Matt Taylor - Motion City Soundtrack (12/12/2012)
Facing the end of what has been a huge year for the band, Cassie Walker chats to Matthew Taylor, bass guitarist of American indie rock group, Motion City Soundtrack in lead up to their return to Australia for Soundwave 2013.
Hi Matt, what are you up to?
I’m actually at my house in Virginia, we have some time off. We just finished a headlining tour of the United States and we’re basically taking the end of the year and the new year off and then we’re going to come down and see you guys for Soundwave.
For a band that has such a heavy live schedule yet constantly releasing material, always wonder how you fit in writing?
That’s a good question. With the help of technology in this day and age, it’s very easy for us to come home and be apart and still write songs so we can actually get that off time, but at the same time get things done. Like today I’ve spent about 6 hours just recording random ideas, just whatever and then I’ll sit with them for a few days and then replay everything and if I feel something will work for the band I’ll send it around to Justin (Pierre- vocals) to see if he can get some sort of melody idea going and then the same with Josh (Cain- guitar), to see if he can get some guitars going. We all do that when we’re apart, then we get together and work on them.
Sometimes we get together to rehearse before a tour and then at that time we will run through songs together and see if anything works for the band.
So when you say you have time off from now until next year, you’re still writing music and working on the band, so you don’t have any time off.
Yeah, you’re right, but it’s different because you’re in your house and you’re inspired. I certainly don’t have to, but there’s something about getting off the road for a few days and doing absolutely nothing, which is exactly what I did and then four days later I start to get this urge.
This year saw the band release its 6th studio album GO. It was a big step for the band, working with Epitaph records again and also the bands own label ‘Boombox Generation’, how does it feel working the creative and business side of the music industry?
It feels good. It feels like we are taking back part of our career and in this day and age, with huge changes in the music industry, it’s better to be more control of what you’re doing.
Fortunately with our band, it’s always been that way. We’ve always wanted to have a hand in the creative and the business side of things, just to keep our stamp on things and to make sure everything is going the way we want it to go, but we decided to start ‘Boombox Generation’, we had no specific business plan, we just wanted to have it so we could do things in the future and help out other bands, or release things ourselves. It’s basically just an open ended thing that we’ll have, a tool to use to get things to people.
Because ‘Boombox Generation’ is a collaborative project for the band, how do you divide tasks?
Not necessarily. It’s very open ended and we have no specific plan, I think it’s the kind of thing that we will cross that bridge when we get there.
I noticed in 2011 Motion City Soundtrack did 4 albums, 2 nights, 7 cities tour which saw the band performing the first 4 albums of the bands career, going through the back catalogue and playing those tracks which haven’t been played live, for years, did that influence the writing for GO?
I don’t know. With writing it’s always hard for me to say what influences us and why things happen the way they do. I don’t really think to much about anything or if they do influence. We just write and it’s a point in time, a new chapter and it just happens the way that it happens every time. It’s not that we’re referencing anything we’ve done in the past or making certain decisions, I think we just get together and things happen. It’s what happens for every new release. We’ve never been the type of band to sit and need a definite plan and say “we need to do this type of thing”, it’s always an exciting new chapter for us when we write new material.
Every Motion City Soundtrack album seems to grow musically, for each new record you can hear the growth and change in mood and content, yet there is still that signature edgy pop sound Motion City Soundtrack have created, compared to a lot of bands of your age and genre no one else has nailed that, does the band aim to live up to that signature sound?
It’s just how it happens. I think we’re fortunate because we are five, unique people, musically speaking. We are very fortunate because we can do something that we’ve never done and then once we put Justin’s vocals on it’s Motion City Soundtrack.
It’s not something that ever really concerns us.
If we write something really bizarre, we look at each other and go “oh well here we go, let’s do this and see what happens” and it ends up becoming the bands material.
And with having such a distinct front man, it really is the connector with fans and bands, particularly with Justin’s expression of such dark and emotion issues in the lyrics, when Justin comes to the band with these lyrics, do some of these issues and topics surprise the band?
They have in the past. I think now, five records in, ten years, whoa, together I think we’re beyond surprises now.
I usually just like to sit back and let him do his thing, it’s a trust thing, but I’ve always had it with him. I’ve never had to earn his trust so much, I can only recall a couple of times in the past where I had to say “I don’t know if that’s the right word to say or I don’t know if that’s the right mood for the song”.
It’s a very good way for him to express himself, so I try to keep that in mind when he’s really happy with something he’s written that’s really personal, we welcome that. It’s not only a song but it’s an outlet for him. It is a fine line. We are a band and we want our songs to make sense and have a certain feel, but at the same time we want him to be able to get his feelings out there, so sometimes we step in with suggestions.
