Puddlegum

Chris Walla blogged on his recording studio’s website, Hall of Justice, that Death Cab for Cutie is recording a new album. After taking most of the year off from touring while Ben Gibbard toured and Chris Walla recorded his his own solo album, Death Cab for Cutie’s record “is in full swing; we’re six songs in.”

“Thus far it’s pretty weird, and pretty spectacular; lots of blood. It’s creepy and heavy… We’ve got a ten minute long Can jam, and had you suggested that possibility to me in 1998, I’d have eaten your puppy’s brain with a spoon.”

Not so humorously, the hard drive storing Chris Walla’s solo album was confiscated by the US Homeland Security. Walla has been recording most of the album in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. The incident happened as Walla was traveling back into the US.

Chris Walla vented his frustration about being unable to retrieve his hard drive of tracks:

“I’m told it’s at ‘computer forensics in Quantico’ but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what that means in any real way; you see, there’s exactly no customer service element to our federal government. I’m here to tell you that if the drive containing your solo record is confiscated at the border, the feds don’t have to do shit for you. And, in fact, they don’t.”

Chris Walla will be releasing Field Manual with Barsuk Records, Death Cab for Cuties’ former label, on January 29, 2008. The album will be released under his name, not the Martin Youth Auxiliary tag that he has surfaced material under in the past. Assuming that Walla made backup copies of Field Manual before crossing the border, this incident has become a perfect PR opportunity to inform the masses about his upcoming solo album.

Chris Walla - Note to Self

Ben Gibbard worked with Steve Fisk on the score to the independent film, Kurt Cobain, About A Son. Death Cab for Cutie’s website states, “The film is built around never-before-heard audio-taped interviews with Kurt Cobain and features songs that Cobain loved (rather than the music he played).” The soundtrack to the album has been released on Barsuk Records.