There we were — at the beer garden at Bumbershoot, minding our own business… when igLiz leans into our huddle and says, "I think the guys from Death Cab for Cutie are over there… the lead singer and the bassist!"
I don't think I said it with that much gusto… I think I was just nonchalantly informing everyone as an F.Y.I.
…OK, maybe I was that excited to be sharing beer garden space with a couple of guys in the band that wrote "Company Calls." In any case, after not-so-covertly staring at them and weighing the situation (and finishing our drinks) we mosey over to confirm our suspicions. April (our San Francisco I.G. correspondent), being the most level-headed of our bunch, was nominated to be our spokeswoman and get the 411. So, with us in tow, she walked up to the first fellow and asked in the most charming of poses, "Are you Ben?" The guy replies, "What?" So April repeats, "Are you Ben from Death Cab for Cutie?" Ben-alike replies (and not in a particularly friendly tone…), "No, but I am in a few other bands…"
"Hmmm," we all think as we start pull apart the sitiation in our groggy brains… "Is this the guy from DCFC and he is just toying with us?" or "is this actually a mistken identity?" We did know that this guy (and the fellow we took for the DCFC bassist) did look familiar. Have we all become victims of my facial amnesia? Are these actually just guys we recognize as Capitol Hill locals? We couldn't decide, and these guys sure weren't being helpful…
"Oh, yea.. you're in LL Cool J's back-up band, right," is the only thing I could come up with. It momentarily stunned and entertained the DCFC-lookalikes enough that we could offer our adieus and retreat to review the facts. "That WAS Death Cab for Cutie," we agreed, and proceeded to talk smack about them (and rename them Death Cab for Snooty) as we made our way to the DCFC show (i.e. the next two hours).
They took the stage and, although we were at the far end of the arena, we immediately saw the resemblance.
"That's Death Cab for Snooty!" we proclaimed, and ran up to the front for evidence to solidify our proclamation. Thank goodness we ran into our friend Jason, who had actually performed with them in the past. We told him the story and he was just as stunned as we were… They were such nice gentlemen on stage… how could they have been the same fellows who brushed us off in the beer garden? We proudly whipped out the evidence: the freshly taken pictures on my digital camera. At which point Jason set us straight: IT WASN'T THEM!
Sighs of relief overcame us. IT WASN'T THEM! The nicest guys in indie-rock aren't beer garden hoodlums. We can like them again!
I'm so happy I don't have to hate them for being rude to us. Especially since the Death Cab show — my first one, incidently — was so damn good. Damn Doppelgangers!
Maybe we should warn them, that they have evil twins. Surely DCFC would never be rude! They should know about the potential perils of not-so-friendly body doubles!
I think we have…