January 6, 2025 • 51 mins
In the latest episode of Columbia House Party, hosts Jake Goldsbie and Blake Murphy anoint Motion City Soundtrack as the show's second two-time episode band, joining blink-182. The episode is primarily about Even If It Kills Me, but there is plenty of My Dinosaur Life talk, as well. Find out more about what changed for Motion City Soundtrack coming off the success of Commit This To Memory, where Mark Hoppus factors in again, which host has a tattoo referencing this album, and more on this week's podcast.
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See you next week for another episode of CHP.
Sick of hearing all the ads? Subscribe to Soda Premium on Apple Podcasts to get rid of them!Follow @ColumbiaHP on X!
While you're there say hello to @BlakeMurphyODC and @JGoldsbie.If merch is your thing, be sure to check out the store: http://bit.ly/chpmerchOr reach out to the show and say hey: podcast@columbiahouseparty.com
If you enjoyed today’s show, please rate Columbia House Party 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts.
See you next week for another episode of CHP.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Last night I fell in love without you. I waved
goodbye to that heart of mine, beating solo on your lawn.
Every aching wound will cauterize and bruise in memory of
what we used to call Columbia House party. Jake sad intro, Buddy,
what do you got for us?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
They're a band that we talk about a lot. I've
come up a lot, we've covered before, and they're a
band that I know mean a lot to both of us.
And this album specifically means a lot to Blake, So
I thought that this was going to be appropriate. So
today we're talking about Motion City Soundtrack, two thousand and
seven album, Even if it kills me.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Last night I fell in love with thout you leave
confided to that heart of my eating Solomon your long.
Every one who called.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Hers in memory what we used to call.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Then on time, little tell.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
In memory what we used to call We used to
call it.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Shot value.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Shows and not honest saying as you make.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
Every bruise and memory.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Want we used to call job swell in memory. We
used to call.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
In monnery when we used to come in.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Oh you like moog, you like a synthesizer. Well, welcome
welcome to our album. That song is fell in Love
Without You. Great album opener on an album that has
pretty elite album sequencing, and I will say it is.
I'm gonna give it a waarly. It's my favorite album
closer interesting, so I feel like it is.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Uh actually know that? So that works out quite well.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, I probably should have saved that for later, but
that's all right. Okay. So Motion City Soundtrack are you
know a top five favorite band for me? To the
extent that you know, even if it kills me as
an album and a song and just an idea is
important to me and works its way into one of
my half sleeves. And we did commit this to Memory side,
(03:31):
don't It was our least listened to early episode. You
absolute goons.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You uncultured, uncultured swine.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I was very offended. So as much as this is
Jake's episode to lead, I'm happy he picked it out
of spite. How dare you? How dare you make me
feel bad about commit this to Memory? And Jake, your
connection to Motion City Soundtrack has changed kind of fundamentally
over the course of the last year, if you want
(04:05):
to say it that way, or really, since I think
not to put words in your road, since we really
dove into them for that Commit This Memory episode.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I mean yes to no, Like I was super into
Commit This to Memory when it came out back in
two thousand and five, which we talked about, and then
they kind of went away as my interest in the
genre went away, and then I got back into them
around the time of My Dinosaur Life, which is still
my favorite Motion City album, which we'll talk about at
the end of this episode. This album is kind of
(04:34):
funny for me because for a band that I do
like so much, I never really gave this album. I
would say, to your point about my relationship with Motion
City Soundtrack evolving, it's more that my relationship with this
album specifically evolved because I never really gave this one
the time of day for a really long time. Because
I remember when I was first getting back into them,
(04:56):
and by the band's own a mission, which we'll talk about,
they kind of took as a more a little bit
of a softer approach than the other albums, a little
less raw. So I kind of assumed that this was
sort of their like boring major label album, and that
didn't really sound like the rest of their stuff. And
then going back to it, I was like, oh no,
this is just another good, like peak period Motion City album.
(05:20):
So I felt kind of dumb for not giving this
the album at the time of the day. But in
terms of my relationship with this band evolving, it's not
really that. It's just for some reason. Maybe it's because
of like my taste now being very much tied to
sort of the newer emo pop punk that's rooted in
power pop stuff like your ore Agami, Angels, your Telethons,
(05:41):
You're Meet Me at the Altars, et cetera, and like
none of those bands exist without Motion City Soundtrack as
they are. I think I would say like the quintessential
power pop emo punk band, sort of the our generations
the Cars, which we will talk about also in this episode.
But yeah, I've just listened to them a ton over
(06:05):
the last year in a bit, and they're really great.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They sure are.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Jake.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That sets it up. Well, you know, I led the
last Motion City Soundtrack episode, and I'm not saying that
to say I'm taking this one off, but I think
I've made my fondness for them very very clear in
that episode. If anyone wants to go back and listen
to that one, please do. However, as much as we
chose Commit This to Memory because that was that felt
(06:33):
like the most important and the most information heavy of
the Motion City albums, this is my favorite one. So
I'm happy to be diving into it. We're gonna talk
about Motion City Soundtrack. We're gonna talk about even if
it kills me. We're gonna talk about tattoos after this,
(07:05):
all right, Jake, So you can give us a little
spin back to the early stages of Motion City Soundtrack
if you want, or you could tell these uncultured Jabbronis
who didn't listen to the Commit This the Memory episode
to just go back to that one and listen to it.
You're in charge, So take us where you gotta take us.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I'm gonna pick us up. Basically, right after Commit
This to Memory was released, it was kind of there,
maybe not commercial, but definitely their sort of scene breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah and everything is all Right? Was us scene?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah? Yeah, exactly. They had to like a minor hit
with their first record with Future Freaks Me Out, But
Everything's all Right. I think if you're talking to someone
about emo pop punk songs, that one's probably gonna come
up it's a great song too, but it really sort
of broke them into the scene. So commit the st memory,
as we talked about so many years ago, it feels
(07:59):
like was leaked onto file sharing sites months before it
officially came out on June seventh, two thousand and five.