Not only do those emotional topics bring the band closer together, but it also brings the fans closer to the band which adds a lot of pressure to selecting songs for the set list, do you consider fans emotional connection to songs when preparing for a show?
We do. It’s a different set list every night. There’s usually 11 songs that we feel that we have to play and I don’t mean that as in it’s a chore, I just mean they’re the fan favourites or singles from the past and we feel they’re stronger songs, and then we have room to change it up every night.
It’s usually a very involved process and it’s usually Justin and I.
It’s all about flow and energy. I think the two of us thing way to hard about it actually. We really get concerned with the right energy, the right feel, key, transition and the other guys are just like “write them down and we’ll play it” but we definitely consider everything you could possibly consider about the set.
As you said, Motion City Soundtrack are returning to Australia for Soundwave 2013, a festival you’ve been part of a few times now, with such an extensive touring back ground do you find yourselves offering advise to the young guns on tours?
I think so, I think just being around bands when we were young and on tour, you learn a lot without even having to talk about it. Anytime we can we help in anyway and that’s one of my favourite things about being in a band and being in a band this long, there is younger bands that admire you just because you’re on the road and you’ve done it for a while. I know I really appreciated that when I was younger.
You learn everything from how to get on stage, time, schedules, load in, load out, just learning little things like that over the years, but to answer your question, yes we definitely like to help.
And being a band for so long means the band have grown up. You’re all living adult lives with wives and extending the MCS family, how has this changed the band and your life as a musician?
Life has changed a lot and being on the road the almost ten years straight it gets harder, that’s the truth, especially when you get married and people have children and you can see them just missing their families, it gets tougher but you have to figure out ways to make it work and that’s what we do, because this is what we love to do and we realize that we’re very fortunate to be able to do it.
We are at the end of 2012, looking back what’s been the high light of the last year?
(After much pondering) gosh! It’s so hard to say. I would have to say this last year has been a very good year.
We’ve been very busy this year and the tours were great. That’s a very generic answer but it really did feel good. Sometimes when you’re in a band and you’ve been doing it for a long time, you start to wonder if people will still come to your shows, you get nervous and they did come out. Our fans are amazing because they come out and they sing the whole set and that really set in on the last tour we did.
I’d have to say the highlight has been interacting with the fans and seeing how amazing they are. It’s a really good feeling. It’s what the band needed.
Cassie Walker
Hi Matt, what are you up to?
I’m actually at my house in Virginia, we have some time off. We just finished a headlining tour of the United States and we’re basically taking the end of the year and the new year off and then we’re going to come down and see you guys for Soundwave.
For a band that has such a heavy live schedule yet constantly releasing material, always wonder how you fit in writing?
That’s a good question. With the help of technology in this day and age, it’s very easy for us to come home and be apart and still write songs so we can actually get that off time, but at the same time get things done. Like today I’ve spent about 6 hours just recording random ideas, just whatever and then I’ll sit with them for a few days and then replay everything and if I feel something will work for the band I’ll send it around to Justin (Pierre- vocals) to see if he can get some sort of melody idea going and then the same with Josh (Cain- guitar), to see if he can get some guitars going. We all do that when we’re apart, then we get together and work on them.
Sometimes we get together to rehearse before a tour and then at that time we will run through songs together and see if anything works for the band.
So when you say you have time off from now until next year, you’re still writing music and working on the band, so you don’t have any time off.
Yeah, you’re right, but it’s different because you’re in your house and you’re inspired. I certainly don’t have to, but there’s something about getting off the road for a few days and doing absolutely nothing, which is exactly what I did and then four days later I start to get this urge.
This year saw the band release its 6th studio album GO. It was a big step for the band, working with Epitaph records again and also the bands own label ‘Boombox Generation’, how does it feel working the creative and business side of the music industry?
It feels good. It feels like we are taking back part of our career and in this day and age, with huge changes in the music industry, it’s better to be more control of what you’re doing.
Fortunately with our band, it’s always been that way. We’ve always wanted to have a hand in the creative and the business side of things, just to keep our stamp on things and to make sure everything is going the way we want it to go, but we decided to start ‘Boombox Generation’, we had no specific business plan, we just wanted to have it so we could do things in the future and help out other bands, or release things ourselves. It’s basically just an open ended thing that we’ll have, a tool to use to get things to people.
Because ‘Boombox Generation’ is a collaborative project for the band, how do you divide tasks?
Not necessarily. It’s very open ended and we have no specific plan, I think it’s the kind of thing that we will cross that bridge when we get there.
