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Hatchet: What does the album mean to you? Transatlanticism, I understand, is about distance, but what do you personally find in it?
Chris Walla: (pause) I sort of feel like it's the first in a series of records. For me, Transatlanticism is the first record where we just about nailed it. I mean, we've always made it a point to, but this is the first record where I feel like, "Oh, wow, we made a record. We made a rock record!"
H: What are the differences between this and The Photo Album?
CW: The Photo Album was made at a point when we were having a hard time communicating with one another and we were not doing well enough to take time off during the recording. So it was basically like 31 or 32 days straight in the studio without a break. I mean, I like the record, but it's definitely not the record I thought it was going to be when we started it. A lot of that has to do with the fact that we played the songs on tour for a really long time before we ever went in the studio.
H: So how did you remedy that problem on this album?
CW: We went in not having played anything live. Transatlanticism is the album where we put together arrangements based on what was really at the core of the song instead of what we had just gotten used to when we were playing on stage. Operationally, it was really cool to make.
H: So you produced the record, too?
CW: Yes. The glory of recording is that you have a rewind button all the time. You can try something as long as you have the track space to do it. Or you can make a mix, and you can do something that somebody's really into, and then somebody says, "Well, yeah, I really like this. Can we try it if we change this, this and this?" With Transatlanticism, finally, we were able to try a bunch of different stuff and just cut and paste things together.
H: You just did some production for Nada Surf, and Ben Gibbard, the lead singer, has his side project, The Postal Service. What does that bring to the dynamic of Death Cab - people being involved in other things?
