If one of the most pronounced cultural trends of the 2000s was the absorption of indie rock music into the mainstream, then nowhere is the transition more pronounced than in the presence of Death Cab For Cutie.

From their beginnings as a classic indie band, they’re now owners of the lead single for the soundtrack to New Moon, the second movie in the all-conquering cultural phenomenon that is the Twilight series.

For drummer Jason McGerr, the group’s steady progress from a cultish act to a group capable of packing theatres and shifting a million copies of breakthrough record Plans is symptomatic of genre borders being redrawn, and indie rock getting its time in the sun in a cyclical industry.

“Indie rock used to mean you did everything independently,” he explains. “You made your own T-shirts, you put out your own records, painted your own guitar. Indie rock is not as independent as it used to be, but the label stays the same.”

While seemingly tailor-made for the blockbuster, Meet Me On The Equinox was in fact written before the band were approached to contribute a new song to the soundtrack. Realising that Equinox, then a very rough demo, “seemed to have a real similar theme to the movie and the series and specifically where Twilight left off”, the band set about reworking the song to push for its inclusion on the soundtrack.

“We went into the studio for three days and specifically tailored the song, in terms of production, and tempo and overall feel and mood and colour to make it work for the film,” he says. Within days, they were informed the song would not only be on the soundtrack, but be the lead track. Avowed fans of the first film, the group were then whisked to Vancouver to shoot a video, a process that was both new and exciting to the enthusiastic McGerr.

The song is nestled alongside Death Cab For Cutie favourites Grizzly Bear (who team up with Beach House’s Victoria Legrand), Bon Iver and Thom Yorke on the soundtrack, giving the collection a distinctly alt-rock feel. McGerr sees the company they’re keeping as an honour (“I would share a soundtrack with those guys any day”) and an exciting diversion from the process of writing for their next record. It’s also a possible signpost to future directions for the band.

With singer Ben Gibbard having already drifted towards soundtrack work, McGerr believes it’s “probably just a matter of time” before they commit to writing a full soundtrack as a band. Despite their busy schedules, with Chris Walla’s production work and Gibbard’s other recording projects, it is something that holds great appeal for the group.

First appearing on a Death Cab for Cutie record back in 2003,when their classic Transatlanticism LP won hearts and minds, McGerr rates the shuffle on Grapevine Fires as his favourite musical moment with the group.

But the opening track to Transatlanticism, The New Year, also holds a special place: “That was a good one, absolutely, because that was the very first song on the record when I joined the band…As a statement as a musician, and as a band, to start out a record like that was kind of like saying: – œHey everybody, this is the new Death Cab. Check it out’. It was a pretty exciting thing for the band at that time And every time we play, it’s so fresh, I never get bored of it.”

While still vital as ever, the band are now very much elder statesmen of the scene. McGerr is keen to play a mentoring role to the next generation of artists, particularly those in the Seattle area. Returning to teaching drumming in rare moments of downtime, McGerr has also leant a guiding hand to teen sensations Smoosh. “I think when you’ve been given a gift, you should give something back,” he says.

“People always took the time to sit down with me. I’ll never forget the first time I went out to lunch with Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam…The fact that that man, as busy as he is, took time to sit down with a kid, was amazing.”

So what advice did Gossard give his fellow Seattleite? “I’ll always remember he said, – œYou know what? There’s no formula. You’ve just got to communicate, communicate, communicate.’” The venues may have got bigger and the scrutiny more intense, but all these years later, Death Cab for Cutie are doing just that.

The New Moon soundtrack is out today, featuring songs from Death Cab For Cutie, Muse, Thom Yorke, Bon Iver, Lykke Li and many more.