Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard was born in Bremerton, Washington on August 11, 1976. Gibbard was raised in a Roman Catholic household and graduated first from the area’s Olympic High School and then Western Washington University. He earned a degree in environmental engineering. As a youth in Bremerton, he was highly influenced by the grunge explosion in the 1990s and often traveled to Seattle to buy records. In an interview given by Beck and Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla, he recalls the experience: “I was into Teenage Fanclub, and Afghans Whigs’ ‘Gentlemen’ is still one of my top ten records . . . We went to Seattle to buy records and it was really exciting to leave Bremerton and go to Seattle and be in the city. I bought a bunch of records,” he recalls. After founding the group as a solo side project from his band All-Time Quarterback, Gibbard enlisted Walla along with Nick Harmer and Nathan Good in the late 1990s.