Death Cab for Cutie Want to Own the Airwaves

Death Cab for Cutie want to take over the airwaves with its next album. Although frontman Ben Gibbard hasn't even begun writing the follow up to last year's 'Narrow Stairs,' the band's producer/guitarist Chris Walla hopes to make a bigger, bolder musical statement with Death Cab's next disc.

"I have no interest in doing anything that's mild and meek," Walla tells Alternative Press. "I want to make a radio record this next time out. There's no reason for us to keep doing what we're doing if we're making meeker, smaller records." He explains, "I don't particularly have any real connection to a lot of the mellower stuff that Ben writes. I really feel like he's getting his best stuff when he's being assertive and forward."

The transition to a major label in 2004 contributed to the band's shifting sounds, Walla says. "In a way, when we signed to Atlantic, 'Plans' was a sort of partial, half-hearted step into an attempt to make something that is more appealing on a broader scale." He adds, "I think that 'Narrow Stairs' was really sort of a reactionary move -- like very much the opposite of that. Maybe it's just a phase, but I'm really interested in making something that is appealing on a really broad level and something we can be really satisfied with. But I think that there's a way to bridge those two gaps."