I noticed in 2011 Motion City Soundtrack did 4 albums, 2 nights, 7 cities tour which saw the band performing the first 4 albums of the bands career, going through the back catalogue and playing those tracks which haven’t been played live, for years, did that influence the writing for GO?
I don’t know. With writing it’s always hard for me to say what influences us and why things happen the way they do. I don’t really think to much about anything or if they do influence. We just write and it’s a point in time, a new chapter and it just happens the way that it happens every time. It’s not that we’re referencing anything we’ve done in the past or making certain decisions, I think we just get together and things happen. It’s what happens for every new release. We’ve never been the type of band to sit and need a definite plan and say “we need to do this type of thing”, it’s always an exciting new chapter for us when we write new material.
Every Motion City Soundtrack album seems to grow musically, for each new record you can hear the growth and change in mood and content, yet there is still that signature edgy pop sound Motion City Soundtrack have created, compared to a lot of bands of your age and genre no one else has nailed that, does the band aim to live up to that signature sound?
It’s just how it happens. I think we’re fortunate because we are five, unique people, musically speaking. We are very fortunate because we can do something that we’ve never done and then once we put Justin’s vocals on it’s Motion City Soundtrack.
It’s not something that ever really concerns us.
If we write something really bizarre, we look at each other and go “oh well here we go, let’s do this and see what happens” and it ends up becoming the bands material.
And with having such a distinct front man, it really is the connector with fans and bands, particularly with Justin’s expression of such dark and emotion issues in the lyrics, when Justin comes to the band with these lyrics, do some of these issues and topics surprise the band?
They have in the past. I think now, five records in, ten years, whoa, together I think we’re beyond surprises now.
I usually just like to sit back and let him do his thing, it’s a trust thing, but I’ve always had it with him. I’ve never had to earn his trust so much, I can only recall a couple of times in the past where I had to say “I don’t know if that’s the right word to say or I don’t know if that’s the right mood for the song”.
It’s a very good way for him to express himself, so I try to keep that in mind when he’s really happy with something he’s written that’s really personal, we welcome that. It’s not only a song but it’s an outlet for him. It is a fine line. We are a band and we want our songs to make sense and have a certain feel, but at the same time we want him to be able to get his feelings out there, so sometimes we step in with suggestions.
Not only do those emotional topics bring the band closer together, but it also brings the fans closer to the band which adds a lot of pressure to selecting songs for the set list, do you consider fans emotional connection to songs when preparing for a show?
We do. It’s a different set list every night. There’s usually 11 songs that we feel that we have to play and I don’t mean that as in it’s a chore, I just mean they’re the fan favourites or singles from the past and we feel they’re stronger songs, and then we have room to change it up every night.
It’s usually a very involved process and it’s usually Justin and I.
It’s all about flow and energy. I think the two of us thing way to hard about it actually. We really get concerned with the right energy, the right feel, key, transition and the other guys are just like “write them down and we’ll play it” but we definitely consider everything you could possibly consider about the set.
As you said, Motion City Soundtrack are returning to Australia for Soundwave 2013, a festival you’ve been part of a few times now, with such an extensive touring back ground do you find yourselves offering advise to the young guns on tours?
I think so, I think just being around bands when we were young and on tour, you learn a lot without even having to talk about it. Anytime we can we help in anyway and that’s one of my favourite things about being in a band and being in a band this long, there is younger bands that admire you just because you’re on the road and you’ve done it for a while. I know I really appreciated that when I was younger.
You learn everything from how to get on stage, time, schedules, load in, load out, just learning little things like that over the years, but to answer your question, yes we definitely like to help.
And being a band for so long means the band have grown up. You’re all living adult lives with wives and extending the MCS family, how has this changed the band and your life as a musician?
Life has changed a lot and being on the road the almost ten years straight it gets harder, that’s the truth, especially when you get married and people have children and you can see them just missing their families, it gets tougher but you have to figure out ways to make it work and that’s what we do, because this is what we love to do and we realize that we’re very fortunate to be able to do it.
We are at the end of 2012, looking back what’s been the high light of the last year?
(After much pondering) gosh! It’s so hard to say. I would have to say this last year has been a very good year.
We’ve been very busy this year and the tours were great. That’s a very generic answer but it really did feel good. Sometimes when you’re in a band and you’ve been doing it for a long time, you start to wonder if people will still come to your shows, you get nervous and they did come out. Our fans are amazing because they come out and they sing the whole set and that really set in on the last tour we did.
I’d have to say the highlight has been interacting with the fans and seeing how amazing they are. It’s a really good feeling. It’s what the band needed.
Cassie Walker