2026-06-03\/two-of-musics-most-powerful-executives-maxed-out-donations-to-spencer-pratt\">Lucian Grange<\/a>) said that Death Cab\u2019s music \u201chas meant a great deal\u201d to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking together may not have been in the cards for us; however, that does not lessen my enthusiasm for the band,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThey have delivered an impressive body of work over their decades-long career, and I am looking forward to their new music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Death Cab\u2019s Harmer says he and his bandmates \u201ctalked for half a beat\u201d about putting out \u201cTower\u201d on their own before thinking better of the idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not businesspeople,\u201d Gibbard says. \u201cMusic is the only thing we know how to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At a friend\u2019s wedding in 2024, the frontman had been seated next to the musician Allison Crutchfield, who was then heading up Anti\u2019s A&amp;R department; early this year, Death Cab announced that it had signed to the indie label, whose other acts include Fleet Foxes and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2025-10-31\/madi-diaz-fatal-optimist-interview\">Madi Diaz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This summer, the band will tour behind \u201cI Built You a Tower,\u201d including two shows in August at L.A.\u2019s Greek Theatre. After the \u201cTransatlanticism\u201d\/\u201dGive Up\u201d anniversary outing \u2014 not to mention a subsequent tour on which the group looked back at \u201cPlans\u201d \u2014 Gibbard is \u201cvery ready to play some new material,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Doing the hits was fun. \u201cBut at a certain point,\u201d he adds, \u201cit\u2019s really about moving ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ben Gibbard remembers late 2023 as a time of competing realities. Onstage, the frontman of Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service was thriving as his two bands toured together to mark the 20th anniversaries of Death Cab\u2019s \u201cTransatlanticism\u201d and the Postal Service\u2019s \u201cGive Up.\u201d Behind the scenes, Gibbard\u2019s personal life was in shambles. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2446149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2446148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Death-Cabs-Ben-Gibbard-on-enduring-divorce-and-going-indie.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2446150,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446148\/revisions\/2446150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}