People in bands are forever claiming to be doing it for "the kids," but two of Seattle's best loved bands have recently doubled down on that commitment by getting captured in caricature form. Death Cab for Cutie is among a small group of big-time bands (including Radiohead, Beck, the Cure, and Arcade Fire) whose names and likenesses have been recast as Garbage Pail Kids. The limited edition, "Best of the Fest" series, available only this week, appears to be a means of squeezing a few more drops of money from the festival season washcloth with the help of gnarly puns and gross drawings. According to Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer, the band was as surprised as anyone that Bashed Ben/Death Cab for Frontman even existed.
So, they didn't have to give permission or know it was a possibility?
“Not at all, actually," Harmer said. "The first inkling we had was when Stereogum posted about it yesterday.”
Judging by the laughter that punctuates his talking about it, it didn't come as bad news.
“It’s a Garbage Pail Kid!" he exclaimed. "I was never super into them, but I collected some, traded them on the playground. After growing up with them being such a big deal as kids, it was a pretty fun day.”
They don't have their own copies yet, but Harmer does have his eye on one of the new series.
"I will admit that the Cure one is the only one I’ve ever actually wanted to buy," he said.
Knowing Harmer to be no fan of the Smiths, I asked what he thought of Morrissey's Garbage Pail Kid treatment—in which the divisive vegan vocalist is attacked by burgers, bacon, and hot dogs while trying to sing.
"Sounds like we got off easy," said Harmer.
Meanwhile, in the comparatively adorable realm of the Powerpuff Girls, Tacocat's association with the animated neo-classic was recently extended from reboot theme-song-singers to tie-in comic book guest stars, looking, it must be said, reasonably life-like (perhaps not as right-on as the Monkees comic, anyway, but surely better than the time Richie Rich joined New Kids on the Block, or when the Avengers were on Letterman).
Unlike Death Cab's Garbage Pail Kids surprise, Tacocat was in on their Powerpuff Girls guest spot. But do they like it? "Yeah!!" said Tacocat's singer (and former Stranger Music Editor) Emily Nokes. "We knew it was coming. The artist ran a few rough drawings by us beforehand. I was like, 'This looks awesome, but make my boobs waaaayyy bigger, duh, this is a COMIC BOOK.' Jk. We thought it was awesome even in sketch form, and love how it turned out! Such a surreal honor."
Powerpuff Girls issue #2, written by Haley Mancini and Jake Goldman, drawn and colored by Derek Charm, is in stores now, from IDW Publishing.
