Motion City Soundtrack Interview

Motion City Soundtrack Interview with Matt Taylor

Words by Marcus Maschwitz / Photo courtesy of Charm Factory

Motion City Soundtrack is one of those bands that have been around since I can remember but keep on dropping albums that improve as I grow older. I remember hearing them back in 1999 and now 11 years on feeling as excited about their new album as I was back then. They are definitely pioneers of their sound and presence and I personally know a bunch of bands that are influenced by them. The guys release their forth studio album ‘My Dinosaur Life’ in the UK on Monday 22nd March and I’ve already heard it and it’s a good one. To promote this release they will also be touring the UK from the 23rd of March until around the 30th of March so make sure to check them out if there are still tickets available.

We got some time with the band to ask them a few questions about the new release, recording, growing older and touring. We will be reviewing their London show next week so be sure to check back then too for that.

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You guys have been touring a lot since the start of this year and still have a lot of dates booked up. How has it been going so far? Any highlights and where are you most excited to play during the rest of tour?

It’s been really great. We just got to play with some of our favorite bands in Australia (Sunny Day Real Estate, Jimmy Eat World, Faith No More, etc.). We just played Japan, and I think I can speak for the rest of the band on this, but, I think we just had the most fun we’ve ever had over there. It’s our favorite place to play. Maybe that will change when we come back to the UK next week!!

You guys have been together for a while and have obviously been on enough tours in the past. Do you guys still enjoy touring? Why/why not?

Yes. We love touring. We get to play music for people for a living and see the world in the process. It’s tiring, but never enough to make us want to stop. The great thing about being in a band is that you get to tour until it’s time to make another record. Fortunately, that usually comes when you need a little break from traveling. Then you record for a good while and you get to go back on the road just around the time you get tired of staying in one place.

On March 22nd your 4th studio album, My Dinosaur Life, releases here in the UK and it’s been 3 years since the last album so its been long waited for by your fans. Aside from writing and recording the new album, what else have you guys been up to?

Well, Tony broke his arm on January 1, 2009, so we had to do a lot of sitting around and waiting for him to heal. In that down time we actually still wrote a lot of music. We were all at our homes, far from each other so we were doing a lot of emailing and IMing ideas to each other. We were also playing a lot of video games – and still are..

What’s different to this album compared with your past albums and what can fans look forward to?

I feel like it’s the same band that was less afraid to experiment. We had nearly 30 songs written by the time we went into the studio so that alone made us feel more confident. We really wanted this one to sound more raw and energetic than the last.. I think we succeeded. I think the sound from song to song is more eclectic than it was in the past.

My Dinosaur Life is your first release on a major so there must have been a lot of pressure on you guys to step it up while still keeping the cool MCS sound and feel. Can you share with us, a bit of the recording process and possibly some of the thoughts behind the writing and how it all fell into place?

Actually, this was the least pressured I’ve ever felt in the writing/recording phase. I’m not sure why that is. I know I felt more pressure writing Even If It Kills Me. I think after that experience we took a different approach and calmed down and enjoyed the process more. The one thing that was very different and slightly nerve wracking was the fact that Tony recorded the drum parts last due to his broken arm. Recording everything else to demo/programmed drums was challenging at times.

You worked with Mark Hoppus on this one again, which I know you did before. How much was he involved and what did he add to what you guys had in mind before hitting the studio?

We returned to Mark for this record because we loved working with him on Commit This to Memory. He’s a great producer because he’s always present and full of ideas, but never wants you to feel pressured. He creates a relaxed and fun environment in which you can work. That, to me, is probably the most important thing in the studio.

On the album, what is your favourite track and what makes you feel that way about it?

I don’t have a favorite on the album. My favorites to play live (so far) are Delirium and Pulp Fiction. They’re both really fun to play and a bit more challenging for me.

The 5 of you have been together for quite a few years now and during the years there has to have been some crazy stuff go down while on the road. Do you guys have to sleep with “one eye open” or do you pretty much make sure not to create “jackass” scenarios to avoid them all together?

We have an unspoken rule: If you’re on the bus in your bunk, you’re safe – unless someone gets drunk and just HAS to crawl in with you. We try to keep the bus the calm place. If we’re feeling rowdy, we usually go elsewhere.

Your first single off the new album is “Her Words Destroyed My World”. What is the main thought behind the track, what is the video about and how was making the video?

It’s called Her Words Destroyed My Planet. Despite the humorous bits, Justin says it’s the most personal and honest song he’s ever written. It’s a love song. The video has nothing to do with the song. The director Isaac Rentz pitched the idea of us crashing a kids’ science fair and we loved it. This video shoot was the most fun one I’ve ever had. Sometimes shoots can go on forever and have really dull moments. This one never did. We were surrounded with a great crew and cast. Those kids are amazing dancers!

You guys are really on the ball with the whole social networking / internet world which a lot of bands haven’t really seen the necessity for yet. Have you noticed a positive effect with all your efforts and do you guys actually handle it all or do you have someone pretending to be you?

We’re involved with everything we do online in some way or another. All of us have individual twitter accounts and there is an official band one as well that we use to post more official news. We talk to our fans most every night after shows and a lot of them are people that we talk to on twitter. It’s nice to be able to put a face to the @people out there.

Do you guys get involved directly with organizing your live shows / tours or do you have other people who do all the hard work for you?

We have hard-working, wonderfully talented professionals that handle our booking for us. For the most part, we focus on writing songs, shooting videos and answering questions.

Finally, what can people expect from you in the future?

For now the plan is to stay busy on the road and wherever we can.

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‘My Dinosaur Life’ drops in the UK on the 22nd of March 2010 so make sure to get your copy.

Motion City Soundtrack on MUZU

MCS are returning to the UK for a 6 date tour:

March 23rd – Leeds Cockpit
March 24th – Oxford Academy
March 26th – London Electric Ballroom
March 27th – Manchester Academy 2
March 28th – Birmingham O2 Academy
March 30th – Glasgow – Oran Mor

Posted on Friday, 19 March 2010 in Interviews, Mainarticles | 1 Comment »
Tagged as Jesse Johnson, Joshua Cain, Justin Pierre, Mark Hoppus, Matt Taylor, Matthew Taylor, MCS, Motion City Soundtrack, My Dinosaur Life, Tony Thaxton