Minneapolis quintet Motion City Soundtrack was formed from a lot of inspiration, a whole lot of perspiration, and some real persistence. From a rotating roster of musicians, to playing dilapidated venues and managing to nab producer/Blink-182 bassist Mark Hopper and Nirvana producer Andy Wallace to mix their latest, My Dinosaur Life, MCS has established themselves as a band with a workhorse mentality. And after nearly 13 years, it’s one that just paid off with a contract to Columbia Records. Getting there, however, seems to have been anything but easy.
Most recently, the band had a real scare when drummer Tony Thaxton took a spill and broke his arm. When taken to the emergency room, doctors x-rayed the wrong bone and Tony had to wait an additional 4 days to get an MRI. When he finally received the correct diagnosis, he got the news: hours of surgery and an additional 4 months of physical therapy to get his arm working again. With some extremely expensive recording time all set up, the band was understandably worried that he wouldn’t be able to play. But what could have potentially been a catastrophe for Tony turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“There are some songs that wouldn’t have come out the way they did,” says guitarist/vocalist Josh Cain. “What this process allowed us to do was flesh my ideas out as much as possible. For example, I was able to give my songs to Matt to get his thoughts and then have Justin sing to it. Tony was then delivered a song that contained everything.” All this despite that fact that Tony has a ways to go before his arm is fully healed. But if the guy from Def Leppard can play with only one arm, then Tony could play with one and a half. It must have worked: With the album’s debut at a not-too-shabby # 15 on the pop charts, as well as critical acclaim from the likes of Spin and Absolute Punk, things only seem to be getting better. The band is already on the Warped Tour for 2010, where they’ be playing with a variety of acts, including Killswitch Engage and Agent Orange. Whatever challenges the road and band life deals them, there’s no stopping the MCS.
