The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner (guitar, piano, keyboards) and Bryce Dessner (guitar, piano, keyboards), as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). During live performances the band is joined by longtime touring members Ben Lanz (trombone, synthesizers) and Kyle Resnick (trumpet, keyboards, backing vocals). Berninger's wife, Carin Besser, has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband since its 2007 album Boxer.
Founded by Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, Scott Devendorf and Bryan Devendorf, the National released their self-titled debut album, The National (2001), on Brassland Records, an independent record label founded by Aaron, his twin brother, Bryce Dessner, and Alec Hanley Bemis. Bryce, who had assisted in recording the album, soon joined the band, participating as a full member in the recording of its follow-up, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (2003).
Leaving behind their day jobs, the National signed with Beggars Banquet Records and released their third studio album, Alligator (2005), to widespread critical acclaim. The band's fourth and fifth studio albums, Boxer (2007) and High Violet (2010), increased their exposure significantly. In 2013, the band released its sixth studio album, Trouble Will Find Me, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2017, the band released the album Sleep Well Beast, which won the band a Grammy Award. Their eighth studio album, I Am Easy to Find, was released in 2019. Their ninth studio album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, was released on April 28, 2023, and featured appearances from Sufjan Stevens, Taylor Swift, and Phoebe Bridgers. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in the AAA & Rock categories. The band released a surprise album, Laugh Track, on September 18, 2023. It was mostly written and recorded alongside their earlier 2023 album.
Four of the band's albums were nominated by writer Laura Snapes for inclusion on NMEs 2013 list of the NMEs The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
History 1991–2006: Formation and early years Matt Berninger and Scott Devendorf met in 1991 while attending the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) graphic design program, where they also met Mike Brewer, Casey Reas, and Jeff Salem. Together, the five of them formed the lo-fi garage band Nancy, named after Berninger's mother, aspiring to sound like Pavement. The band was together for five years, and released one album, Ruther 3429, on Wife Records before breaking up after Berninger, Devendorf, Reas and Salem 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 by way of 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, "it'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, including being involved in New York's dot-com boom, while performing free Sunday night shows regularly at Lower East Side venue Luna Lounge. 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 albums Alligator and Boxer. After the French release of the album on the French label Talitres, 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 the album of the year. In 2004, they released the Cherry Tree EP. The EP featured "All the Wine", a song that would appear on their next record. The release of the EP garnered further success and landed them on a successful tour with The Walkmen. In the same year, 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 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 also played at numerous festivals including the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Pukkelpop, and more.
2007–2009: Boxer; A Skin, a Night and The Virginia EP
Their fourth album, Boxer, was released on May 22, 2007, and also received widespread critical praise.Boxer by The National. metacritic.com. Retrieved on July 30, 2009. The album features contributions from various guest artists, including Sufjan Stevens and Doveman. It was voted the No. 2 best album of the year by Stereogum.com and the No. 1 album of the year by Paste.Paste Magazine issue No. 38 The song "Slow Show" from Boxer was featured on the NBC series Chuck and Parenthood, as well as on The CW's One Tree Hill in its fifth season. The song "Start a War" was featured on the series Defying Gravity, Brothers and Sisters, House, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, as well as the film Warrior. The track "Fake Empire" was featured in the Season 2 Premiere of the HBO series Hung, also on the 9th episode, season 5 of "Person of interest", and on the third episode of the second season of Chuck and in the pilot episode of Southland. An instrumental version of the song was featured in Barack Obama's campaign video "Signs of Hope and Change" during his 2008 United States presidential campaign, and the song was also played at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Boxer made numerous "album of the decade" lists, including Pitchfork, Aquarium Drunkard, Paste, and more.
On September 26, 2007, the band performed "Apartment Story" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. In 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 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 titled 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. 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' 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. The National contributed a track to Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy in September 2009, an album in support of the former Polaris front-man, who lost his wife. They covered the Polaris track "Ashamed of the Story I Told", from their album Music from The Adventures of Pete & Pete.
2010–2012: High Violet
On March 24, the band released "Bloodbuzz Ohio", the first single from their forthcoming album, High Violet, for free download at the official High Violet website. High Violet was released on May 11, 2010, in the U.S. to widespread critical acclaim. The album debuted with first week sales topping charts across the world, ranking No. 3 in the US, No. 2 in Canada, No. 5 in the United Kingdom, and No. 3 in Portugal, among others. High Violet is a Gold Album in Canada, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Australia and the United Kingdom. On May 13, 2010, the band appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, performing "Afraid of Everyone". On October 25, 2010, they were awarded a Q award, presented by Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order, for Best Album. In promoting the album, the band made multiple national television appearances and toured globally, including festival appearances at Latitude Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, and Sziget Festival.
In 2011 the National was nominated for a Brit Award for International Breakthrough Act and an MTV Performing Woodie. Two of its songs, "Start a War" (from Boxer) and "About Today", were featured in the film Warrior. On March 9, 2011, the National released a music video for Conversation 16 featuring John Slattery, Kristen Schaal and James Urbaniak. Two days later Valve announced the band would be contributing an original song, titled "Exile Vilify", for the video game Portal 2, and on April 12, 2011, the band released "Think You Can Wait" from the soundtrack of the film Win Win.
On April 20, 2011, the National played Starlight Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. During the show, the band played "About Today", and dedicated the song in memory of Gerard Smith of TV on the Radio, who had died earlier that day of lung cancer. On December 8, 2011, the band performed on Q (the CBC radio show) in front of a live audience. Two new songs were performed for the first time: "Rylan" and "I Need My Girl". The third song performed was "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" which featured Justin Vernon of Bon Iver who was also on the show. On March 24, 2012, members of the band, Scott Devendorf, Bryan Devendorf and Aaron Dessner, performed with Bob Weir in a live broadcast concert, The Bridge Session, at Weir's TRI Studios to bring awareness for non-profit organization, HeadCount.
The National recorded "The Rains of Castamere" for the Game of Thrones season 2 episode "Blackwater". They also recorded a cover of the song "I'll See You in My Dreams" for the HBO TV series Boardwalk Empire, and a cover of the "Thanksgiving Song" from the Fox TV series Bob's Burgers. On December 9, 2012, they debuted three new songs "I Should Live in Salt", "Humiliation", and "Graceless" at the All Tomorrow's Parties event in Camber Sands, United Kingdom. The track "Runaway" was used in the 2013 film Warm Bodies.