The way it works, everyone likes the first record better.
You're a music fan, presumably, so you probably understand
the idea here that, when placed in historical context, a band's
initial statement to the world is often seen as its most lasting.
Motion City Soundtrack began in Minneapolis in 1999. Two years
ago, they released their first album, I Am The Movie, crawled
inside a van for seemingly the end of eternity and shot a
video with their friends back home for "The Future Freaks
Me Out," a loud and instantly enjoyable anthem that has
become such an undeniable apex at the band's live shows that
it is no longer sung by singer/guitarist Justin Pierre as
much as it is sung back at him.
But as ubiquitous as it became, the song perfectly captured
Motion City's allure. Irresistible and unhinged, "The
Future Freaks Me Out" was a reference point for what
was to come with Commit This To Memory, ironic considering
they wrote the song in mere hours and it almost didn't even
make it onto their debut. "Two weeks before we went in,
[guitarist Joshua Cain] played the part and I sang those words
and that's what came out," Pierre says now in amazement.
"It was completely random. But that's how we work. It's
funny when there's talk about how this record could 'make
or break us.'" He laughs. "This band has always
gone on its gut instinct."
Last year, by way of the unrelenting schedule they kept behind
I Am The Movie, the band was asked to join Blink-182 on a
tour of Europe and, then, Japan. Somewhere backstage and in
between, bassist Mark Hoppus modestly mentioned to the group
that he was interested in pursuing production work once Blink
took a necessary pause later in the year. Though he didn't
know it at the time, Hoppus had just found his first client.
"We thought of it almost as a joke,'" Cain recalls.
"But on our last day of tour I asked him, point blank,
'Do you want to produce our record?' When he said, "Fuck
yeah" I was like, 'Okay
can I get your phone number
then?'"
Stretching out in Los Angeles later that fall and occasionally
propped up by some of their other famous friends, Commit This
To Memory finds Motion City the sort of definitive record
usually reserved for much later orto really bring this
full circleslightly earlier in a bands career.
"Everything Is Alright," the album's first single
(with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stumph and Limbeck's Rob MacLean
and Patrick Carrie there in the background), isn't about writing
off their past as much as it is putting a fine point to it.
With Hoppus' encouragement, Pierre, alongside Cain, bassist
Matthew Taylor, moogist Jesse Johnson and drummer Tony Thaxton
have begun stepping back fromand outside oftheir
roles when necessary.
"Any time we wanted to take a chance with Mark he would
go for it," Cain recalls. "He was so supportive.
He would always say, 'Your name is going to be a lot bigger
on the front of the record than mine will be on the back.'"
The relationship that they developed with Hoppus may have
helped hone Motion City's uniquely and cinematic sound of
sound but, more importantly, it encouraged them to open the
windows and allow themselves room to breathe. The space inevitably
allowed Pierre's charismatic personality the room it has long
since needed. A former film school student who has always
likened himself to a director first, a musician second, and
now some fascinating form of the two, is projecting his own
life here. Songs like the plaintive, near-ballad "Hold
Me Down" and the incredibly candid "Resolution"
are among the most personal that he has ever written. "I
think I tried to be as honest as possible on this record,"
he stresses. "I was less inhibited on this one from hiding.
In the last two years this was what was going on."
While it's true that Commit This To Memory can trace itself
incredibly close to Pierre's personal life, with repeated
listens it's clearly more the work of five musicians, finding
themselves and turning to one another. "We've learned
the reality of what we were doing," Cain says humbly.
"When we left [I Am The Movie producer] Ed Rose, we left
with a record that was better than our band. So we went home
and had to become that good." Which is otherwise what
they've done. But really, it's also where all these rules
about second records and inhuman expectations begin to reverse
and turn in on themselves. Motion City should have been trying
to outdo themselves this whole time with Commit This To Memory.
They found themselves instead.
"I really think we've achieved everything we can as
human beings playing music," Pierre says with a slight
hint of laughter. "Really, we just played in our own
city, selling out a show at [First Avenue], which is where
we saw all our favorite shows. And that was something that
I've wanted to do since I was 14." In a way, Commit This
To Memory recalls the lost indie heroes Cain and Pierre spent
those formative years in Minneapolis poring over, but there's
also a slight irony in the fact that this is the one record
that seems destined to lead to their own version of this.
"I would love to say that I don't care what people think,"
Pierre stresses. "But you know, I am like most people.
I do hope people like it."
Whatever you make of the second Motion City Soundtrack album
is now left up to the songs you're currently holding onto.
As for us? We couldn't possibly be any prouder.
Band description courtesy of Luckymanonline.com
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