Wedding Car For Cutie

Congratulations to Death Cabbie Ben Gibbard and Zoey Deschanel out of She & Him (for our purposes, anyway): They had a Saturday night wedding.

Death Cab attack cutie

You know that Jared Leto, right? Well, right, he's only playing at pop stars, say Death Cab For Cutie:

"He's a professional actor in music; so there's no way to feel any sincerity about his position as a musician... Because he makes a living playing characters — so why wouldn't he be able to take a step forward?" singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard chimed in during the interview. "Then you're also acting what you think a rock star should act like."

Harmer also said Leto only wears makeup because "Oh that's what rock stars do: they wear eyeliner."

Actually, while Gibbard might have a point about 30 Seconds To Mars, surely Leto wears eye make-up as part of a general being hotness? He had the rock star hair long before he had the pretend band, after all.

The Cab came back

Death Cab For Cutie celebrate their 10th anniversary - yes, we're all getting old - with plans for re-release of their debut Something About Airplanes. This is going to include an extra disc, with what's being pushed as "a recently unearthed" tape of their first Seattle gig ever.

Recently unearthed? It probably is, but only in the sense of someone saying "have we got that tape of the Daeth Cab Seattle gig? Rootle about in that cardboard box, will you?"

From the album - although not the performance on the free disc - this is President Of What:

Department For Homeland Security: saving America from Death Cabs

For reasons which aren't going to make any sense - airport security never does - Chris Walla from Death Cab For Cutie had his computer hard drive seized as he crossed into the US from Canada. It had Walla's solo album on it:

It's a true story. Barsuk [Records, which is putting out the record] had hired a courier — who does international stuff all the time and who they had used before — to bring [the album] back from Canada, where I was working on it. And he got to the border and he had all his paperwork and it was all cool, only they turned him away, and they confiscated the drive and gave it to the computer-forensics division of our Homeland Security-type people. And now I couldn't even venture a guess as to where it is, or what it's doing there. I mean, I can't just call their customer-service center and ask about my drive. There's nothing I can do. I don't know if we can hire an attorney ... is there a black-hole attorney? You can't take a black hole to court."

Perhaps this is the first time anyone has ever been suspected of weaponising indie rock.

Death Cab booked

Good news for quasi-indie miserablists: Death Cab For Cutie are heading back into the studio. Pitchfork have pulled a "Spring 2008" release date (or rather, three-month window) out of the air.

Nothing is wasted

In this ecologically aware age, we suppose someone finding a use for discarded, broken guitar strings is to be applauded. Even if the big idea is to turn them into bracelets, and the "authenticity seal" probably consumes more resources than did the guitar string originally. And 'bracelet made from guitar string' sounds right up there with 'piano wire necklace' in terms of 'terrible accident waiting to happen, with lots and lots of blood'.

Still, the Relix Band (yes, we're afraid that's what they're called) do give their profits to charity, and you can choose from a range of artists including Keith Richards, Jon Bon Jovi, and Death Cab For Cutie.

Coming tomorrow: Pencils made from broken drumsticks.