The music videos, especially the video for Everything Is all Right,
found regular rotation on MTV two, and the band also
did the late night Circuit on Conan and Jimmy Kimmel.
Of course, with success in the mid two thousand's pop
punk scene brought debates on whether or not they were
(08:22):
punk enough or whatever, and as singer Justin Pierre told
Michael Roburst of Westworld the Independent Voice of Denver, not
the Murder Robots Show, he said, really, it doesn't matter.
People can call us a house country dance, thrash, metal, hardcore,
post nasal drip, and it's okay by me. Actually, I'm
kind of waiting for something to bother me. I think
(08:43):
if we became special enough, people may start writing really
mean and awful things. And if that's what happens, so
be it. The band's new success brought them sort of
the fun amenities of being successful. They went to La
to play Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Pierre flew in a
few days early and ended up at Brett Gerwitz's house.
Breck Gerwitz, of course, being the founding guitar player of
(09:05):
Bad Religion and also more importantly, perhaps the founder of
Epitaph Records.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Pull Sleepover yeah really.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Pierre said that he got to stay in a nice bed,
like with pillows designed for astronauts, the ones that fit
your head or body or whatever. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That's how you know you've made it in the scene,
is you get to sleep with a real pillow.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Look. I bought a new pillow and a new mattress recently.
It's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I can imagine what kind of pillows you used pre Cassie.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Oh just pieces of shit, shredded pieces of shit.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, flat stained.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
The group continued to tour constantly in the aftermath of
Mythist Memory, including dates on the two thousand and five
Warped Tour, the inaugural Epitaph Tour with Matchbook Romance and
From First to Last, and of course, the Nintendo Usion
Tour with Fallo Ut Boy, Panic at the Disco, and
the Starting Line, which is basically just a Blake show
(10:07):
this period of the band's career was not super fruitful
and fun, as Justin Pierre's mental health and substance abuse
issues were kicked into high gear, which nearly disbanded the group.
Guitarist and songwriter Joshua Caine told The Vindicator about this period,
I think it's an understatement to say that it's tough
to be tied to Justin's emotions. Justin's an interesting character.
(10:30):
I love him to death, and yeah, his moods can
denote how his show goes, let alone how a record goes.
It's pretty much on the shoulders of our lead singer
how things shape up for us. If he stays clean
and sober, then he's an awesome dude and everything works out,
things are happy and we get to keep doing this.
And if he can't do that, which would suck, it's
a different ballgame. I think a lot of bands don't
have so much having to ride on a singer. It's
(10:52):
just the way it is with us. So that's where
the group was going into the recording of the album
We're going to Talk About Today, which, of course, as
we said, is even if it kills Me, Even it
Kills Me, was recorded in early two thousand and seven
at Stratosphere Studios in Chelsea and Electric Lady Studios in
Greenwich Village. Justin Pierre has said that he consciously tried
(11:15):
to sing softer on this album than in previous releases,
worried he would be blowing out his voice, which, as
I alluded to earlier, was actually what kept me away
from this album initially, not so much him singing softer,
but just at being a less rock, raw album, which
is what I like from my Motion City soundtrack. He
told Jonah Beer in a noisy Rank your Records call
(11:36):
him where he ranked this third in Motion City's discography.
He said, I think I was in my head a
lot when making that album, and I was really concerned
with being able to perform the songs live, so I
learned how to sing them softly and pretty as opposed
to going for it.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
His ranking is wrong, by the way.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Now I've learned to just sing a certain way live
so I can get through an entire tour without blowing
out my voice. But back then I was started being
able to pull it off, so I sort of feel
like I lost a little bit in terms of my performance.
I feel like I could have gotten a little bit
gnarlier vocally in certain songs, but I didn't, and I
think you can best hear this softer approach to Motion
(12:14):
City soundtrack, which is where our opening lyric of the
day came from. This is the song last Night.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I'm still frustrated from last night things happened and halftime,
I'm sick of Evans.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
My partic research is no help, sinking aboutself, afraid.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Of all that. Never a wait, but I'm too tad,
play tad, I'll.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Sufficten, do't over half owned good bys.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
I turned all the startline and flee down the scene.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
She finds her pass to bankok and the wist stop
can't sleep on.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
The came.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Again.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
I love the holls and badic choking back here to
far she as for something and by the messages like
the cleaners emotions outside.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I trailed closely from bed.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
She tries out to cry. She shakes under me to baring.
I can't compare with your debts. This came.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Jake, not to correct you. Sorry, but the opening lyric
came from fell in Love Without You.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It is accusing. I just heard the last night and
I was like, there, it is right.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It is confusing. Because the album opens with last Night
I Fell in Love without You, and then there's a
song three songs later called last Night. It's a it's
a beautiful song.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It is a beautiful song, and it's a band favorite.
I would say it's a favorite song the album of
Joshua Caine and one of Pierre's favorite songs as well.
It originated a little differently than most of the band's songs.
The opening fingerpicking was just Caine kind of noodling in
the studio and the band and heard it, and they
composed the song almost on the spot, they said. Pierre
(15:05):
then wrote the lyrics in one sitting, drawing inspiration from
the movie Memento, but which he told aol Music which
al Music hilarious. Think of that movie, then listen to
the song again, it might make more sense. Joshuaccaine told
The Riverfront Times that last Night is his favorite song
on the album, when he said, it's a really catchy song,
but it's missing a lot of the traditional elements you
(15:26):
would normally put in a pop song, So I feel
like it's kind of a cool take on something traditional.
