Sound interviewed Chris Walla and Ben Gibbard a couple weeks ago about the making of Death Cab for Cutie’s new album Narrow Stairs, which hit stores yesterday. A full article will appear in our June issue, but today and tomorrow we’ll be publishing some excerpts from the interviews here on our website. (Yesterday we posted a review of Narrow Stairs.) Here’s part of our chat with Death Cab for Cutie guitarist/producer Chris Walla:

SEATTLE SOUND: How long did you spend recording this and where and when did this happen?
CHIRS WALLA: It took about four months and we did it between James’ place in Seattle, it’s called Two Sticks Audio, Bob Lang’s [Robert Lang Studios] in Seattle, and Tiny Telephone in San Francisco. And then I mixed it at my place in Portland, the Alberta Court. And that was, I guess with mixing the whole thing was four protracted months. Like not necessarily constant work, but the whole thing went down pretty quick.

SS: Going into this album, you guys had tons of success—the last album, you got a Grammy nomination, you sold all these albums. What kind of success are you looking for right now, what are you hoping to do with this album?
CW: More than anything we wanted to make something that we all enjoyed and that we enjoyed the process of making it. I think in hindsight that the process of making Plans wasn’t especially band-like. Not that we weren’t getting along or were disconnected from one another, but the very process of making it was really, really tedious and really very microscopic and we just wanted to be a rock band in front of microphones and have that on tape machine. Which is something we’ve never really done, quite like that … That was the big goal. There was really no—I mean we talked about with the last record how there was there was very little label influence, but I really think it was there and we didn’t really realize it was there until much later. and this was much more like us making our record in our living rooms for ourselves, like we used to. Not even like we used to, but just like the record before Plans and every record that came before. I mean logically this is the record that would have been the follower to Transatlanticism had there not been the weird major label flip in the history.

SS: Your last album [Plans] was your first one on Atlantic, first on a major label. Now that you’re an album in, do you have a better perspective on how to work that or what to expect? Were there some some surprises the first time around?
CW: Yeah, in terms of dealing with the label there haven’t been any surprises this time around. We know how to do this now. It’s like, it’s like any partnership, be it a job or a contract or whatever, at least in terms of our relationship with them. It’s awkward for a little while just because you don’t know how the other side really does things, how they want to do them. But you figure it out really pretty quickly and it gets easier and it gets better and you understand what they need and they understand what you need and you move forward. So, it’s good. It’s been really, really good this time out.

SS: How have the first few shows gone doing the new material?
CW: Really well. The first two shows were a little shaky, then we kind of hit our stride when we got to Northern California. Those shows and the Las Vegas show were great, and then Coachella was kind of a wreck and then we did some radio stuff. It’s all going really well, but we’re still working on a few songs—there are two songs that are really difficult for me to pull together and I think there’s one that everybody is still stressed about. And I don’t know that they’re songs that are less—they were tracked as less live-rock-band-in-a-room sort of songs and more pieces. Everybody’s parts are pieces that are kind of strung together from lots of different parts. That’s always sort of hard to negotiate. But you know, that’s nothing new. That happens with every record. But by and large it’s going really well and it feels like the new songs are translating really well.

SS: What have the audiences been like this tour?
CW: The audiences have been amazing. Like, way cooler than I have ever experienced playing songs that nobody knows yet. Like, really really receptive and really interested and totally just into it. Even when we play something that is a total wingnut of a new song it seems like people are really reacting which is so nice… And I mean the little run we did down the West coast was—this was definitely for us as much as it was for anyone who was coming to see us. I mean, I think we played really good shows, but is was definitely like, we have to figure out how people are reacting to some of this stuff before we get on to a big stage at like Coachella, for example. We didn’t want to go into that cold and it’d be really bad to get down there and play the songs that we think everyone’s going to like and not have any sort of empirical evidence to back that up. So the shows down the coast were really good. This is a window for me, I’m home for exactly two days before I’m gone for another two weeks. So yeah, there’s no shortage of shows coming up.

SS: As far as your solo album goes, right now you’re focusing on all the Death Cab stuff, but are you going to go back to that at any time and maybe tour by yourself? Are there any plans for that at this point?
CW: There are no plans for that at this point. Sometimes I forget that I made a solo record, in all honesty. I wrote a record and I’m really proud but there’s really not any time to think about it. I treated it like I treat all the records that I make for bands and like it’s like with the Tegan & Sara record … or whatever. You get done with it and it’s mixed and it comes out and I don’t really hear about it again except for the occasional fan on a tour that we’re on happens to know that I was involved in that thing, which is fine, that’s alright. I would love to play those songs on stage at some point. Trying to introduce that variable into the next year is a panic-inducing thought. I’m just not going to do that.

Narrow Stairs was released May 13 on Atlantic Records. For more on Death Cab for Cutie, see their official website. For more on Chris Walla’s solo album Field Manual, check out Barsuk Records. And stay tuned to Sound for some more Death Cab-related goodness. Thursday we’ll have an interview with Ben Gibbard.

Photo courtesy of Barsuk Records.