In 2023, amid a flurry of album anniversary tours and his own impending divorce, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard had an emotional breakdown midway through a 100-mile ultramarathon before dropping out.
He’s since rediscovered his stride in both realms, with his subsequent ruminations—of grief and healing—inspiring the quintet’s 11th studio album, I Built You a Tower. The project’s June release cemented a new chapter for the eight-time Grammy-nominated indie stalwarts, who are set to return to The Theater at Virgin in Las Vegas on August 6.
Bassist Nick Harmer—the only active founding member aside from Gibbard—tells the Weekly the recent switch from longtime record label Atlantic to independent label Anti provided another “shot in the arm we needed at this stage in our career.” Remarkably, it took just three weeks to record the new album.
“We really try to limit the amount of time that we’re just kind of fumbling around in the dark in the studio, because it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when you really start to put the microscope on things,” Harmer says. “It’s definitely the fastest album that we’ve ever recorded, but that’s because we also had such a clear and precise picture of what we wanted to accomplish.”
Fans can expect that same tenacity in a Vegas setlist informed by Gibbard’s comprehensive spreadsheet of every set Death Cab’s played for at least two decades.
“[Gibbard] is really diligent about looking at the last two or three times we’ve been in a particular city and making sure that he’s always striking a balance between playing songs that he knows people want to hear—the so-called hits—and also rotating in rare stuff that we haven’t played there in a long time,” Harmer says.
From Harmer’s signature rumbling bassline on “I Will Possess Your Heart” to the frantic, distorted riffs of new lead single, “Riptides,” their sound should fare well in the Virgin theater’s close quarters, where they last played in 2023.
“A smaller venue is always more intimate, and the energy in Vegas has always been really, really positive, which definitely fuels our show,” Harmer says.
As Death Cab nears its 30th year, Harmer attributes their longevity to simple communication. Beyond that, the little things—like hitting a record store in their downtime and sharing finds with one another backstage—also provide the morale they’ll depend on over the next year-plus of touring.
“You can pick just about any date through 2027, and I’ll be able to tell you where I’m at. I’m that locked in,” Harmer says. “This is the work. This is what we do, and I’m just grateful and hopeful every day that we wake up and get another chance to do it. We don’t want to squander that ever.”
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE August 6, 8 p.m., $53-$219. Theater at Virgin, axs.com.