He said. The song reminds him of both The Cure
and Death Cab for Cutie.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, I don't know about the cure. I definitely can
hear the Death Caab parallel.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's true.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
I mean, it's just the the intentional softness of it,
right is.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, it's very Plans Era Death Cab, I would say, yeah.
Justin Pierre also struggled with writer's block, making this album
something that hadn't happened in the band's career before. In
that Rank of Records interview, he says, Even If It
Kills Me was the first time I had a bit
of writer's block, and I was still finishing a lot
of the lyrics while we were recording the songs, and
(16:05):
that never happened before. Last Night is one of my
favorite songs we've ever done. And I think a lot
of the songs on the record are great, but I
just think it's a little on the poppier side. That's
something gnarlier about a little on the poppier side. There's
something gnarlier about My Dinosaur Life and the New One,
and I think that's missing on Even If It Kills Me.
The New One here was referring to was their twenty
(16:26):
twelve album Go, which is when he did that interview
Even if It kills Me is also notable for having
three producers on the record, two of which are quite
famous and had very different experiences for the band. The
album was originally co produced by Eli Janney of Girls
(16:47):
Against Boys and the late great Adam Schlessinger from Fountains
of Wayne, who sadly passed away during the pandemic. About
working with Schlessinger, Pierre said, Adam works ten times faster
than most people, and he's already onto the next thing
before you have a chance to think about what you did,
so it was kind of like playing catch up. Another
(17:09):
part of the record, however, was recorded by Rick Ocasek
of The Cars legendary needs no introduction musician, But in
case you don't know, other than his work with The Cars,
he's also produced a little album called The Blue Album.
He produced Bad Religions, The Gray Race, which I didn't know.
(17:29):
He produced Guy by Voices Do the Collapse, among others.
He's produced albums by Suicide, an absolute legend in the
music world, and the group was obviously excited to record
with him, specifically for the fact that he produced the
Blue Album, though they were close to not booking him
until he called them back at the last minute. However,
(17:51):
working with him was not exactly what the band was
hoping for. Bassist Matthew Taylor told the Minnesota Star Tribune
that last record we did everything had to be perfect.
We did take after take after take working with Rick.
We'd think the guitars were out of tune, but he'd
be like perfect and as Justin Pierre says, then the
other half of the record was working with Rick Ocasek.
(18:14):
When he showed up. That was probably one of the
weirdest experiences because I think we thought one thing and
found out another. Oftentimes he would be there for a
couple hours a day, and he just confused me the
whole time, and I didn't really know what he was
talking about. I think he's good at picking the right songs,
and he did expand even if It kills Me, from
a little ditty to a full fledged song. But I
(18:35):
think the MVP of that session was his engineer, Chris Shaw,
who he later had mix go. So here is an
example of some of the work that Akasek did on
this record. This is even if it kills me.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
I've got a.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Lot of things A dude toun hour says second Magan list.
Speaker 8 (18:57):
Of things.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I don't ever thing.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
I've waiting here for the last t.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Since only nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
Oh my shit is.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Getting boxes thirty five a little more time to kill.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
It's set.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
I have a little stupid thing. Yeah, you think they are.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Well, but I'm too child to go to sleep tonight
and I'm to leave the too swallow the dreams.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Tonight the first.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
Time the.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Child most had damn sad. I'm not least let not.
Speaker 6 (19:56):
I'm doing a child till the.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Also want to get back on contract.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
In at it takes, even if it kills me.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Like I said, my favorite album Closer, I.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Feel like that's a good thesis song, if that makes sense.
I think a lot of a lot of bands have
like if you listen to one song to know what
we're about, make it this one. And I feel like,
at least lyrically, that's kind of the one that I
would say is Motion Cities.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, And I mean it's not to project too much,
but it's very much about you know, struggling with anxiety
or I mean maybe depression. I don't really know exactly
what what justin what was going through and and that
comes up on a lot of their songs, like I'm
sick of the things I do when I'm nervous, like
(21:03):
cleaning the oven or checking my tires, like that kind
of stuff. But this is the most I think visceral
of those, and I just I love the outro as
a rap on this album. I love the outro as
like you said a thesis statement, I love the outro
as just kind of to get cheesy here for a second,
(21:24):
just as kind of like an affirmation that the line
that gets repeated, I sure want to get back on track,
and I'll do whatever it takes, even if it kills me.
You know this this kind of if you decide that
you can't get back, like like there's two paths you
can kind of take with this stuff, and on the one,
(21:46):
you know, like not to be over dramatic, but you know,
suicide is a real thing, right, Like like killing yourself is,
or even having thoughts or ideations about that is certainly
something that can come up in dealing with the stuff,
especially coming off the Extended Course where he's talking about
feeling helpless for the most part and just trying to
(22:06):
open his eyes and the realization that he'll never get
over it, but he asked to try. So you know this,
I'll do whatever it takes because you know, literally, any
outcome that you could get to is worth it, you know.
I don't know. I love that song. I think it's
a really beautiful song. I think it wraps up one
of my favorite albums just perfectly.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah. I think that's a good way to sum it up.
And I don't know if the band intended it to
be that way, but it definitely became that and I guess.
And I also think it's interesting from the Rick Ocasek
sort of angle that he produced all the singles to
this record. He produced This Is for Real, Last Night,
Calling All Cops, Broken Heart, and even If It Kills Me,
(22:51):
which I think that speaks to his like pop sensibilities,
so to speak. Pierre obviously felt many kinds of ways
after sort of the negative experience with working with him,
especially because one of his hero is a literal legend
and that's not what you expect. He said in that
Rank of Records. For a while, I was really nervous
(23:11):
about saying anything about my experiences of working with Rick.
But it was kind of a bum out because literally
I didn't understand a thing he said. I would do
something terrible and he'd go, it doesn't get any better
than that. And then I'd do something I thought was
great and he'd be like, do it again. So I
think he was just playing some sort of head game
with me or us the whole time. I just don't
know what happened during the experience. It didn't make any sense.
