Motion City Soundtrack

Van's Warped Tour-Milwaukee, WI

It was a hot sticky day in Wisconsin but all the guys from MCS were kind enough to do some interviews.  I had a chance to meet up with Matt Taylor (bassist) from Motion City Soundtrack at Warped Tour in Wisconsin.  This was my first interview and I was totally going to mess up, I could just feel it.

XROXX: So, how is Warped Tour going for you guys?
Matt:  It's going great, this is like our fifth show so far, our first show was in Montana, Boseman, Montana.  We just kind of made across to here. It's been a lot of driving.  We got a bus last night so we’re happy about that.  We did the first few days in a van and it was murder, no driver, but it's been good.  It’s been alot of fun.  We have a lot of friends out here and good bands are playing constantly, so we’re having a blast.

XROXX:  Why did you guys decided to sign to Epitaph?  When you guys sound very different from the bands on that label?
Matt:  Well it goes back to basically we had a few options on the table, a lot of similar offers.  We did three of four shows in California, and Brett from Epitaph came out to all of them, hung out with us, and then he took us to the office and let us meet everyone.  We basically just went with our gut on it. Y ou know, seeing the inner workings of the label;, it’s still an indie label but a very hard working indie label.  We just kind of liked the feeling we got when we met everybody. W e’ve all been listening to Epitaph bands since we were in high school, so it’s a legacy.

XROXX:  Who are some of your idols/influences?
Matt:  It kind of varies for everybody, we all like this band Jawbox, but they broke up, they were from DC, Superchunk, The Pixies, The Braid, Jesse and I are really into Radiohead, Ben Folds Five.  I’m into metal, its all across the board…

XROXX:  So, that’s how you guys get the unique sound that you have?
Matt:  Yes (Laughs).  (Awkwardness)

XROXX:  Have you guys been approached by any major labels after appearing on the Blink 182 Tour?
Matt:  Nope, we’re kind of locked under contract with Epitaph for a while, so we haven’t had any label talks since we signed.

XROXX:  You guys did a re-release of I am the Movie and have been touring non-stop. What are your plans for right now?
Matt:  We are finally going to record for our new record in October.  It should be the last week of September through the middle of November, we’ll be in the recording process.

XROXX:  Have you been playing the new material to the crowd?
Matt:  Yeah, they like it, it's been going pretty well.  It's kind of hard because have been playing the old songs for so long, and now we actually have to concentrate and not jump around to so much.

XROXX:  What would be your ideal tour that your band could tour with?
Matt:  Man that’s too hard… a tour that that I would want to do, wouldn’t make any sense.  I would want to tour with Soilwork (they're a metal band) and Radiohead, and maybe Taking Back Sunday --  bet they would be a lot of fun.

XROXX:  Pepsi or Coke?
Matt:  I’m going to go with Coke.  I’ve been trying to not drink soda lately; I’m a coffee addict I really need to kick that…but I can’t.

XROXX:  What do you do when you have down time?
Matt:  When we’re not on tour, we’re at home practicing practically everyday.  We try not to get frustrated with each other locked in a small room with each other...

XROXX:  What do you do when you’re on the road and you get bored?
Matt:  Jesse is the big video game nerd of the band, and all of us but Justin own Game Bboy Advances.  We just got the bus last night so we are trying to hook up the XBOX’s so we can play 16 Man HALO.  No, I mean Eight Man HALO.

XROXX:  16 Man HALO would be quite ridiculous…
Matt:  Ridiculous, but awesome.  Yeah, video games, books, I-Pods.

XROXX:  What are three bands you are into right now?
Matt:  There’s this band that no one has heard of yet, they're out of Chicago and they're called This is Me Smiling; Soilwork, more metal, the new My Chemical Romance, and the Killers…

XROXX:  We had a few fan questions, if you could be a candy bar what type would you be?
Matt:  Oh man, oh, I would have to say an O' Henry.  I don’t know but it just sounds right, it’s a good name.

XROXX:  And what does Justin use in his hair?
Matt:  (Laughs)

XROXX:  Does he just not wash it?
Matt:  I don’t want to say that…He uses various products.  I’m not sure what kind though, and he just lets it build up for way too long  Let's just say he doesn’t wash his hair everyday.

XROXX:  We’re big fans of the hair…
Matt:  Yeah he has this little “WEHO” and it stays until he starts playing and he gets sweaty and it goes down.  I think he’s been using hair spray lately though…

XROXX:  That’s not good for the environment
Matt:  Tell him that, he will probably call you a hippie…I don’t know why, he just likes to call people hippies…

A big thanks to Matt from MCS for taking my cherry when it comes to interviews, thanks for being gentle Matt.  Another thank you to fellow XROXX reporter Jayne who helped me on my first interview.

Austin James
austin.james@XROXX.com