Homeland Security swipes Death Cab guitarist's hard-drive

Death Cab for Cutie guitarist/producer Chris Walla recently had his computer hard-drive confiscated by Homeland Security officials at the Canadian border, and the government hasn't really said why. His entire new solo album, which contains some "very political" content, was on the drive.

He tells MTV:

"It's a true story. Barsuk [Records, which is putting out the record] had hired a courier — who does international stuff all the time and who they had used before — to bring [the album] back from Canada, where I was working on it. And he got to the border and he had all his paperwork and it was all cool, only they turned him away, and they confiscated the drive and gave it to the computer-forensics division of our Homeland Security-type people," sighed Walla, who has produced nearly all Death Cab's output, as well as records by the Decemberists, Hot Hot Heat, Nada Surf, Tegan and Sara and others. "And now I couldn't even venture a guess as to where it is, or what it's doing there. I mean, I can't just call their customer-service center and ask about my drive. There's nothing I can do. I don't know if we can hire an attorney ... is there a black-hole attorney? You can't take a black hole to court."

The album, which Walla has backed up on tape, is called Field Manual, after World War II field guides. He and the cover-art designer were thumbing through such a guide at instructions on how to "build what we now call an [improvised explosive device] in Iraq or Afghanistan. Like how to hide a bomb in a bed or in a tube of toothpaste. Just terrible stuff, and I started having this feeling of, like, 'Well, we need a new field manual.'"