(23:35):
I thought the song sounded weird and confusing. I didn't
know what was going on. We've recorded a bunch of
stuff and never really got to listen to it, and
then Chris Shaw went away for a few days, and
I think he spent a lot of time editing, picked
the best vocal takes and put it all together. So
when we got back it sounded amazing, which I think
is interesting. On your point about lyrically the album and
(23:57):
the song, even it kills me, especially the album's not
quite as dark or as grim I would say, as
you commit this to memory, but it's still very much
in tune with their as you said, Pierre's inward looking
self analysis, so to speak. Joshua Caine told The Riverfront
Times about Comit This to Memory that Justin was in
(24:19):
such a bad state of mind when he wrote our
last album that it turned out to be a really
grim record, whereas this record is more about being lonely
and less about being self loathing. I also think this
is a really impactful record for a lot of those reasons.
I know it's huge for you in that way, Blake,
And as Mary Anne Elouise wrote in a retrospective article
(24:40):
about the album's tenth anniversary for Vice, she said, I
read the album as a promise to recover, even if
it was the last thing Pierre did. I had previously
thought recovery meant being entirely better, but that album taught
me that I would perhaps never be quite right, that
I would always be obsessive and neurotic and traumatized. And
this was not lost on Justin Pierre, who told the
(25:02):
Off the Record podcast, I may or may not be pipolar,
have crippling panic attacks and exhausting OCD. I may or
may not be an alcoholic. I made a decision to
turn my life around and set about it slowly, day
after day, step by grueling step, over the course of
several years, which I think probably speaks to the I
don't want to say broader appeal because that makes it
(25:24):
sound like it was done for commercial purposes, And I
don't want to give that impression, but I do think
this album is one that really resonates with fans of
this band. Like I know, if you watch live videos
of them, people go fucking nuts for the songs off
this record.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah. Yeah, And I think you know, like that essay
laid out and like justin came to terms with that.
You know, the kind of acceptance of having to do
the work even if there's not like a clear solution
or finish line is a really important lesson and it
takes a while, and you know, as someone who does therapy,
it can be kind of frustrating to you know, hey,
(26:01):
maybe four sectionons later you're back talking about the same thing.
But that's important stuff, and uh, you know Motion City
can can help you work through it a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah. And I think they're I think they're a band.
I don't want to say ahead of their time for
that because I obviously they're not the first band to
talk to these kind of things.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
No, but his songwriting is so clever, Like it's very
clever and accessible. He has a bit of that like
Wonder Years to Dan Campbell to him where like it's
very specific the leaders he chooses, and like we went
into the example in the Commit to Memory episode about
how he chose the names Max and core Line for
(26:38):
a song, and like, you don't have a friend's named
maxic core Line, but that doesn't really matter, or like
your neuroses are maybe not cleaning the oven or checking
the tires. But like all of these things, you know,
he gets specific about. But I do think the specificity
to make the song interesting without losing the accessibility and
(27:02):
the relatability is something that kind of separates a lot
of songwriters writing about this stuff, and it's you know,
it's one of the reasons that I'm so attached to
bands like Motion City Soundtrack in the Wonder Years, whereas
you know, I don't know, like to use another example,
the Hotel Year is a band that I really like,
(27:22):
and their lyrics are very like poetic and you know,
the pros is great and it's clear they read a
lot of Mary Oliver and stuff, but there's not that
same level of relatability at least on the you know,
the first layer or two. You you really gotta kind
of engage and think about it. So I don't know,
I think It's always been a huge strength of Justin Pierre,
(27:43):
and you know the fact that he wasn't conscious of
it as he was writing this stuff, and it's only
come out in kind of retrospective interviews that he was
able to navigate that I think makes a lot of sense,
because I don't think you can, like, I don't think
that level of relatability can be inal, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah, I think that's fair, and I also think it's
maybe when I maybe by ahead of their time, what
I really meant was influential because I was having this
thought the other day. I was walking around listening to
the Oregammy Angel record and I was thinking about how
I wish when I was younger there was a band
that was like because they're so positive in their like
(28:23):
emo rock music, and I was like, oh, I wish
there was a band that like gave that message. And
I'm sure there was, but like, for argument's sake, I
wish there was a band that gave that message to
me when I was the age that like, you listened
to this kind of music and it was kind of like, well,
Motion City was right there, and I don't know if
I really took in their lyrics as much when I
was younger, but going back now, I was like, oh,
make this is like an I think this band is
(28:47):
more important than they get credit for to not put
too much weight on them. But I think that's how
I feel about it.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, I think that's fair. I should we play another song?
I want to hear another song.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yeah, yeah, all right, So the other song we're gonna
play from this album is sort of a Columbia house
party All Star Game of a song. This is one
of the band's few overtly political songs, which Pierre say
has written from an apathetic point of view. He told
a well music, I try not to be too heavy handed.
It's just kind of a laundry list of things that
(29:20):
bum me out. And the reason I say this is
a CHP all star game is This song features Max
Beamis of Say Anything, Rachel Minton of Zoloft, The Rock
and Roll Destroyer, and Sean Harris of The Matches. This
is Hello, Helicopter hellollicarlater a.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
But he's rest emotion five not well, it's kill be
killed in one. He will get the best of them.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Caulter be my friend?
Speaker 8 (30:02):
Will you take me away? O?
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Hell cop to have you heard the news.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
Swimming food, garbage, dumped back bills.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
There s no wild card you had show down.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
So let somebody else our cure.
Speaker 7 (30:36):
Of for.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
I'm not saying anything you haven't heard before.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I'm just trying to understand.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
The where we are. Oh hell cop to ry you stand.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
But he's rest and marsh fine, Well.
Speaker 6 (31:08):
That's killed, be killed in one.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
They will get the best of them.
