Death Cab's surreal day, courtesy of Grammy nomination

Tucked up in bed against a below-freezing Seattle morning, Nick Harmer was sleeping peacefully today when a phone call launched perhaps the most surreal day of his life.

"Our manager (Jordan Kurland) called me and woke me up, 'Hey, get up, I've got good news for you!'"

The news: Death Cab for Cutie scored a Grammy nomination. "Plans," the 8-year-old Seattle band's first recording on a major label, was nominated in the Best Alternative Music Album category.

The competition is just short of brutal: hot newcomer Arcade Fire and established artists Beck, the White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand.

"It's an honor just to be in that field," said Harmer, the Death Cab bass player. "It's incredible -- I would have never imagined this would happen."

After talking to bandmates Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla and Jason McGerr, Harmer spent most of Thursday on the phone, fielding congratulatory calls and interviewers.

"It's been kind of a surreal day - fantastically weird.

"It's completely unexpected. It's a complete honor. It's hard to find the words, we did not expect this at all. It's just amazing, something I feel so proud of and so happy about."

But seriously -- does Harmer think Death Cab can actually bring a Grammy back to Seattle?

"We're nominated so we have a better chance than someone who's not nominated," Harmer said with a laugh. "We're definitely feeling like the underdogs . . .But we have a 100 percent better chance than we did yesterday (Wednesday)."

"In the back of my mind, I knew it was (Grammy) announcement day …. Someone said to me a couple days ago, 'Hey, do you think you'll be nominated?' I was like, 'Yeah, right, whatever.

"It's been sort of a head-spinning flabbergasted day."

Harmer admitted he's not a huge fan of the music awards ceremony. "Typically I wouldn't say I have a history of watching the Grammys. Over the years I've probably watched more Oscars . . . Last year Modest Mouse was nominated, so it was fun to watch them walk down the red carpet. They've blazed the trail for us in a lot of ways . . ."

Will Death Cab be in Los Angeles for the ceremony, on Feb. 8?

"Of course," Harmer said, without hesitation. "We're going to be in middle of a European tour on Grammy day, so we'll have to fly (back to the U.S.)"

Though the odds are stacked against the band's name being called when the winners are announced, Harmer feels the nomination alone is a career high point.

"It's one of those awards that . . . to some people may be full of politics, but it's still an award that if you're in the middle of nowhere, and someone asks you what you do, you can say, '...I've been nominated for a Grammy.'"

Death Cab for Cutie appears in tonight's sold-out Deck the Hall Ball concert at the Showbox in downtown Seattle.