The Postal Service was an American indie band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2001.

The
band consisted of vocalist Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), producer Jimmy
Tamborello (of Dntel and Headset), with Jenny Lewis(of Rilo Kiley) on background vocals.
The band released their debut album, Give Up, in 2003 on Sub Pop Records, to mostly positive
reviews. The album reached number 114 on the USBillboard 200 album chart, and received platinum
certification from theRecording Industry Association of America.
The Postal Service remained largely inactive from 2005 until 2013, when they reunited for a tour,
and released a re-issue of Give Up to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Laura Burhenn joined the
lineup throughout the tour to provide additional vocals and instruments, with Jen Wood filling in for a
few shows.[2][3]
On August 3, 2013, Gibbard announced that the band would disband permanently after the last
show of their reunion tour.
Contents
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1History
o

1.1Formation (20012003)

1.2Give Up (20032007)
1.2.1Controversy

1.3Possible second album (20072012)

1.4Reunion, Give Up re-issue, and disbandment (2013)

2Members

3Discography

4References

5External links

History[edit]
Formation (20012003)[edit]
The group formed after Ben Gibbard contributed vocals for a song by Jimmy Tamborello called
"(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan", from the Dntel album Life Is Full of Possibilities. The song
sparked an EP of remixes by other artists, such as Lali Puna, The Flaming Lips, Safety

Scissors, Barbara Morgenstern and Superpitcher, and was so well-received that the two artists
decided to further collaborate. The third member of the band, Jenny Lewis, lived in the same
apartment complex as Tamborello, and would record temporary vocals for several tracks before
eventually becoming a full-fledged member of the band, sharing vocals and instrumentation in their
live shows.
The band's name was chosen due to the way in which it produced its songs. Due to conflicting
schedules, Tamborello wrote and performed instrumental tracks and then sent the DATs to Gibbard
through the United States Postal Service, who then edited the song as he saw fit (adding his vocals
along the way) and sent them back to Tamborello.

Give Up (20032007)[edit]
The band's debut album, Give Up, was released on February 18, 2003, on Sub Pop Records.
Several songs on the album feature guest vocals from Lewis, as well as vocals from indie rock
musician Jen Wood. Tamborello and Gibbard's Death Cab for Cutie bandmate Chris Walla produced
the album, with Walla also playing the guitar and piano on several tracks. Although both Gibbard and
Tamborello's main projects were still active at the time, The Postal Service supported the album with
a successful concert tour, and stated its intention to tour again in the future.
Give Up received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America in March 2005,
and later receivingplatinum certification in October 2012. The album was Sub Pop's most successful
release after Nirvana's debut album,Bleach.[4]
The album produced three singles, the most well-known single being "Such Great Heights", which
was released as Give Up's lead single. The song featured in advertisements for UPS, Kaiser
Permanente, and M&M's, as well as being the first theme song for ABC's Grey's Anatomy in 2005. A
cover of the song by Iron and Wine was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film Garden State. It
was also later covered by Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, The Scene Aesthetic, Brack
Cantrell,Streetlight Manifesto, Confide and Joy Kills Sorrow. Confide would later release a music
video for their cover of "Such Great Heights". The second single, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight",
was featured in the soundtrack of the 2004 film D.E.B.S.. The third and final single, "We Will Become
Silhouettes", was covered by The Shins, and the original version was featured in the trailer for the
movie Funny People.
Controversy[edit]
In August 2003, the United States Postal Service sent the band a cease and desist letter, citing the
band's name as an infringement of its trademark on the phrase "postal service". After negotiations,
the USPS relented, allowing the band use of the trademark in exchange for promotional efforts on
behalf of the USPS and a performance at its annual National Executive Conference. [5] Additionally, at
one point the USPS website sold the band's CDs.[6] In 2007, "Such Great Heights" appeared in the

background of the "whiteboard" advertising campaign for one of the federal establishment's private
competitors, the United Parcel Service.[7]
In January 2006, Josh Melnick and Xander Charity, who had produced the "Such Great Heights"
music video, created a commercial for Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and Intel using similar
footage.[8] While strikingly similar to the music video, the commercial did not contain imagery of the
band or a recording of its music. On January 19, 2006, Gibbard stated on the band's website, "It has
recently come to our attention that Apple Computer's new television commercial for the Intel chip
features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video for 'Such Great Heights' made by the same
filmmakers responsible for the original. We did not approve this commercialization and are extremely
disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent." The band
did not take legal action against Apple or the filmmakers.