Speaker 6 (31:16):
Hell character, I lesson.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
No one gives a shit about the things they do.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Maybe they were ahead of their time. Anyway, We're gonna
jump a little bit to release this album because we
have other things to talk about today.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, we're gonna do a little quantum leap, even.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
If it kills me. Was intended to be the album
that was going to launch the band into music stardom
and help them achieve a quote follow up boy like success.
Joshuacain told The Vindicator, Ultimately, I don't think we care
that much. We do our thing and people like it
or they don't. The album, however, didn't sell as well
as the band and likely their label had hoped. I
(32:01):
forgot to mention that before this album came out, the
band signed to Columbia Records the major label. Most of
the album sales are blamed sort of just on it
being two thousand and seven and kind of around the
time where the music industry really tanked. The album failed
to go gold, and none of the singles really found
success on radio or MTV. However, it still represented a
(32:23):
bunch of career best for the band. It pickedd at
number sixteen on the Billboard two hundred and number one
on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart. It debuted with thirty
three thousand sales, which is double the first week of
sales of Commit This Memory, Broken Heart and This Is
for Real, two songs we didn't really talk about were
the singles. I only wanted to mention this because I
(32:44):
learned that This Is for Real's single includes a B
side that's a cover of Plymouth Rock by Lifter Puller,
which I didn't know until I was researching. And I
now must find that CD single and purchase it, even
though I have no way to play it. It had
to was also released in early two thousand and eight
as a third single. The album was mostly well received,
(33:07):
received favorable ratings from Spin in the New York Times
three out of five from Associated Press three out of
five from Blender, eighty three percent from Absolute Punk, and
six out of ten from Pop Matters. The New York
Times review said that together they made an album that
sounds like one long sugar rush, and so long as
the rush lasts, it sounds pretty great. They also praised
Justin Pierre, saying he never sounds better than when he's
(33:30):
rushing from an overwritten verse into a perfectly simple refrain.
Andy Greenwald reviewed this for Blender, saying every generation needs
a Weezer, and Motion City soundtrack is the Weezer of Emo,
which I don't totally know what that means, but I
like it.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
I'm going to push back on every generation needing Weezer.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I mean, in two thousand and seven, I think you
can make the argument. Despite the relative success of the record,
it also sort of marked the begin of what could
be called the beginning of the end of the band,
or at least as they were, even though they would
release three more albums. Joshua Cain told The Alternative in
twenty twenty, there was a sense of I feel the
(34:13):
cracks in the ship. I can feel it leaking. When
you have a band and things start happening like they
did for us, and being unwarped, and the momentum, it's
like a drug. It feels good. It feels good to
feel like it's happening. But somewhere in there it got
real weird. For a long time, the stuff we went
through as a band, it was just a lot for
us to go through and never really unpack or process.
(34:34):
That's the biggest realization as we got away from it.
I feel like there were years there where I was
on stage thinking about just going home, and I never
told anybody that, thinking I'm not enjoying the part that
I'm supposed to enjoy anymore. And if you are a
fan of this band, I highly recommend tracking down that
interview in The Alternative with Joshua Cain and Justin Pierre.
It's super open and honest and really interesting. I feel
(34:57):
like this band should check it out, all.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Right, Jake. So, the band did not break up, even though,
as you mentioned, there was a little bit of the
signs of fracturing or at least fatigue, and instead they
continued on and they made three more albums to date,
including Your Favorite and one of Kerrang's fifty one Greatest
Punk Albums Ever, coming in at number eighteen. We're gonna
(35:20):
talk about my Dinosaur Life. Then we're gonna get personal
after this, all right, Jake, So My Dinosaur Life comes
(35:41):
out in twenty ten. It is my commuting back and
forth from Kitchener to Toronto when I was in a
I guess that's not long distance relationship but semi distance distanced.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, I would say it's distance.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
But this is this is the the Motion City Soundtrack
album for you.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah, this one I think I got. As I said
last week and sort of talked about earlier, this was
a period of time where reviews very much influenced the
kind of music I listened to, and I don't I
truly don't remember how I came across it, but I
noticed that the AV Club gave it an A and
at the time, it was kind of weird to see
(36:26):
quote unquote hipster publications give those kind of high scores
to emo records. So I was like, I should check
this out, and I did, and I loved it, and
I still love it. It's one of my favorite like
pop punk, emo albums, or just albums in general. I
really like this album. I love the lyrics. It's also
sort of a It's my album of walking around after
(36:49):
being dumped by my friend in Montreal.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Planet.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah, I have a very clear memory of listening to
that song like the day after and being like, oh no. Maybe.
One of the reasons this album is so good is
they reunited with commit This to Memory producer and Blink
twenty two person Mark Hoppus to maybe the album. Maybe
you've heard of him? I think it rules, they felt.
(37:14):
The band felt that recording with Hoppus was a little
looser than the first time and that they had a
lot more fun. Uh, And then they would also subsequently
join Blink twenty two on tour for Blink's twenty ten
reunion tour. I was kind of saying, how I like
my Motion City soundtrack a little rocky or a little
rar and this album definitely gives that, especially on this
song this is Disappear to.
Speaker 9 (37:36):
The Deep, then to the hot Line Home Tratch, Little
Deep Drafting Medication, also down a'm Pty Collapsibstay Shadowy three,
the Submassassination.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Clops around here. Yes he was on the waiting list.
Speaker 6 (38:00):
You win, I'm something you secret.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
Y, you disopere any time I want to.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
Time, I feel you shuffle through my skin.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
I wat you tell you.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
How I can't be.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
You shut up there.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
I can disappear anytime I want.
Speaker 7 (38:43):
To time I feel you shovel through Muskin, I am
with you till the end.
