The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone. The rest of the band is composed of two pairs of brothers: Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf.
In 1991, Matt Berninger and Scott Devendorf met while attending the University of Cincinnati where they also met Mike Brewer, Casey Reas and Jeff Salem, to make the lo-fi garage band Nancy (which was named after Matt's mother), aspiring to sound like Pavement. The band was together for five years, but only released one album, titled Ruther 3429, on Wife Records. The group slowly dissolved when Matt, Scott, Jeff and Casey moved to Brooklyn.
Bryan, Bryce and Aaron were childhood friends who played in several bands together over the years. When their last effort Project Nim broke up in 1998, they joined Matt and Scott in Brooklyn via the Devendorf relationship.
When the band was formed in 1999, it was called The National (although the domain name of the band's website is americanmary.com because, according to Matt Berninger in an interview with Better Propaganda, "[i]t's a song off our first record. We never thought of changing the (website) name, although we should have.") Several of the members continued to work day jobs, while performing free Sunday night shows regularly at the highly regarded NYC Lower East Side venue Luna Lounge throughout the early years, including being involved in New York's dot-com boom in the late 1990s.
Their first album The National was eventually released in 2001 on Brassland Records, a label founded by band members Aaron and Bryce Dessner, along with their friend Alec Hanley Bemis. When reviewing the album, Jason MacNeil of No Depression wrote, "...The National has created nearly a dozen picture-perfect Americana bar-soaked gems with its debut album. From the opening notes of 'Beautiful Head', the delicate line between polished roots-oriented pop and alt-country has rarely been walked so deliberately with the payoff so favorable."
The National's second album Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, released in 2003, was the band's first collaboration with record producers, Paul Heck and Peter Katis, who would later also produce the band's critically acclaimed albums, Alligator and Boxer. After the release of the album, renowned DJ Bernard Lenoir invited them to perform on his Black Sessions twice on France Inter. Publications such as Uncut and the Chicago Tribune named it an album of the year.
In 2004, they released the Cherry Tree EP which included live favorite "About Today," as well as "All the Wine," which would appear on their next record. The release of the EP garnered further success and landed them on a successful tour with The Walkmen.
Also in 2004, the band quit their day jobs and signed to a new label, Beggars Banquet Records, because the process of running their own label was becoming "too complicated."
Their first album on Beggars Banquet, Alligator, was released in 2005. The album was met with much critical acclaim and featured highly in "Album of the Year" charts in the Los Angeles Times, Insound, Uncut, and many other publications. The album allowed the band increased exposure. NME and Pitchfork Media ranked Alligator as a top album of the 2000s.
Alligator brought the band increased attendance at concerts, including sold-out shows at The Troubadour in Los Angeles and Webster Hall in New York. They shared tours with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Editors, and played at numerous festivals including the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Pukkelpop, and more.
Their fourth album, Boxer, was released on May 22, 2007, and also received widespread critical praise. The album features contributions from various guest artists, including Sufjan Stevens and Doveman (a.k.a. Thomas Bartlett). It was voted as the #2 best album of the year by Stereogum.com and the #1 album of the year by Paste Magazine.
The song "Slow Show" from Boxer was featured on the NBC series Chuck and Southland, as well as on The CW's One Tree Hill in its fifth season. The track "Fake Empire" was featured the Season 2 Premiere of the HBO Series Hung. The song "Start a War" was featured on the international science fiction series Defying Gravity, ABC's Brothers and Sisters, FOX's House, NBC's Parenthood, and NBC's Friday Night Lights (TV series).
In the summer of 2008, along with Modest Mouse, they opened for R.E.M. on the promotional tour for the R.E.M. album Accelerate. That summer they also played many festivals in North America and Europe, including Coachella, Roskilde, Sasquatch, Glastonbury, Haldern Pop, Rock Werchter, Optimus Alive!, Oxegen, Benicàssim, Lowlands, O2 Wireless, T in the Park, All Points West, and Lollapalooza.
In May 2008, the band released their first feature-length documentary film entitled A Skin, a Night on DVD. The film, directed by filmmaker Vincent Moon, documents the lives of the band surrounding the recording of Boxer and just before a show at the London venue Koko. Vincent Moon's film was widely disregarded by fans who had hoped the film would feature the band and their music more directly, rather than artful attempts. Along with the release of the DVD was a CD collection of B-sides and rarities titled The Virginia EP.
The National's collaboration with Vincent Moon began long before the filming of A Skin, a Night. Vincent Moon discovered the band after the release of their first album and became friends with its members after a show at Paris's La Guinguette Pirate. Soon after this meeting, Moon filmed his first music videos ever, which were for The National's songs "Daughters of the Soho Riots" and "Lit Up". Moon's photography also appears on the cover for Alligator.
On February 17, 2009, a compilation album titled Dark Was the Night was produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner and released by 4AD (the band's new label after Beggars Banquet Records merged into 4AD). The two-disc, 31-track compilation was released for the benefit of the Red Hot Organization, and featured a new song by The National and Nico Muhly titled "So Far Around the Bend." In the same year, The National collaborated with St. Vincent to contribute a cover of Crooked Fingers' "Sleep All Summer" to the Merge Records compilation Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers!. On May 6, 2009, The National performed "So Far Around the Bend" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
On February 17, 2009, Dark Was the Night, the twentieth Red Hot Organization compilation, was released by 4AD. Curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, this album comprised songs by bands and artists such as Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Beirut, David Byrne, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, The Dirty Projectors, Feist, and The National, among others. Over one million dollars of the proceeds from album sales were donated to the Red Hot Organization which is an international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS.
