Mugshots of Indie Rock Holdouts in a Material World

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

Death Cab rocked their way onto the indie music scene in 1997 with the release of You Can Play These Songs' Chords, a cassette tape made by frontman Ben Gibbard. The success of the cassette was what originally fueled the creation of the quartet. Since their first album together, Death Cab has been one of the most successful indie bands of the late '90s and early '00s. The band began to break into the mainstream world after its smash hit Transatlanticism, which, among other things, got them a weekly name-drop on The OC. During their tour for Transatlanticism, Death Cab began to record Plans. In November 2004, Atlantic Records signed Death Cab after the band got the blessing from their former label, Barsuk Records, whose logo will appear on all upcoming releases. In April of this year, Atlantic released Plans. In its first week of sales, the album sold 90,000 copies and debuted at number four on the Billboard charts.

METRIC

Canadian quartet Metric quickly gained a national audience in the U.S. after the release of their debut album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, but have for the most part stayed far away from any mainstream media. Lead singer Emily Haines-also a member of indie rock collaboration Broken Social Scene-met her fellow bandmates in art school in Toronto. Metric formed in the late '90s, and released the highly acclaimed Old World Underground in 2001. The band chose their name from the way they feel about and play music: calculated, straightforward and unapologetic. Despite the metered approach, the end result is pure, unadulterated pop music, with crunching guitars juxtaposed with Haines' pretty-and even almost punkish at times-voice. Furthermore, ever since they formed, Metric has been outspoken in terms of political and social issues. The band has opposed anything from the

United States' foreign policy to the over-commercialization of music and the catastrophes that result from that. Their new album Live it Out has been doing well in record sales, but is falling short in comparison to Old World Underground.

ZENO GILL,

of THE SAMES

Local mainstay Zeno Gill moved to Durham from Brooklyn in 1999. When he arrived in North Carolina, he began his Triangle music career playing in the local band The Sleepies. Soon thereafter, he decided to form his own band, and consequently founded The Sames. A few years later he created the local label Pox World Empire. Currently, there are seven local bands on the roster, including The Sames and '80s synth rockers Jett Rink. Pox World also releases a compilation of the best of local Triangle music, called Compulation. Apart from running the record label, Gill also operates Pox World Empire studios, a recording studio in which any band that is signed to Pox World can use for free. Recently, The Sames released their long-expected debut, You Are The Sames, following their successful release of their EP in 2002. You Are The Sames is an extremely solid mix of rock, lo-fi and pop, and has received quite a bit of good press.