Speaker 6 (38:53):
I should bet your house when it sounds to higher.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Satin man, I really think, I mean, I think he's
(39:27):
a talented singer, like a talented vocalist anyway, but I
really think my dinosaur life. Like there are a couple
of tracks on this album where he really stretches it
in a good way and you can see, you know
that he's he's more than the you know, kind of
power pop. I mean, this is this is more of
a power pop album, but you get what I'm saying,
(39:47):
Like even even even the verses in that one, and
like he's breathless getting to the choruses. Young on some
of the songs on this album, he rules.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
He does a lot of what we talked about in
our Cursive episode with Tim Kasher, how they write too
many lyrics for the timber of the verse and they
just sort of have to figure out how to fit
them in and they do, and then it's like but
that like it being so packed in I think is
what makes them so impactful, and it gives a.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Real reading one of my articles. Yeah, I mean, that's
just many words here.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
That's why you're the best fan. No, that's not that,
ain't it well? This ain't it for?
Speaker 5 (40:28):
This?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
Wasn't it for Emergency Soundtrack. They were dropped by Columbia
after the release of My Diosaur Life, with Justin Pierre
saying to spin I guess we didn't do as well
as they hoped or expected to, and we felt that
having all their resources at our disposal would perhaps propel
us into another dimension. But what we are what we are,
regardless of what label or machine is behind us. We
did exceptionally well, though, if you want to look at
(40:49):
it strictly based on sales numbers in today's climate. The
band would follow that. They released Go in twenty twelve
and Panic Stations in twenty fifteen, neither of which I
like that much. I don't know about you. There's a
couple of good tracks, but nothing that.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Yeah, there's a big drop off after the first four albums.
His solo stuff is okay, but not Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
I think it's telling that on their twenty twenty reunion
tour they only played songs from the first four and
they didn't play a single song from Go where panic
stations speaking of. They announced their breakup in March of
twenty sixteen, releasing a statement saying we have no idea
what the future holds, but for now we are done.
Justin Pierre told the Minnesota Star Tribune, We've done this
(41:31):
one thing constantly for so many years, NonStop. We all
wanted to have something else to look forward to in
our lives. They embarked on a farewell tour, concluding with
the show at the Metro in Chicago, where they played
thirty six songs. Who has sold out crowd? As You Said?
Justin Pierre released his solo album In the Drink in
twenty eighteen, which was co produced by himself and Joshua Caine,
(41:54):
and then in June of twenty eighteen, the band announced
that they were reforming. Their reunion tour, as I Said,
took place in twenty twenty, called the Don't Call It
a Comeback tour. They had also planned to go to
the UK to play the Slam Dunk Festival, but that
was unfortunately scuttled by the COVID pandemic. They released three
songs in twenty twenty. The first was a cover of
(42:15):
Fountains of Wayne a Dip in the Ocean for a
tribute to Adam Schlessinger, who tragically died due to COVID.
They also released a previously unreleased song, Crooked Ways, which
was apparently intended for release on one of those weirdly
Good Twilight soundtracks but never made it, and they also
released a cover of Ed Akerson's Wired Weird for a
(42:36):
tribute album to him, who passed away in twenty nineteen.
Akerson produced Go. Joshua Caine has said there's no future
plans for new music, but as Justin Pierre told The
Alternative in that interview, I mentioned I've said this before, Josh,
Matt and I we've sent bad ideas back and forth
intermittently since two thousand and six. There's music to be made.
I feel that there are songs that I'm like, fuck,
(42:57):
this could be amazing. I've got this diddy that perfect
for me. I found I'm much more concept driven. I
can't write something unless I've got this big, ridiculous plan.
We do have a lot of songs, and I think
we could put this thing together if we could all
get on the same page. But with the pandemic dot
dot dot, and that's where we leave them.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
That is where we leave them. As sirens go outside
my window and we get the bad take alarm. So
I guess it's time for some bad takes or some
bad and regrettable tattoos.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Maybe.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Yeah, let's talk tattoos.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
So back in the commit This to the Memory episode,
I revealed that the so I have two half sleeves,
so the top of each arm is covered. I have
one tattoo on each forum and one on my back.
Only a couple of those, like, only the one half
sleeve is really music related, and there are no direct references.
(43:54):
It's all just kind of inspired by stuff around certain
bands or certain moments that mean a lot to me. However,
the words even if it kills me are the only
words I have in any of my tattoos, So obviously
this album and that sentiment mean a lot to me. Jake,
you have some music related tattoos as well.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yeah, I have a single music testo. I have a
single tattoo which is a music tattoo. I have the
Stay Positive logo from the Old Steady record from two
thousand and eight. I got it because I was working
one summer at university at a charity, and all the
people around me were very positive people. And I was
(44:38):
twenty one years old and let's say, not the most
positive person in the world. And I decided that was
going to be my new outlook on life. So I
don't get my favorite band's positivity logo tattooed on me.
I don't know if the positivity thing really stuck over
the next decade, but I go through fits and starts
of enjoying having this tattoo. I would say someday I'm
(45:00):
like yeah, and like, boy, that's on my arm.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the way it goes
with tattoos.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Right exactly. That's the tattoos you get when you're twenty.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yeah, I mean I got mine. I think I only
have one of mine when I was twenty and the
rest have kind of been pieced together over time. So
that sleeve that I have is I mean, it's kind
of just like a personal sleeve. Like there are some
nods to my brothers and some friends and stuff like that. Again, nothing,
nothing discrete and explicit in part because like, you know,
(45:29):
if I was getting tattoos when I was eighteen or twenty, like,
I'd probably have some brand new tattoos now that I
would really regret, so you want that plausible deniability if
anyone gets canceled. But also just like I just think
it's more It was more interesting for me going through
the process of with my tattoo artists of what kind
(45:50):
of I mean mostly I just wanted a half sleeve
because I had one on the other arm. You know,
what kind of art could we create using these influences
so within mind and there's even if it kills me
text on a flaming typewriter as the page burns.
