photo courtesy of barsuk records Jason McGerr, Chris Walla, Nick Harmer and Ben Gibbard (From left to right) are the current lineup for indie superstars Death Cab For Cutie. They stop to play some old and some new tunes tonight in Phoenix .

Death Cab for Cutie may not change their indie pop sound too much from album to album, but they always seem to change their drummer.

First they had Nathan Good. Then they moved on to Michael Shorr and even lead singer Ben Gibbard played on one album.

So, with their fourth full-length album "Transatlanticism" and a new tour that stops at Nita's Hideaway in Tempe tonight, of course they have a new drummer. This year's new face is Jason McGerr, a Seattle musician who has been friends with the band members since their school days.

When I talked with McGerr as he munched on a couple slices of pizza in Death Cab's tour bus - which he noted lacks a hot tub - we talked about his new gig, his experience as a drummer and the future of Death Cab for Cutie.

"I already owned all the (Death Cab) records," said McGerr about learning the Death Cab catalog. "I knew all the songs, so all it took was a week of rehearsals. As a teacher, something I do is help people learn other people's parts, so it was just another day of work."

Oh yeah, he's a teacher, too. He's been doing it for almost 10 years at the Seattle Drum School of Music and plans on going back to teaching whenever he can, giving lessons to kids who are just beginning and fellow professionals who want some tips.

"The drummer from Pearl Jam took a couple lessons from me, the drummer from Sunny Day Real Estate. I even gave (Death Cab guitarist) Chris Walla lessons before I joined the band," McGerr said.

He has been in bands such as Neo and Eureka Farm, played on another 10 albums that he claims "you've probably never heard of" and been a drum tech on 15 albums, including Pretty Girls Make Graves' acclaimed album, "The New Romance."

"With all that experience, you pick up some things here and there," McGerr said. "But I'm still learning being out here. I can't say that I've played 50 shows back-to-back in one stretch before."

And he also hadn't been in the limelight like he was with Death Cab's "Transatlanticism." Many critics have noted that McGerr shines throughout the album, blending electronic influences with traditional rock 'n' roll beats.

It may be Death Cab's strongest album so far, but McGerr plans on helping to make even better ones ö as long as the curse of the Death Cab drummers doesn't drive him out of the mix.

Wildcat: What is the songwriting process like with this band?

McGerr: Ben writes a bulk of material, then we all sit down and listen to it and choose our favorite songs and the ones that would work best as a whole. We take them into the practice space and tool them out, tear them apart, rearrange them and put them back together. Eventually you whittle away, add and subtract and you come up with your album.

Wildcat: I noticed that there's a lot of non-traditional percussion on the album. Was that something the band wanted you to do, or something you enjoy?

McGerr: Chris (Walla) and I are both big fans of other albums that have adventurous drum sounds. I think that if you wrote every song the same, it would be boring, and if every drum sound sounds the same, it would be boring. I have a whole bunch of different drum sets, different snare drums and different cymbals. I think I used everything I had, probably five or six different drums sets and six or seven snare drums. We recorded in two different studios and the room acoustics were different. It was all very intentional.

Wildcat: Do you ever look at the old Death Cab material and go, "Damn, it's too bad you didn't have me back then."

We're not Justin Timberlake dancing around and singing on top of a ghetto blaster at the Video Music Awards. - Jason McGerr

McGerr: Not really. I play all the parts with great enjoyment and pride. Live, I'll spice them up or do my own fills and add something, but a part is a part. It's a whole lot of fun for me to slip in to the (previous drummers') hands and feet and try to play like them, although I will say that the song "Styrofoam Plates" has turned into a bit more of a drum solo in the middle.

Wildcat: Some of the drums are more understated on "Transatlanticism." Was that something you decided to do?

McGerr: If I'm listening to a song and all I hear is drums or a drum part instead of the song, lyrics and the melody, then I usually don't like it. On the new record, I could have done more stuff, more fills, more whatever. I played what I did because that's what fit the music.

Wildcat: What's going to happen to Death Cab in the future? Are you guys going to sign to a major label? Are you anti-major label?

McGerr: We're not anti-major label. No one is into the kind of bands that major labels create. I think major labels get a bad name because they try and bust into the music industry with stuff that often sucks, and they try and put a brand name on it and turn it into pop culture overnight. I don't think this band could ever be "that band." We're not a boy band. We're not Justin Timberlake dancing around and singing on top of a ghetto blaster at the Video Music Awards. We're out there swinging and slugging it out on tours and paying for everything ourselves and booking our own tours, and taking care of our own fans and buying our own T-shirts.

Death Cab for Cutie will be playing Nita's Hideaway in Tempe tonight. Formerly "Popular" band Nada Surf opens the show. Tickets are $14.