2009 mtvU Woodie Awards: Death Cab For Cutie Rehearsals

The floor of the Roseland Ballroom, where the sixth-annual mtvU Woodies will be held tonight, is very much not ready yet. Set pieces are being unwrapped, the stage is being polished like a knob, the lights are being tested, and burly crew guys in black are still doing lots of heavy lifting to prep for tonight's show. But all of that doesn't seem to bother Death Cab for Cutie -- as a band that's been together for the past 12 years, they're the veterans of this year's Woodies, a well-oiled artistic machine that communicates on stage without speaking, putting the same amount of concentration and consternation into their "New Moon"-soundtrack single that they've played with every time I've seen them perform live in the past near-decade.

To be sure, while Death Cab for Cutie has become part of the "New Moon" zeitgeist, the "New Moon" zeitgeist doesn't seem to have really become part of them. When asked which character he most related to, Chris Walla picked Bella's dad, and Nick Harmer was just as eager to talk about his hopes for the Obama administration and the residual effects of American consumerism.

Check out more photos of Death Cab rehearsing for their live woodies performance, and watch a brand-new interview with Chris Walla and Nick Harmer for an advanced liberal arts discussion about music, literature, politics, and pop culture, straight from the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards.

Tags Death Cab For Cutie, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, New Moon, video, Woodies