Speaker 5 (46:06):
I do have.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I have this like Luchador guy as part of that sleeve,
and it's more of a thing for my brother and
inspired by Reneemergreed, but part of the idea came for me.
Funeral for a Friend, one of their albums has an
album cover based heavily on his work, and I just
(46:29):
love the idea of the covered face series. There is
a skull hand reaching across a heart that is very
Alkaline trio. There are kind of blue, green and pink
accents that are the colors from the Blank Woid eighty
two self titled and there is a mixtape labeled Summer
five Mix, which would include from Under the Court Tree,
(46:51):
commit This to memory a fever you can't sweat out,
Crimson almost here from the Academy is So you get
a lot of stuff. I'm probably missing a couple because
I can only see so much of my arm at
once without getting up and going and looking in the mirror.
But yeah, I kind of laid out a bunch of
stuff like that and went through it with my my
artists between sessions and stuff, and I don't know, I feel.
Speaker 8 (47:14):
Good about it.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
I like the way it looks. It's nice and bright.
I don't like explaining every single one of those things.
So when someone asks me what the tattoo means, my
favorite response is that I it means I like tattoos,
which is me being a jerk. But you know, I
don't do that often. So I feel like I get
some I get a couple, I get a couple of freebies.
(47:35):
Would you ever get another band tattoo or like music
inspired tattoo, jake or a tattoo in general?
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Yeah, I definitely have. I've had a lot of sort
of ideas over the years. A lot of it is
honestly complicated by the fact of what I do for
work in that right. Covering tattoos when you're not famous
is a pain in the ass because you have to
use a lot of makeup that is just take it.
Just I feel bad, like I don't want to hold
up the makeup artist for like taking twenty minutes to
(48:01):
cover some shitty thing I got on my arm when
I was twenty and I'm not famous enough for them
to digitally remove my tattoos. But yeah, I have a
few ideas of things that I wanted to get that
I've never really pulled the trigger on. I do have
a standing bet with some people that have the Blue
Jays every won the World Series, I have to get
the logo tattooed on me somewhere. I don't know if
(48:22):
that still stands because it was in twenty fifteen, but yeah,
I think I'm definitely I would. I think the answer
is I would like to get more tattoos, but I'm
reluctant for reasons that have nothing to do with the
tattoos themselves.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
Yeah, I hit the critical threshold of like it doesn't
really matter right now anymore. Yeah, like short of it
coming up above the neck line on my shirt, you
can't like I could wear a long sleeve and you
can't tell. But like, if I'm in a T shirt,
you're gonna be able to see them. And I don't
have a real job, so that shouldn't really matter, all right, man,
(48:57):
Well maybe we'll get a Columbia House pretty tattoo, although
our Columbia party logo is already very similar to the
two that's whoever we have, so it's uh, that's fine. Yeah,
all right, Jake, we have to speaking of mixtapes, we
have to pick a song off of even if it
kills me for the mixtape.
Speaker 5 (49:15):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (49:17):
I think, both as a closer to the mixtape, so
to speak, because I don't know if we'll be picking
them next week, or.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
We'll still pick a song but they might just go
on the B side instead or something.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
Yeah, as a closer to the notes to the mixtape
Volume one, let's call it. I think it only makes
sense to go with the closing song from this album, which,
as you say, is one of your favorite closers. So
I think even if it kills me, it makes the
most sense.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Unless you're in Japan, in which case is not the
album closer, which is confusing on Spotify because it's not
the it's not the album Closer on Spotify. I don't
think that is. It is it's not the album Closer
on some streaming service because you get the bonus tracks.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Ah, yes, of course, yes, that.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Makes sense to me. Thank you to producer Dylan for
all his great work. Thank you to Justin Pierre for
a lovely album and a lovely discography that means a
lot to me. And thank you to you, Jake.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
Yeah, man, this was pretty close. So I think what
we originally envisioned, just with less alcohol.
Speaker 5 (50:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Yeah, I thought you were talking about the episode.
Speaker 6 (50:22):
At first.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
It's like, oh, no, you might not you might not
have been drinking alcohol.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
But no, this is a good episode too. We're good,
We're good at this.
Speaker 6 (50:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Anyway, we will talk to you guys next week. Please
(51:17):
try to fish
Last night I fell in love without you. I waved
goodbye to that heart of mine, beating solo on your lawn.
Every aching wound will cauterize and bruise in memory of
what we used to call Columbia House party. Jake sad intro, Buddy,
what do you got for us?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
They're a band that we talk about a lot. I've
come up a lot, we've covered before, and they're a
band that I know mean a lot to both of us.
And this album specifically means a lot to Blake, So
I thought that this was going to be appropriate. So
today we're talking about Motion City Soundtrack, two thousand and
seven album, Even if it kills me.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Last night I fell in love with thout you leave
confided to that heart of my eating Solomon your long.
Every one who called.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Hers in memory what we used to call.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Then on time, little tell.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
In memory what we used to call We used to
call it.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Shot value.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Shows and not honest saying as you make.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
Every bruise and memory.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Want we used to call job swell in memory. We
used to call.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
In monnery when we used to come in.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Oh you like moog, you like a synthesizer. Well, welcome
welcome to our album. That song is fell in Love
Without You. Great album opener on an album that has
pretty elite album sequencing, and I will say it is.
