Ben Gibbard

“I always try to write the best song I can in the moment, and those songs are often going to end up on Death Cab for Cutie records. I don't set out to write a solo song or write a band song. I just write, and where that songs ends up is kind of TBD.”

“I feel that we are currently living in a world that is similar to late '50s, early '60s kind of world.”

“I would much rather hear a song that's written from a fresh perspective, using ideas that have existed in rock & roll for 50 years, than something that is incredibly abrasive to my ears but is new.”

“What we aspired to in 1998, we have wildly surpassed. And I know we all feel incredibly grateful and lucky this band has been able to have the life that it's had.”

“At some point, I thought that, as I got older, I'd come to terms with a lot of things. I'd solve some big problems, and eventually I'd become content. It's almost more depressing to think that the older you get, the more your problems multiply.”

“I've written a lot of songs in the last couple years, but writing a lot of songs doesn't always mean writing good songs.”

“I still love 'The Cure' more than almost any other band. But they were really, truly like the first band that I really loved and felt was mine, you know. At a pivotal time in my life when I was 13, 14 years old.”

“I don't feel that all the great songs have been written. I do feel that where we are now, certainly with rock & roll music, is that so much of it is variations on themes. But I think that it's one's particular creativity and individuality that comes out within that variation on a particular theme that makes a song great.”

“For 'Narrow Stairs', the majority of the songs I brought in were guitar songs - songs we could sit in a room and just play. I can honestly say I had more fun and felt more inspired on this record than anything that we had done in a long time.”

“My goal as a songwriter now is to simply write some memorable turns of phrase.”

“I decided a handful of years ago that I just want to write songs that you can understand as soon as you put the record on. There's no need to veil what's happening in the song the way I used to.”

“I don't want to be overdramatic about it, but I'm starting to see a lot of my bad habits get the best of me.”

“I like writing on piano and a computer, and a lot of 'Plans' came out of samples and vocal lines.”

“When I'm old, I'd like to wake up in the morning and not really do anything - just be happy to exist. I'd like to look at my accomplishments and sit back and revel in my own achievement.”

“I think that the wonderful thing about music and about songs is that you can listen to a three-minute song whenever you feel you need it.”

“As a songwriter, I'm not necessarily writing about myself or my life.”

“When you connect as many memories to your geography as I have, and then you see that geography change around you, you're forced to reckon with the passage of time.”

“The second 'Postal Service' album is threatening to become the 'Chinese Democracy' of indie rock. It will come out eventually, or maybe it won't.”

“When I listen to and play the songs from 'Narrow Stairs' now, that record feels like a record where we had established a style that arguably was more our own than it was in the beginning. Going into that record, I felt a lot more confident in my songwriting. It was a fairly prolific time for me.”

“To set the record straight for the God knows millionth time, we certainly didn't sign to Atlantic just for the money.”