It seems the amount of esteem we hold for Ben Gibbard and Death Cab (yeah, we watched some Jane Austen movies over the break) is approximately the amount of esteem Gibbard holds for Jack Kerouac. Ben goes on record to the San Francisco Weekly, who are happy to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publishing of On the Road this September, and let’s us in on Kerouac’s inspiration on him. He is so inspired, in fact, that Kerouac’s Big Sur is serving as all around muse for the writing Gibbard is doing on the new DCFC album, in the cabin Kerouac used to write the aforementioned tomb.
We, personally, are of the same opinion about Kerouac’s most famous book as Truman Captoe: “That isn’t writing; it’s typing.” (Thank you Freaks & Geeks) However, what Gibbard has to say about the themes of Big Sur (Kerouac as a burnt out, disenfranchised, alcoholic success in search of peace and inspiration, to paraphrase) sound like perfect lyrical fodder to us - as well as the next logical step for the band.
Draw your own conclusions and, in the meantime, enjoy a little-seen acoustic cover from Gibbard & Chris Walla of an ”unbelievably sad” John Vanderslice song.
