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. 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. 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. 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.
2013–2016: Trouble Will Find Me and Mistaken for Strangers The band announced their sixth studio album,
Trouble Will Find Me, on February 25, 2013. They released the video for "
Demons", the album's first single, on April 8. During a Reddit AMA on May 8, they premiered the video for the song "
Sea of Love", based on
Zvuki Mu's video for Grubiy Zakat.
Trouble Will Find Me was released via 4AD Records on May 21, 2013. The album debuted with first week sales topping charts across the world, ranking No. 3 in the US, Canada, and the UK, among others. Following the release, the band embarked on a world tour in support of the album.
Trouble Will Find Me earned a Best Alternative Album nomination in the
56th Annual Grammy Awards. Aaron Dessner has described the album as the first one the band "really enjoyed making." On February 28, 2013, they announced the upcoming release of a documentary chronicling the lead singer's brother Tom Berninger's journey of touring with the band. The film, titled
Mistaken for Strangers, premiered at New York City's
Tribeca Film Festival on April 17.
Mistaken for Strangers has been described as "a funny, eccentric and finally deeply poignant depiction of art, family, self-sabotage and the prickly intricacies of brotherly love." The film was edited by Carin Besser, a longtime songwriter for the band and Berninger's wife. Promotion for
Trouble Will Find Me included the band making their debut performance on
Saturday Night Live, as well as several festival appearances, including headlining The Boston Calling Music Festival and Bonaroo. The band performed "Graceless" and "I Need My Girl" on the March 8, 2014 episode of
Saturday Night Live. Several of their songs were used on television, including "Fireproof", "Hard to Find" and "England". In an interview published in June 2014, Berninger stated that the National would try a new approach to writing and recording an album, with plans to start in October 2014. On April 2, 2015, the National released the single "Sunshine On My Back". The song is provided as a free download for renting or buying
Mistaken for Strangers at its official website. The song comes from the
Trouble Will Find Me recording sessions and features
Sharon van Etten. The band headlined a handful of festivals during 2015, including Eaux Claires, a music festival held in
Eau Claire, Wisconsin curated by Bon Iver front-man
Justin Vernon and the National's Aaron Dessner. They also headlined
Treasure Island Music Festival. In his review of the festival,
Consequence of Sounds Zack Ruskin described the band's performance as "a masterclass in a band that has fully come into their own" and wrote that it "proved once again why they are one of the most exceptional and impressive rock bands of our time." On October 16, 2015, the band debuted a new song called "Roman Candle" (which would later be released as "Walk It Back" on
Sleep Well Beast) at Troubadour in Los Angeles. In an interview published in November 2015, Berninger expressed the band's desire to play their new songs in a live setting before recording them: "Over the summer of 2016 we're going to do a lot of shows with the new stuff and then record the next National album." On March 2, 2016, it was announced that the band was to headline Latitude Festival in the
United Kingdom. In August 2016, Berninger indicated that the new album had electronic influences while they premiered the song "Prom Song 13th Century (Frankie & Johnny)" featuring St. Vincent.
