I DON’T WANNA GROW UP / JOHN B. MOORE

Motion City Soundtrack leaves venerable punk label and winds up making its punkest album ever.

By John B. Moore

There are a lot of assumptions when it comes to Motion City Soundtrack.

The Minneapolis band started churning out records during emo rock's peak so they were lumped in with the eyeliner and skinny jeans crowd, despite having more in common with bands like Cheap Trick and Superchunk; they signed to the indie punk rock label Epitaph, but they were certainly not a punk rock band. While the scene kids were busy trying to figure out just where these guys fit in, the band was diligently putting out some of the best synth-backed pop albums since The Cars.

Their latest effort - and first for Columbia Records - My Dinosaur Life is probably their best to date. Ironically, it wasn't until they left Epitaph that they put out their most punk-inspired album.

Justin Pierre (vocals/guitar) talked recently about the new album and the band's contradictions.    

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Lyrically, the new album seems a little more personal than some of your pervious ones. Were you worried at all that you were sharing too much?

Nope. I tend to write what I know. And being as self obsessed as I am, that is not difficult. I don't think it's that much different from any of the previous endeavors, but I'm not the best one to ask as I am in the middle of the thing being created and not able to look at it from any other angle.

This record also seemed a little more rock focused than past efforts. Was there a conscious decision to change the sound or was that simply an evolution?

That was the only thing we consciously talked about doing; making a rock record.  As far as how we went about doing it, that part was no different than previous efforts.  We just wrote whatever came to mind and worked out as many ideas as we could, finally coming up with around 25-30 ideas/songs.  Then once we got together with Mark (Hoppus. The Blink 182 co-founder produced the record), he helped us choose the final 18-20, of which we recorded 15.  Twelve made the album.

Were you guys listening to anything in particular while writing or recording that had a strong influence on the songs?

For the first time I can say that there was nothing in particular I was listening to while writing this record.

So what else can you tell me about the record?

I am always excited about each of our records when they come out, but this one is by far my favorite.  Everything from the artwork to the order of the songs to the songs themselves to the Producer, Engineer and Mixer is straight up solid gold.  I think of all our records, we came really close to hitting the mark with this one.

You mentioned that you recorded with Mark Hoppus, who you've worked with in the past. What is he like to record with?

He creates a truly relaxed environment within which you are not afraid to try things and fail. Not only is he a musical genius, but he's a patient man and knows how to get great performances out of the bands he works with. I feel that if you listen to the bands he's produced, they tend to sound much more like themselves on that particular endeavor than on any other outing.

Was it a tough decision to leave Epitaph? 

Yes and No.  Our deal was up and Brett (Gurewitz, label founder and Bad Religion guitarist) gave us his blessing, but it was still hard. I hate goodbyes. Luckily for us Columbia has been amazingly into everything that we've wanted to do. It doesn't feel that different from an artist friendly perspective, which is the most important thing to me.

Epitaph is obviously known more for punk bands. Did you ever feel out of place with them?

I think we were one of the first signings that was a little left of the dial and I think there was some backlash from fans of the label, but Brett started signing country acts, hip hop acts, Tom Waits and many truly diverse bands (on his sister label Anti- Records).  That, in my opinion, is the most punk rock thing you could do; something that no one is expecting.

How is the current headlining tour going? Any interesting tour stories yet?

The tour with The Swellers, This Providence and Set Your Goals was amazing. All the bands were completely wonderful humans and a pleasure to watch. I tend to hibernate between shows, so I have no good stories from the road. We did brave the worst snowstorm of the year on the east coast. Unfortunately This Providence and The Swellers did not make it through the snowy cloud of chaos.

What is the thing that has surprised you the most about the music business?

I am surprised that CD sales are going extinct and vinyl sales are rising. This is very interesting to me.  Most people listen to music on an mp3 device of some sort, which is easier than carrying a case of CD's around.

What's next for the band?

Tour, tour, tour.

I'm out of questions, anything else you want to add?

I am currently full of caffeine.

[Photo Credit: Peter Yang]