DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE UNVEIL ONE-OF-A-KIND LISTENING EXPERIENCE FOR NEW TRACK “RAND MCNALLY” + ANNOUNCE FORTHCOMING ‘LIVE FROM HOME’ PERFORMANCE

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE UNVEIL ONE-OF-A-KIND LISTENING EXPERIENCE FOR NEW TRACK “RAND MCNALLY” – PLUS ANNOUNCE FORTHCOMING ‘LIVE FROM HOME’ PERFORMANCE

STARTING TODAY, FANS CAN UNLOCK + LISTEN TO “RAND MCNALLY” IN-PERSON BY VISITING ANY OF THE 800+ LOCATIONS THE BAND HAS PLAYED IN THEIR STORIED 25-YEAR CAREER

‘LIVE FROM HOME’ SET FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12^TH @ 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET

8X GRAMMY® AWARD-NOMINATED BAND’s HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED TENTH STUDIO ALBUM ASPHALT MEADOWS ARRIVES SEPTEMBER 16

“JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” PERFORMANCE SET FOR EVE OF RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 15^TH 

ACCESS “RAND MCNALLY” HERE

WATCH ‘LIVE FROM HOME’ HERE ON SEPTEMBER 12^TH

PRE-ORDER ASPHALT MEADOWS HERE 

“Twenty-five years into its career, the band brings its incisive, anguished writing to a particularly 2022 brand of existential angst on its 10^th album, ‘Asphalt Meadows’… ‘These nights, I don’t know how I survive,’ Ben Gibbard repeats on the first track, howling over a distorted gnarl of guitar. It’s a tidy thesis statement for an expansive album…” – THE NEW YORK TIMES 

8x GRAMMY® Award-nominated rock band Death Cab for Cutie has unveiled new song, “Rand McNally,” available for exclusive, in-person listening anywhere the band has played throughout their storied 25-year career. Starting today and continuing throughout the month of September, fans can unlock the track using an official geotagged map here – featuring over 800 locations across the globe – from the site of their first ever show at The Pacer House in Bellingham, WA to their headline show at New York’s legendary Madison Square Garden, to venues as far from home as Tokyo’s Astro Hall, and even those that have since closed their doors such as NY’s Roseland Ballroom.

Of the track itself, Gibbard shares: “‘Rand’ was written for everyone we toured with back in the day, for everyone who let us sleep on their floor, and for past bandmates. I felt after all these years that they deserved their own folk song. But also a promise to keep going and keep creating.” 

The song will be available across all DSP’s once the band’s highly-anticipated 10^th studio album Asphalt Meadows arrives in full on Friday, September 16^th. The LP has already earned advance critical acclaim, including from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Vulture, all of whom highlighted the album in their recent fall previews.

The indie rock veterans have also announced plans for a special ‘Live From Home’ performance featuring all five band members, streaming live this Monday, September 12^th at 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET from lead vocalist and guitarist Ben Gibbard’s Seattle-based studio. Fans will remember the space well as the backdrop of the beloved daily livestreams Gibbard first hosted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those performances helped raise over $250K in donations and supplies for various Seattle-area relief organizations and drew over 4.5 million total views, as well as high profile media attention from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Variety, NPR, and Stereogum, the latter of which pondered, “Is Ben Gibbard going to single-handedly get us all through quarantine?”

Next Monday’s performance and Q&A will feature stripped down versions of new songs, renditions of old favorites, and conversations about the forthcoming album. The livestream will benefit reproductive rights nonprofit, The Brigid Alliance (donate here).

Of the upcoming performance, Gibbard shares: “I started Live From Home during the pandemic when I wanted nothing more than to play music with my bandmates. As we’re now back together, it feels only fitting to have everyone in that little room with me to bring it full circle.”

