DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE + Ted Leo & The Pharmacists @ Metropolis

By Mike Bresciani - The Lonesome Strangers - 11/01/2006

What does Death Cab do for a living? Apparently, touring endlessly seems to be at the top of their list, as November 1st marked their third live appearance in Montreal in just over a year. Standard touring schedule? A diabolical case of oversaturation within a key market? Or do they just really REALLY like Montreal’s smoked meat sandwiches? Let’s be honest, it’s tough to question their motives. Death Cab For Cutie is one of the most harmless bands making it big right now. They’re the kind of band your parents would encourage you to hear in high school, and that’s perfectly fine. As inoffensive as Ben Gibbard and his posse is, the music they make is genuinely sweet and pleasing to the ear.

They might get tagged with the dreaded E-word from time to time, but let’s be honest, do they really deserve it? Where’s all the eyeliner and the drama? How about the fashion, and the sappy lyrics hiding behind those crunchy guitars? And the teary-eyed screamy yelps? Well, asides the out-and-out mopeyness, I don’t see a resemblance whatsoever. But hey, mope sells, and now having released their sixth album Plans over a year ago, Death Cab has become a household name in mopeyness with a massive following.

So thank you, Jerk from The O.C, thanks to you, I’ve got a K-Fed look-alike standing next to me, thugging out to "Crooked Teeth" and "The Sound of Settling". Thanks again!

In spite of this, it would take a lot for me to dislike a band over something so juvenile. However, if Oprah were to praise them at her next book club meeting, I might just wretch.

The show began with an underwhelming set by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, never really winning over a totally unresponsive audience with their 30 minutes of stage time, which is a shame. They’ve got a decent following, as well as a reputable punk frontman who fronted the DC punk outfit Chisel in the 90’s. When you have the time, have another listen because most people, myself included, didn’t give 'em the time of day. To be fair, Ted Leo and Death Cab don’t really have much in common, so the pairing was a little odd. Conversely, last October, Death Cab brought Aussie band Youth Group along on tour, which made for a terrific one-two punch, as both bands have a relatively similar sound.

Death Cab began their set with "405" from their second album We Have The Facts, We’re Voting Yes. From there on, the rest of the set list was a rather predictable ensemble of songs, pretty much what one would come to expect from a band that pulls so few punches. "Photobooth", "Company Calls" and "Movie Script Ending" were the best received older selections in a set that didn’t necessarily revolve around the last two albums, although the most commended songs did come from either Plans or Transatlanticism.

At times, the first half of the set sounded rather stale, which can happen to pretty much any band playing the Metropolis. Death Cab’s simple lo-fi sound just doesn’t seem to accommodate bigger venues, so one could only imagine what they sounded like last April at CEPSUM. Therefore it goes without saying: the smaller the venue, the better the sound, the more intimate experience. Death Cab is no exception.

The one surprise of the night was the 10-minute extended version of "We Looked Like Giants". Now in most cases, bands will usually break out into psychedelic riffs or trippy onstage antics. Death Cab just played the song with a little more gusto, and added seven minutes worth of instrumentals, that’s about it. The encore was equally predictable with "Marching Bands of Manhattan", "Tiny Vessels" and the big closer, the fantastic seven-minute "Transatlanticism". By that time, I had my jacket on, with one foot out the door. So although I do enjoy listening to Death Cab from time to time, I felt fairly bored throughout most of the show, and was extremely anxious to leave. From an outsider's point of view, there was no real problems with the show; they played everyone’s favorite songs, they were courteous, they were great. I don’t mind seeing a band more than once if I really like them, and I do like Death Cab, but this show was one too many for me.

If you would’ve seen them last year at the Spectrum, you’d probably understand.

[Tune in to The Lonesome Strangers every Wednesday from 3pm to 5pm.]