2017–2019: Sleep Well Beast, I Am Easy to Find, and Grammy win in October 2018 On May 11, 2017, the single "
The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness" was released after two days of mysterious teasers. At the same time, a new album was announced, titled
Sleep Well Beast, which was released September 8, 2017. The album's second single, "Guilty Party" was released on June 28, 2017. The band released "Carin at the Liquor Store", the third single from the album, on August 8, 2017. On August 29, 2017, they released the fourth single, "Day I Die". Matt Berninger has said he and Carin Besser wrote much of
Sleep Well Beast about the challenges of their own marriage. The album was also heavily influenced by the
2016 United States presidential election. The band scheduled a worldwide tour in support of the album, which began in September 2017. In August 2017, "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness" became the band's first song to reach number one on a
Billboard songs chart, reaching number one on the
Adult Alternative Songs chart. On November 28, 2017, the album was nominated for two
Grammy Awards: for
Best Alternative Music Album and
Best Recording Package, later winning the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, which bassist
Scott Devendorf accepted on behalf of the band. While on tour to support the album, the National performed new music during a performance in Zagreb, Croatia. The band wrote the music for the 2018 musical
Cyrano by
Erica Schmidt, an adaptation of the 1896 play
Cyrano de Bergerac by
Edmond Rostand, which starred Schmidt's husband
Peter Dinklage in the lead role. Like most of the National's music, the songs for
Cyrano all have lyrics by Besser and Berninger, and music by the Dessner brothers. On March 5, 2019, in an interview with Indie88 in Toronto, Aaron Dessner confirmed the band's new album would be called
I Am Easy to Find, and was scheduled for release on May 17. He also debuted the album's first single "
You Had Your Soul with You". The band also announced a
Mike Mills-directed short film of the same name starring
Alicia Vikander, which uses different arrangements of songs from the album as its soundtrack. On April 4, 2019, the band released their second single and closing song off
I Am Easy to Find titled "Light Years", accompanied by a music video starring Alicia Vikander. On May 1, 2019, the band released their third single from
I Am Easy to Find titled "Hairpin Turns", accompanied by a music video. The band released a
cassette box set titled
Juicy Sonic Magic for
Record Store Day Black Friday on November 29, 2019, which featured their set at the
Hearst Greek Theatre in
Berkeley, California in September 2018.
2020–2024: First Two Pages of Frankenstein and Laugh Track in August 2022 The National's final show before the
COVID-19 pandemic was on December 12, 2019, at Campo Pequeno in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2020, the band contributed to
Taylor Swift's ninth studio album,
Evermore, appearing alongside Swift on the song "
Coney Island". The album was co-produced by Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner (the former of whom also co-produced Swift's eighth studio album
Folklore). In 2021,
Cyrano was adapted as a film musical, also called
Cyrano, again starring Dinklage. For the film, Aaron and Bryce Dessner composed an instrumental score separate from the film's songs. The band also wrote two new songs for the film: "Every Letter", which is sung in the film by
Haley Bennett, and "Somebody Desperate", which is performed by the National themselves over the end credits. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the band returned to touring and live performance in May 2022, playing their first show in two and a half years at Baluarte in
Pamplona, Spain on May 28, 2022. At the show, the band performed three new songs: "Grease in Your Hair (Birdie)", "Tropic Morning News (Haversham)" and "Weird Goodbyes" – then known as "Bathwater (Mount Auburn)". A fourth new song, "Ice Machines", was premiered in Paris; a fifth, "Space Invader (Threaded Gold)", was performed during the band's set at the
Newport Folk Festival in July. In August 2022, Bryce Dessner said that the band was "discovering things" about their new material "in real time" by playing it every night. On August 22, 2022, the National released "Weird Goodbyes" as their first single in three years. The studio version of the song features
Bon Iver, as well as strings performed by the
London Contemporary Orchestra. In January 2023, the band started to share teases of a forthcoming announcement – including a password-protected passage from
Frankenstein shared on their website, edited to include references to Swift,
Phoebe Bridgers, and Sufjan Stevens. A week later, the band officially announced their ninth studio album,
First Two Pages of Frankenstein, which was released on April 28. The news came with the release of its first single, "Tropic Morning News". Bridgers, Swift and Stevens were also confirmed to feature on the album, as were the previously performed songs "Grease in Your Hair" and "Ice Machines". Two singles, "Space Invader" and "Alphabet City", were released on August 17, 2023. They were later included on the
surprise album Laugh Track, which was announced three days before its release at Homecoming Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 15, 2023. A live
double album titled
Rome, recorded at the
Auditorium Parco della Musica, was released on December 13, 2024.
2024–present: Eleventh studio album Regarding a potential eleventh studio album, the band confirmed in November 2024 that they had been writing new, improvised material during their 2024 tour, in a similar style to "Smoke Detector", the near-eight-minute closing track to
Laugh Track, which was created during a
soundcheck on tour. The band expressed their desire to make their eleventh album "loose and improvised", with Scott Devendorf noting: "I think it inspires Matt to write. He's the one that's been pushing hard for these soundcheck jams." ==Tours and appearances==