Today’s news follows the August release of spoken-word track “Foxglove Through The Clearcut,” which quickly entered the echelons – amongst fans and critics alike – as perhaps one of the finest songs in the band’s catalogue to date. The Daily Beast expounded on this idea, sharing: “The consensus… about ‘Foxglove Through The Clearcut’ is that it may already be one of Death Cab’s best songs.” 

That track followed the release of lead single “Here to Forever,” which was the most-added song at AAA and Alternative radio upon its mid-July debut. Currently, the song sits at #1 at AAA and #7 (and rising) at Alternative. That track also earned tremendous praise, including from Stereogum who hailed it: “a grand and stirring rocker, one that mixes the soft-eyed sensitivity of the band’s early days with their arena-sized major-label work.”

The first song to be released off the album – “Roman Candles” – arrived with a (quite literally) explosive one-take music video directed by Lance Bangs (Sonic Youth, Nirvana). “Roman Candles” was featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered, with host Bob Boilen highlighting its “two bursting minutes.”

Asphalt Meadows was produced by GRAMMY® Award-winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Wallows). Alongside news of the forthcoming album, the band also unveiled plans for their wide-ranging fall US headline tour. The run kicks off September 22 at The Sylvee in Madison, WI and culminates with a sold-out, two-night hometown finale at Seattle, WA’s Paramount Theatre on October 26 and 27 (full routing enclosed). The tour will feature support from Low and Yo La Tengo on select dates and includes a much-anticipated return to NY’s Forest Hills Stadium on September 30.

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ASPHALT MEADOWS:

1. I Don’t Know How I Survive
2. Roman Candles
3. Asphalt Meadows
4. Rand McNally
5. Here to Forever
6. Foxglove Through The Clearcut
7. Pepper
8. I Miss Strangers
9. Wheat Like Waves
10. Fragments From The Decade
11. I’ll Never Give Up On You 

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE | ASPHALT MEADOWS TOUR 

SEPTEMBER

22 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee ^ – LOW TICKETS

23 – Minneapolis, MN – Surly Brewing Festival Field ^

24 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed ^ – SOLD OUT

26 – Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live! ^

27 – Washington, DC – The Anthem ^

29 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met ^

30 – New York, NY – Forest Hills Stadium ^

OCTOBER

1 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion ^

3 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater ^

4 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy ^

6 – Richmond, VA – Virginia Credit Union LIVE! ^

7 – Asheville, NC – Rabbit Rabbit ^

8 – Charleston, SC – Firefly Distillery ^

10 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE ^

11 – Detroit, MI – The Masonic ^

13 – St. Louis, MO – The Factory ^

14 – Kansas City, MO – Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland ^

15 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Music Festival †

17 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren – SOLD OUT

18 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues Anaheim # – SOLD OUT

19 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl #

21 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre #

22 – San Diego, CA – Epstein Family Amphitheater @ UC San Diego # – SOLD OUT

23 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater # – LOW TICKETS

24 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater #

26 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre % – SOLD OUT

27 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre % – SOLD OUT 

MARCH 2023

1 – Milan, Italy – Fabrique *

2 – Zurich, Switzerland – X-Tra *

5 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Den Grå Hal *

6 – Stockholm, Sweden – Filadelfia *

7 – Oslo, Norway – Sentrum Scene *

9 – Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle *

10 – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013 *

11 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso *

12 – Cologne, Germany – E-Werk *

14 – Antwerp, Belgium – De Roma *

15 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg – Atelier *

16 – Paris, France – Salle Pleyel *

18 – Nottingham, United Kingdom – Rock City *

19 – Dublin, Ireland – Bord Gais Energy Theatre *

21 – Birmingham, United Kingdom – 02 Institute *

22 – Edinburgh, United Kingdom – Usher Hall *

23 – Glasgow, United Kingdom – Barrowland *

25 – Manchester, United Kingdom – O2 Apollo *

27 – Brighton, United Kingdom – Dome *

29 – London, United Kingdom – Royal Albert Hall *

† Festival Performance

^ w/ Special Guest Low

# w/ Special Guest Yo La Tengo

% w/ Special Guest Chong the Nomad

* w/ Special Guest Slow Pulp

# # #

ABOUT BRIGID ALLIANCE:

