Motion City Soundtrack’s road to success has been plagued with its share of mines. Throughout musical generations there’s always been a dozen overnight sensations for every workhorse band that claws its way up the industry ladder, and MCS never had it that easy. That’s not to say they’ve back-stabbed their way to a # 15 Billboard chart position; they’ve just had to haul a long-ass road to get to where they are — sporadic lineup changes, 11 years of moving around through different labels, different managers, and different incarnations didn’t exactly help. From an almost non-existent label to Epitaph, the Minnesotans have finally reached the big time with a Columbia Records contract. It’s all this hard work, along with the usual relentless promotion, excessive touring, and months and months of practice that’s earned them a coveted spot at the House of Blues in Anaheim (okay, Disneyland, but still). I recently met up with bassist Matt Taylor to discuss Christopher Cross, casinos, and cake, along with the usual band banter.
The whole band’s been pretty self-deprecating in interviews — when Josh was asked to describe the song “This Is For Real”, he said the lyrics were ‘ugly and simple’, the music was ‘frumpy’, yet he also said it was ‘a rabid dog you wanted to unleash in the neighborhood to infect all the children and make them go mad.’ What do you think he meant by that? Do you ever find yourselves writing a song just to punish people?
Matt: Oh man, I’ll take a stab at it. That song, yeah, it’s ugly and simple. I think it’s about a person who just continually screws up and keeps saying, just one more chance, one more chance and I can get it right. I don’t want to keep screwing up the way I have been. You get that one moment of inspiration and then whatever happens from there happens.
What other bands were you in before this one?
Matt: I was only in one other band before this one. We released two albums on our own though we were never signed to another label. We did some touring back in 2000, we were called Submerge, and that’s how I met Motion City Soundtrack. The rest of the band is from Minnesota, but Tony and I are from Richmond, and that’s how we got to know each other. When we met MCS in 2000, it was just Josh and Justin and two other guys. They were just a four piece. A couple of years went by and we kept in touch and they recruited us. It was a lot of waiting. Tony came home from a tour and just offered it to me.
So has your role changed since becoming a more active member? How much writing, lyrically or otherwise, do you do with the band?
Matt: It’s been continually changing over the years. Justin and Josh would usually get together and start working on songs. When we were in the process of writing the new album, Tony (drummer) had broken his arm, which sucked big time. So while we were all waiting for him to heal, we all began to write the album separately, which is cool, cause now with computers and everything we can do that — we just sent each other songs via email, building them that way. So it was a very equally split thing this time.
Are your different styles apparent in the new songs, then?
Matt: To me the songs that sound the most different to me are “Pulp Fiction” and “Hysteria.” “Hysteria” was a guitar part that Josh wrote and sent to me. And “Fiction” was something I came up with and sent to Justin.We’re not virtuosos. But that’s the thing about a band; you don’t need to be amazing musicians. It’s about how you play together.
Can you talk a little about Jesse Johnson? I heard you hired him to play keyboards before he even knew how.
Matt: Yeah. It was pretty much as simple as Josh liking his shoes. Pretty much like, he’s a cool guy, he’s my friend, let’s teach him how to play keyboards. That’s stretching it a bit. They met at Pizza Luce, in Minneapolis. Jesse was a driver and Josh was a waiter.
What do you find the most annoying about the music scene today? What irritates you?
Matt: Well, I don’t know if I can answer that question. I do get annoyed when I listen to vocals that are manipulated to where they sound like a machine.
Like with voice modulators and stuff.
Matt: Yeah. I mean, I like experimenting with different sounds and everything, so I can see why people would like it maybe. It’s just not my thing.
Speaking of pet peeves, some people have categorized your band as emo.
Matt: Yeah, they have. I don’t know, I hate the word emo. I just don’t get it, I don’t get what it means. It seems like it just started off with, “oh, this band is very emotional. Okay, we’ll name it ‘emo.’” I mean, name me a band that’s not emotional! It’s become more of a scene thing, rather than a sound. People think this music is emotional, and so they classify it.
So do you find yourselves trying to stray as far away from that sound as possible? Maybe even subconsciously?
Matt: Nah. We just wanted to have some more songs that were aggressive on this album. That was the only conscious decision. Obviously, if the majority of the band doesn’t think it will work, then it probably won’t. I kind of take everyone’s advice or thoughts into consideration. Give it a chance.
So I’m new to Minnesota. What is there to do? I only remember the Mall of America, which had a wave pool and roller coaster in it. And tons of snow.
Matt: What is there to do? There’s a lot of great theaters– a big theater scene. But there’s so many great musicians in Minneapolis. You have the classic Minneapolis sound, y’know, with Prince and everything. You’ve got a very good hip-hop scene. That cold weather will keep you indoors and practicing a lot. Seems to be good for musicians.
So now that you’ve been in Richmond, VA, and Minneapolis, and now in Anaheim, who has the biggest white trash ratio?
Matt: (Laughs) Well, I mean I’m from Richmond.
I used to live near there. It was the smelliest.
Matt: Yeah. I think once you get out to the countryside, the white trash thing gets pretty bad. But I guess it’s like that anywhere. California isn’t too bad.
Have you ever received items or letters from obsessive fans? Underwear or anything like that?
Matt: No, nothing really obsessive. We do get a lot of gifts. People like to keep us fat. They bring us a lot of cake and cookies and brownies. We got some really amazing toys of us last night. We got these things called Munnies, which I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of before. They’re all little figurines, the same little monkey shapes. They painted us up to look exactly like we do. It was pretty amazing.
You guys have talked about playing casinos, should your popularity dwindle enough. So what casino regular would you like to open up for?
Matt: Ugh. That’s a tough one.
There’s Wayne Newton, Tony Orlando. Or you could go the theatrical route, like Siegfried and Roy.
Matt: Yeah, or Bette Midler. Hmm, I’d like to blow her off the stage. Haha, just kidding. I’m sure she’s a sweetheart.
Okay, one of the following has died and will come back to earth as the Messiah: Peter Cetera, Michael McDonald, or Christopher Cross. You will have to sing or strum Ya Mo Be There, Sailing, or Glory of Love on a harp for eternity. Who will lead us to the promised land?
Matt: Whoa. Let’s see. Peter Cetera sang on 25 or 6 to 4, right?
Yeah (I don’t know).
Matt: I’m gonna have to go with him, cause that song is so badass. Michael McDonald did sing with Grizzly Bear, which was pretty awesome too. But yeah.
No Christopher Cross?
Matt: No. You can just Christopher Cross him off there! HAHAHA.
Words by Jeff Nau, Photos by Sidney Bensimon