Possible second album (20072012)[edit]

On June 22, 2007, it was revealed that The Postal Service had begun work on a new album, though
the specifics of the production and the release date were vague. Gibbard stated, "We're slowly
starting. We're crawling right now, and whether that crawl turns into a walk remains to be seen. But
we'll know more towards the end of the year. I've just been touring so much and trying to find time to
make it happen and make our schedules line up." Tamborello added, "We're talking about wanting to
finish an album by sometime next year, because we have to work with Death Cab's schedule and
stuff. I definitely want to do another one."[9]
On February 29, 2008, Spinner released an article stating that The Postal Service may not release a
new album. Ben Gibbard stated, "Jimmy and I are still throwing ideas back and forth, but as time
goes on, we find ourselves busy with our own music. ... We have some stuff, but it's been difficult to
find the time and the drive to do the record. I'd love to finish it at some point and maybe even do
some performances. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be."[10] In May 2008, Gibbard stated that he and
Tamborello were unlikely to release another album "before the end of the decade." [11]
In a December 2008 interview with Rolling Stone, Gibbard laughed off suggestions that The Postal
Service's long overdue follow-up to their 2003 hit Give Up would be an indie version of the Guns N'
Roses album Chinese Democracy, which took 15 years to produce and release. Gibbard said that
both he and Tamborello do not see it as a priority in light of their main projects, Death Cab for Cutie
and Dntel, respectively. He said, "The anticipation of the second record has been a far bigger deal
for everybody except the two of us... I don't know about it being the indie-rock Chinese Democracy,
but now thatChinese Democracy has come out, I guess it just becomes the second Postal Service
record that will never come out. There never really was a plan to do a second album. We work from
time to time together but we have other things that take up all of our time." [12]

In November 2012, Ben Gibbard posted on his Twitter account that there are "no plans" to produce
another Postal Service record, and did not cite any specific reason for this statement, other than the
fact that multiple fans questioned if there was going to be a second album.

Reunion, Give Up re-issue, and disbandment (2013)[edit]

In January 2013, The Postal Service updated their website to read "The Postal Service 2013",
reigniting speculation that the band would play shows, or possibly release a new album. [13] It was
later confirmed that the image on the band's site portended that the band's debut, Give Up, would
receive a ten-year anniversary re-issue featuring a 15-song disc of rarities, including two new songs
with Jenny Lewis to be released on April 9, 2013.[14][15] The following month, The Postal Service
announced it will officially reunite for an extended world tour with venues including Red Rocks
Amphitheater, the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, Sasquatch! Music
Festival in Washington in May, the Primavera Sound Festival 2013 in Barcelona, and Free Press
Summer Fest in Houston, Texas in June.[16][17][18][19][20]
Along with the reunion, the band released their first new track in ten years called "A Tattered Line of
String" featuring Jenny Lewis.[21] On March 21, the band released a second new track titled "Turn
Around", released through 107.7 The End.[22]
On March 5, 2013, as a tie-in to the Give Up reissue, comedy website Funny or Die posted a parody
video directed by Tom Scharpling set in 2002, in which Jimmy Tamborello holds auditions for his
musical collaborator. Guest stars on the video include "Weird Al" Yankovic, Moby, Duff
McKagan, Tom DeLonge, Aimee Mann, Jon Wurster, Page Hamilton, Nate Mendel, and Marc Maron.
[23]

On August 3, 2013, Ben Gibbard announced on Twitter that the Lollapalooza after-show would be
the last Postal Service performance ever, and that the band would formally disband permanently
after the show, finally quashing rumors of a highly anticipated second album. The band played their
last live song at the Metro Chicago on August 5, 2013.