“Every time we went on tour, the first time there were 25 people, the next time there were 50 and then 100 people,” he continues. “We just found ourselves finding success that way. There’s no substitute for drive, creativity and believing in what you’re doing. But I think sometimes when it comes to business, it just comes down to having something somebody wants. I’m very close to my songs…and I love my songs, and they’re a part of me, but by putting them on a disc and then putting them up for sale, it becomes something that somebody wants to own. And people pay money for something that they want to own. They come see us live because we have something that they want to see. I think it can be frustrating for young musicians, and artists in general, that things aren’t going as quickly as they’d like. But trying to analyze what people want and what people don’t is kind of a fruitless mission, you know?”
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Another fool’s errand might be to hold your breath for a sophomore Postal Service disc. “I’ll go on record saying that the next Postal Service record may or may not ever happen,” Gibbard says. “Jimmy and I are still working together and throwing ideas back and forth, but as time goes on and we find ourselves busy with our own music…we have some stuff, but it’s been difficult to find the time and the drive to do the record. I’d love to finish it at some point and maybe even do some performances, but it’s just not a priority for either of us. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, but there’s nothing on the books quite yet.”
In the meantime, there’s gold in that there closet. Gibbard is hesitant to tell us where his are hanging. Meanwhile, Walla-who has RIAA-certified discs of 500,000 sales for his contribution to Postal Service’s Give Up, as well as Death Cab’s Plans and Transatlanticism kept in a warm, well kept office closet-only cops to having one gold disc hanging in his home. “I only have our Canadian gold record for Plans hanging…it’s in my kitchen,” the guitarist laughs. “How could I deny something that is certified Canadian Gold?”
“You know, its funny,” Walla marvels. “I’ve heard stories of producers who carry their gold records around from studio to studio, so that when someone in the band argues with them, they just turn around and point to the gold [laughs]. Can you imagine?”
With Narrow Stairs ready to drop in May, Gibbard is anticipating how the fans, critics and curiosity-seekers will respond. “I will be interested to see how people will react to it. Whether or not people like it, I think it’s indisputable that we’ve tried to do some new things on this album. For that alone, I’m extremely proud.”
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