On the heels of its smash crossover with 2003’s Transatlanticism — and amid the major labels’ indie signing frenzy of the early 2000s — Death Cab for Cutie, which was previously on Barsuk Records, joined Atlantic Records in 2004. It remained there for two decades before inking a deal with ANTI- to release the band’s forthcoming 11th album, I Built You a Tower, in June.
When we were opening ourselves up to that possibility [of signing with a major], we had seen some bands that we admired in the years prior wait [roughly] an album too late to sign to a major. We fell into a really great situation with Transatlanticism hitting the way it did and selling hundreds of thousands of copies. We felt that that was the moment to strike. The cultural conversation around indie rock was starting to get louder and louder, and it felt like we were 100% in the right place at the right time. Our goal wasn’t to become Coldplay or anything like that — no disrespect to Coldplay — but it was like, if we could have a major-label radio department pushing this music at what was then alternative radio, we might be able to level up a bit.
Our experience at Atlantic was the exact opposite of most people’s experiences at a major label — certainly we did not experience any of the major-label horror stories. I think that was due in large part to the fact that we arrived at Atlantic having sold a considerable number of records and had a lot of heat behind us. The last couple of records, toward the end of that relationship, Atlantic [was] running out of ideas as to how to market us, how to present us. In hindsight, I get it: Middle-aged indie-rock bands are not really the purview of most major labels. But through that entire 20 years, there wasn’t a single moment where anybody told us what to do or had any kind of negative outside influence on the music we were making. I think that we collectively felt that the relationship we had with Atlantic accomplished pretty much everything we wanted to accomplish.
We had initially signed for one more record [after 2022’s Asphalt Meadows], and literally within a week of signing that contract, [Atlantic Records co-chair/COO] Julie Greenwald was let go, and we were like, “Well, we definitely don’t want to be here now, given the new leadership. We definitely don’t want to have anything to do with these people.” So we were able to get out of that situation, due to some maneuvering, and we realized that we were not going to try to go to another major label. If Atlantic, our home of 20 years, was struggling to find a new way to present us to people, then assuredly Interscope wouldn’t either — if there was even interest there.
At a wedding [in fall 2024], I found myself sitting next to Mike Krol, who has been on Merge Records for a long time, and his wife, Allison Crutchfield, who at the time was doing A&R at ANTI-, and we got talking about music and labels. I was like, “Oh, yeah, Slow Pulp are on ANTI-.” We were touring with them, we love them. “Oh, our friends The Beths just signed to ANTI-. Fleet Foxes are on ANTI-; we’ve known those guys for a long time. And I’m friends with Neko; Neko Case is on ANTI-. Holy s–t!” I was realizing what a great roster this was.
Being in a room with [ANTI- founder] Andy Kaulkin and Brett Gurewitz [of Bad Religion and founder of ANTI- parent Epitaph] and Allison, it just felt more comfortable. It had been a long time since we’d been on a record label run by people who were first and foremost musicians and had been in bands — or were in bands. The conversation about the creative process, about records, about what we wanted to do next, the kind of band we wanted to be in this next chapter of our story just felt a lot easier to have at ANTI- than it had been when we had it at Atlantic.
One of the things that we really like about ANTI- and by extension Epitaph is that Epitaph has been thoroughly independent from the jump. Epitaph also has sold a lot of f–king records. They clearly have built a pretty large coffer of resources from the ’90s on and have been really successful. So for us, so far, the recording budget, video budgets, marketing budgets, all this stuff has been pretty similar [to Atlantic], by my estimation.
If you’re making rock’n’roll-based music, like guitar music, in 2026, I don’t see in what world being on a major label is more helpful. I just don’t. It was in 2004. It certainly isn’t now. —As told to Eric Renner Brown
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