Some musicians have a lot to say about politics. Some want to know what their listeners have to say.
Seattle-based indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie has teamed up with an organization called Why Tuesday? to orchestrate a large-scale college voter registration drive called The Ultimate College Bowl.
The goal is to promote grassroots organizing by giving free concerts to competitive colleges. Among a few smaller prizes, Death Cab for Cutie will perform at the school that registers the largest number of voters. More than 400 schools are currently involved.

“We wondered how we could insert ourselves into this election cycle without being a pain in somebody’s ass, and this seemed perfect,” said guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Walla.
On Sept. 24, Walla spoke to nationwide college presses through a phone conference — The Argonaut was on the line.
While members of the band have been vocally supportive of Barack Obama’s campaign, Walla said the band’s personal preferences are not a factor in its political activity.
“Death Cab’s never been a political band with a ‘capital P.’ I think Ben’s stuck to the time-honored mantra of ‘write what you know,’” Walla said. “He can talk politics and even comes from a military family, but it doesn’t drive him day to day, so lyrically he tends to stay away from it.”

Q: The Columbia Chronicle (Columbia College): Do you think you have a real power to get through to young people?
A: Walla: We’re doing it just as concerned citizens. It’s nice to feel like we can do something, and this seemed like a perfect fit for us. It’s large in scale and feels like it is going to work. It remains to be seen how well it goes, but I feel positive.

Q: The Heights (Boston College): Why do you think it’s important for college students to vote?
A: Walla: I don’t even know where to start. In the 2004 election, it was disheartening that more people voted for American Idol than in the presidential primaries. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember everything that happens around us we have some kind of control over.

Q: The Badger Herald (University of Wisconsin-Madison): As a voter, what is your biggest political issue with this election?
A: Walla: I think it’s the war for me. In terms of big media coverage, it’s the forgotten issue, and that is so troubling to me because this one involves 150,000 people in another country that are in harm’s way. To not be reporting on that with the same fervor that we’ve devoted to partisan or trivial crap is really frustrating, and it think it shows how irresponsible and arrogant we can be as a nation. It should be headline news every day until they are home.

Q: The Argonaut (University of Idaho): I understand that as a band, you’re pretty involved with PETA, vegetarianism and the overall theme of animal rights. Do you guys spend more time dealing with social movements like that or with electoral politics?
A: Walla: I would say electoral politics because it’s something that we can all agree on. PETA is mostly my thing. It’s kind of something we do in our spare time, and it crosses over onto the band now and then … The thing we can all agree on is that non-partisan political activity, like this, isn’t about “who,” it’s about getting people involved. That, to me, is just critical, and we’re passionate about it.

(This is a small portion of the interview transcript and is not necessarily in order.)

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