Death Cab man stung byscorpion

Tue 4th Nov, 2008 in International News

Ben Gibbard, frontman for recent Australian visitors Death Cab For Cutie, faced his harshest critic to date last week. Moments before he was due to go onstage in San Diego, Gibbard was stung twice by a scorpion – hiding out in his pants. The photo we’ve included is the actual arthropod that did the deed! Thanks to Death Cab for the photographic evidence…

The singer had just changed into a new pair of trousers (razzle-dazzle showman ones) when he felt two sharp jabs in his thigh. Bassist Nick Harmer described the incident on his blog in true tragicomic style.

“So tonight in San Diego, Ben got stung by a SCORPION. Twice,” Harmer writes. “I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried, file this under ‘things that really happen on rock tours’.

“Ben’s okay, if not a little shaken, but we were worried for awhile because the scorpion was a little guy and when it comes to the wonderful world of scorpions, the smaller the deadlier. Here’s how it went down: As were were getting ready to go onstage to play our set, Ben changed into his show pants that were hanging in our wardrobe case. He put his pants on, and felt something stick him twice in his thigh and when he pulled them off, this guy came running out.

“We all screamed. A scorpion was honestly the last thing we could imagine that would come scurrying out of his pants… We called the EMTs and they checked him out and thankfully he was fine and able to play the show, he said he had scorpion power in his veins. I’m still not convinced that he is 100% fine because nobody eliminated the possibility that it was a radioactive scorpion and that Ben will now develop super powers, so I’m keeping a close eye on him just in case.”