The Brigid Alliance is a referral-based service that provides travel, food, lodging, childcare, and other logistical support for people seeking abortions. We prioritize clients beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy for whom it’s generally more expensive and harder to find a provider near home. We are part of an ecosystem of support organizations that is propping up abortion care access in this country in an increasingly hostile environment. Since its founding in 2018 The Brigid Alliance has helped more than 2,750 clients travel for abortion care. As of May 2022 Brigid was supporting 125 clients per month to travel an average of 1,000 miles at a cost of about $1,200 per itinerary. We have helped clients travel from all 50 states, with half coming from the South. Two-thirds of our clients are BIPOC, one-third are already parents, and they range in age from 10-49 years old. After Texas implemented its 6-week ban in September we saw a 900% increase in referrals for our services. We anticipate that, as the dominoes fall post Dobbs decision, we will see continued increase in need for help traveling to haven states, and are doing everything we can to scale our operation to meet the skyrocketing need. 

ABOUT DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE:

Formed in Bellingham, WA in 1997, Death Cab for Cutie almost immediately entered the ranks of the era’s definitive bands, fueled in large part by the remarkable power of co-founder, vocalist, guitarist, and lead songwriter Benjamin Gibbard’s complex, often bittersweet songcraft. The band made their worldwide popular breakthrough with 2003’s RIAA gold certified Transatlanticism, later named by NPR as one of “The Decade’s 50 Most Important Recordings.” Plans, their 2005 Atlantic Records debut release, saw Death Cab for Cutie ascending to even greater heights, earning RIAA platinum certification and a GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Alternative Album” while spawning the chart-topping singles, “Soul Meets Body” and “I Will Follow You into the Dark,” the latter of which was honored with a GRAMMY® nod for “Best Pop Performance By Duo Or Group With Vocals.” Their following albums – including Narrow Stairs (2008), The Open Door (2009), Codes and Keys (2011), and Kintsugi (2015) – all received various GRAMMY® Award nominations, bringing their total career nominations to eight overall.

Death Cab for Cutie’s ninth studio album Thank You for Today was released in 2018. That album saw the band entering its second decade by both expanding and refining its signature sound, with highlights including lead single, “Gold Rush,” which reached #1 on Billboard’s “Adult Alternative Songs” chart.

The band continued to affirm their lasting artistic legacy with a wide range of creative activity in the years that followed, including diverse collaborations such as Chance the Rapper’s 2019 album track, “Do You Remember (ft. Death Cab for Cutie),” and Tycho & Gibbard’s acclaimed 2021 single, “Only Love.”

December 2020 saw Death Cab for Cutie release The Georgia EP, initially offered as a 24-hour Bandcamp exclusive in advance of the crucial Georgia runoff elections that ultimately turned the state blue and secured Democratic control of the US Senate. The five-song project – which features covers of iconic artists from the great state of Georgia – raised over $100K for Fair Fight Action, the national voting rights organization founded by Stacy Abrams to promote fair elections around the country through voter education, election reform, and combating voter suppression. “Fair Fight is grateful for the support of Death Cab for Cutie in our fight for free and fair elections in Georgia and nationwide,” Abrams said later. “The Georgia EP helps tell the story of Georgia just as their contributions have helped us write the next chapter.”

In February of this year, Gibbard conceived, curated, and executive produced Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono, an acclaimed tribute to the groundbreaking singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, and activist released in celebration of her 89^th birthday. The collection – which includes Death Cab for Cutie’s own cover of “Waiting For The Sunrise” – also features contributions from a stunning range of diverse artists, including David Byrne, Japanese Breakfast, The Flaming Lips, and Sharon Van Etten. Ocean Child earned worldwide critical acclaim spanning The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, The Guardian and more.