Ben Gibbard

Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with which he has recorded nine studio albums, and as one half of the electronica act the Postal Service. Gibbard released his debut solo album, Former Lives, in 2012, and a collaborative studio album, One Fast Move or I'm Gone (2009), with Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt's Jay Farrar.

While performing guitar in the band Pinwheel, Gibbard recorded a demo cassette under the moniker Death Cab for Cutie, titled You Can Play These Songs with Chords (1997). After receiving a positive response to the material, Gibbard expanded the project into a full band, with the addition of Chris Walla (guitar), Nick Harmer (bass) and Nathan Good (drums). The following year, the band released its debut album, Something About Airplanes (1998), on Barsuk Records, and released its follow-up, We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, in 2000.

Life and career
Gibbard was born to Allen and Margaret (Flach) Gibbard in Bremerton, Washington, where he spent his formative years, during the time of the grunge music explosion in the early 1990s. He graduated from Olympic High School in 1994. He also cites Jack Kerouac as a major influence. He studied engineering at Western Washington University. He was raised Roman Catholic and referred to himself as "this indoctrinated Catholic even though I haven't been to church of my own volition in 10 or 15 years now."  In a 2003 interview Gibbard stated that while he had previously been a vegan, he had recently become a pescetarian.

He had a small role in the John Krasinski film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men based on the David Foster Wallace short story collection of the same title. He completed a solo tour through the US in the spring of 2007 that featured David Bazan of Pedro the Lion and singer-songwriter Johnathan Rice.

Gibbard became engaged to actress and musician Zooey Deschanel in 2008. The couple married in September 2009 near Seattle, Washington. They announced their separation on November 1, 2011. Deschanel filed for divorce on December 27, 2011, citing irreconcilable differences.  The divorce became final on December 12, 2012. Gibbard married photographer and tour manager Rachel Demy on October 21, 2016 in Seattle, Washington.

He reportedly gave up alcohol in 2008 and began running marathons.  He ran his first trail ultramarathon in 2013 and since then has completed several each year.

Gibbard is an agnostic, lapsed Catholic: "I don't want to falsely believe in something solely so I can jump to the front of the line for whatever this awesome place is we go after we die. [...] The vastness of that idea is so beyond my comprehension that I feel like if there was a God, then that God would accept me saying I'm not able to believe because it's so outside of my ability to understand it. I understand that's where faith comes into play."

Gibbard is an activist for gay rights and wrote an article in The Daily Beast voicing why this issue is important to him. He stated that when his lesbian sister got married, it was "the most beautiful thing" he had ever seen. In the article, he voiced his strong support for Referendum 74 and discussed raising money for the issue. He stated, "I would just feel so much pride for my state if we could pass it by a popular vote and show the rest of the country that this is the direction we are going in."

In September 2014, it was reported that Gibbard would appear as a guest on the Foo Fighters' eighth studio album Sonic Highways.

Gibbard has been a big fan of the MLB's Seattle Mariners since the age of 5 and has thrown the first pitch at some Mariners games.

Gibbard has been very open about his political views, stating that he is part of the Democratic Party. On October 10, 2016, Death Cab for Cutie released "Million Dollar Loan," the first song in the Dave-Eggers project, "30 Days, 50 Songs." The song targets Donald Trump, as it makes jabs at the fact that he asked his father for a million dollar loan. Gibbard says: "Lyrically, 'Million Dollar Loan' deals with a particularly tone deaf moment in Donald Trump's ascent to the Republican nomination. While campaigning in New Hampshire last year, he attempted to cast himself as a self-made man by claiming he built his fortune with just a 'small loan of a million dollars' from his father. Not only has this statement been proven to be wildly untrue, he was so flippant about it. It truly disgusted me..."

Musical equipment
As of May 2015, Gibbard tours with four modified 1970s Fender Mustang guitars. Additionally he uses two custom-built Acme Silvertone amplifier heads. For use on acoustic songs he relies on two 2008 Gibson J-45 Acoustic Guitars with B-Band pickup systems. As of 2016, Gibbard has since began using Supro amplifiers. In the past, Gibbard used Fender Telecasters and G&L ASAT guitars.

In popular culture
Gibbard is the subject of the song "Ben's My Friend" by indie folk act Sun Kil Moon. The track appears on the project's sixth studio album, Benji (2014). On Sun Kil Moon's follow-up album, Universal Themes (2015), primary recording artist Mark Kozelek again refers to his friendship with Gibbard on its closing track, "This Is My First Day and I'm Indian and I Work at a Gas Station". Gibbard previously made a guest appearance on the band's third studio album, April (2008). Gibbard is also referenced in "The Cones of Dunshire," an episode from the sixth season of Parks and Recreation. In the episode, one character attempts to promote a forest cabin to hipsters by claiming that "Ben Gibbard and Neko Case made out here once."

Discography

Death Cab for Cutie

1997: You Can Play These Songs with Chords
1998: Something About Airplanes
2000: We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
2001: The Photo Album
2003: Transatlanticism
2005: Plans
2008: Narrow Stairs
2011: Codes and Keys
2015: Kintsugi
2018: Thank You for Today

Ben Gibbard
2003 Home Volume V (A split LP with Andrew Kenny)
2007 Solo Concert at the 9:30 Club, Washington, DC 
2012 Former Lives
2017 Bandwagonesque (Cover Of Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque)
2019 "Do You Remember" (Featured on Chance the Rapper's song on his album The Big Day)

The Postal Service

2003 Give Up

Kind of Like Spitting
2002 Bridges Worth Burning (Drums, Vocals)

¡All-Time Quarterback!
1999 ¡All-Time Quarterback! (EP)
1999 The Envelope Sessions2002 ¡All-Time Quarterback! (Album)

With Jay Farrar
2009 One Fast Move or I'm GonePinwheel
1996 PinwheelIn addition, Gibbard, alongside Steve Fisk, composed and recorded the score for AJ Schnack's 2006 documentary, Kurt Cobain: About a Son''. The film also features his cover of Beat Happening's "Indian Summer".

See also 
Jason McGerr
Nick Harmer
Chris Walla

References

External links

Official site

Category:1976 births
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:Alternative rock guitarists
Category:Alternative rock singers
Category:American agnostics
Category:American alternative rock musicians
Category:American indie rock musicians
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male singer-songwriters
Category:American singer-songwriters
Category:American rock guitarists
Category:American male guitarists
Category:American rock singers
Category:American rock songwriters
Category:American male songwriters
Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States
Category:Singers from Washington (state)
Category:People from Bremerton, Washington
Category:Western Washington University alumni
Category:Sub Pop artists
Category:Death Cab for Cutie members
Category:The Minus 5 members
Category:The Postal Service members
Category:Pedro the Lion members
Category:Guitarists from Washington (state)