The very first thing you hear on Motion City Soundtrack’s just released My Dinosaur Life is lead vocalist Justin Pierre proclaim: “It’s been a good year, a good new beginning.” Indeed, 2010 is less than two months old, but the band already has much to celebrate: amidst massive competition, My Dinosaur Life debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, moving 30,000 copies its first week out; The Washington Post called the set “hopelessly likeable,” and the New York Post said, “This is the one that might make the band an international star.” Climb on the bandwagon before room runs out.
Not So Slow Motion: With the release of their fourth album and major label debut, the members of Motion City Soundtrack have been well, in motion constantly. Recent appearances on high profile TV shows like Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Fuel TV’s The Daily Habit (seen in over 30 million U.S. homes), just to name two, have barely given this Minneapolis five-piece time to take a breath. But these guys wouldn’t have it any other way; the group is currently on a U.S. tour that runs through February 16, with stops inked in New York (sold out), Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, just to name a few.
Ready to take a huge leap forward with My Dinosaur Life, the band banked on Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus to helm the recording process. The move was comfortable and obvious: Hoppus helped mold the sound on the band’s 2005 Commit This to Memory. “We weren’t looking for someone to change us into something we aren’t,” guitarist Joshua Cain claims. “We just wanted to be free to make a darker, rock record. With Mark, he’s such a champion of what we do.” In this case, familiarity breeds content that respected publications like Spin call “radio-ready balance between mayhem and melody,” and USA Today describes as “irresistible melodies and arrangements.” Finally, no less an authority on all things rock, the Alternative Press simply states: “Motion City Soundtrack have made the best album of their career and easily one of the best albums of 2010 or any other year.”
The wheels for Motion City Soundtrack were set in motion in 1999 when high school friends Pierre and Cain cut enough classes to cut a self-released 7” single. The following year, bassist Matt Taylor, drummer Tony Thaxton and keyboardist Jesse Johnson joined in, and in 2003, they released their full-length debut, I Am the Movie, then in 2005 issued Commit This to Memory. A stint on the annual Warped Tour in 2006 was followed by the group’s third album, Even If It Kills Me, released in 2007.
Clearly, its full speed ahead in 2010 for a quintet primed to slice off a big piece of the pop-punk pie. “We’ve battled for every one of our fans,” says Cain. “We went from playing in front of 150-200 kids to 1,500-2,000 kids without an issue.” Those numbers keep climbing; just like My Dinosaur Life on the rock charts.
Appearing Now: Don’t hide, check out the official video for “Disappear”:
As A Matter of Fact…
* Motion City Soundtrack is: Joshua Cain (guitars, backing vocals), Jesse Johnson (keyboards, backing vocals), Justin Pierre (lead vocals, guitars), Matt Taylor (bass, backing vocals, keyboards, piano), and Tony Thaxton (drums, percussion, backing vocals).
* High school buddies Cain and Pierre cite Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbox, the Flaming Lips, and Superchunk as early influences.
* Following a European tour opening for Blink-182, Mark Hoppus agreed to produce Motion City Soundtrack’s next album, which turned out to be 2005’s Commit This to Memory.
* The production team on 2007’s Even If It Kills Me included Ric Ocasek of The Cars, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and Eli Janney of Girls Against Boys.