I'm gonna give it a waarly. It's my favorite album
closer interesting, so I feel like it is.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Uh actually know that? So that works out quite well.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, I probably should have saved that for later, but
that's all right. Okay. So Motion City Soundtrack are you
know a top five favorite band for me? To the
extent that you know, even if it kills me as
an album and a song and just an idea is
important to me and works its way into one of
my half sleeves. And we did commit this to Memory side,
(03:31):
don't It was our least listened to early episode. You
absolute goons.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You uncultured, uncultured swine.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I was very offended. So as much as this is
Jake's episode to lead, I'm happy he picked it out
of spite. How dare you? How dare you make me
feel bad about commit this to Memory? And Jake, your
connection to Motion City Soundtrack has changed kind of fundamentally
over the course of the last year, if you want
(04:05):
to say it that way, or really, since I think
not to put words in your road, since we really
dove into them for that Commit This Memory episode.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I mean yes to no, Like I was super into
Commit This to Memory when it came out back in
two thousand and five, which we talked about, and then
they kind of went away as my interest in the
genre went away, and then I got back into them
around the time of My Dinosaur Life, which is still
my favorite Motion City album, which we'll talk about at
the end of this episode. This album is kind of
(04:34):
funny for me because for a band that I do
like so much, I never really gave this album. I
would say, to your point about my relationship with Motion
City Soundtrack evolving, it's more that my relationship with this
album specifically evolved because I never really gave this one
the time of day for a really long time. Because
I remember when I was first getting back into them,
(04:56):
and by the band's own a mission, which we'll talk about,
they kind of took as a more a little bit
of a softer approach than the other albums, a little
less raw. So I kind of assumed that this was
sort of their like boring major label album, and that
didn't really sound like the rest of their stuff. And
then going back to it, I was like, oh no,
this is just another good, like peak period Motion City album.
(05:20):
So I felt kind of dumb for not giving this
the album at the time of the day. But in
terms of my relationship with this band evolving, it's not
really that. It's just for some reason. Maybe it's because
of like my taste now being very much tied to
sort of the newer emo pop punk that's rooted in
power pop stuff like your ore Agami, Angels, your Telethons,
(05:41):
You're Meet Me at the Altars, et cetera, and like
none of those bands exist without Motion City Soundtrack as
they are. I think I would say like the quintessential
power pop emo punk band, sort of the our generations
the Cars, which we will talk about also in this episode.
But yeah, I've just listened to them a ton over
(06:05):
the last year in a bit, and they're really great.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They sure are.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Jake.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That sets it up. Well, you know, I led the
last Motion City Soundtrack episode, and I'm not saying that
to say I'm taking this one off, but I think
I've made my fondness for them very very clear in
that episode. If anyone wants to go back and listen
to that one, please do. However, as much as we
chose Commit This to Memory because that was that felt
(06:33):
like the most important and the most information heavy of
the Motion City albums, this is my favorite one. So
I'm happy to be diving into it. We're gonna talk
about Motion City Soundtrack. We're gonna talk about even if
it kills me. We're gonna talk about tattoos after this,
(07:05):
all right, Jake, So you can give us a little
spin back to the early stages of Motion City Soundtrack
if you want, or you could tell these uncultured Jabbronis
who didn't listen to the Commit This the Memory episode
to just go back to that one and listen to it.
You're in charge, So take us where you gotta take us.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I'm gonna pick us up. Basically, right after Commit
This to Memory was released, it was kind of there,
maybe not commercial, but definitely their sort of scene breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah and everything is all Right? Was us scene?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah? Yeah, exactly. They had to like a minor hit
with their first record with Future Freaks Me Out, But
Everything's all Right. I think if you're talking to someone
about emo pop punk songs, that one's probably gonna come
up it's a great song too, but it really sort
of broke them into the scene. So commit the st memory,
as we talked about so many years ago, it feels
(07:59):
like was leaked onto file sharing sites months before it
officially came out on June seventh, two thousand and five.
The music videos, especially the video for Everything Is all Right,
found regular rotation on MTV two, and the band also
did the late night Circuit on Conan and Jimmy Kimmel.
Of course, with success in the mid two thousand's pop
punk scene brought debates on whether or not they were
(08:22):
punk enough or whatever, and as singer Justin Pierre told
Michael Roburst of Westworld the Independent Voice of Denver, not
the Murder Robots Show, he said, really, it doesn't matter.
People can call us a house country dance, thrash, metal, hardcore,
post nasal drip, and it's okay by me. Actually, I'm
kind of waiting for something to bother me. I think
(08:43):
if we became special enough, people may start writing really
mean and awful things. And if that's what happens, so
be it. The band's new success brought them sort of
the fun amenities of being successful. They went to La
to play Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Pierre flew in a
few days early and ended up at Brett Gerwitz's house.
Breck Gerwitz, of course, being the founding guitar player of
(09:05):
Bad Religion and also more importantly, perhaps the founder of
Epitaph Records.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Pull Sleepover yeah really.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Pierre said that he got to stay in a nice bed,
like with pillows designed for astronauts, the ones that fit
your head or body or whatever. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That's how you know you've made it in the scene,
is you get to sleep with a real pillow.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Look. I bought a new pillow and a new mattress recently.
It's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I can imagine what kind of pillows you used pre Cassie.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Oh just pieces of shit, shredded pieces of shit.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, flat stained.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
The group continued to tour constantly in the aftermath of
Mythist Memory, including dates on the two thousand and five
Warped Tour, the inaugural Epitaph Tour with Matchbook Romance and
From First to Last, and of course, the Nintendo Usion
Tour with Fallo Ut Boy, Panic at the Disco, and
the Starting Line, which is basically just a Blake show
(10:07):
this period of the band's career was not super fruitful
and fun, as Justin Pierre's mental health and substance abuse
issues were kicked into high gear, which nearly disbanded the group.
Guitarist and songwriter Joshua Caine told The Vindicator about this period,
I think it's an understatement to say that it's tough
to be tied to Justin's emotions. Justin's an interesting character.
(10:30):
I love him to death, and yeah, his moods can
denote how his show goes, let alone how a record goes.
It's pretty much on the shoulders of our lead singer
how things shape up for us. If he stays clean
and sober, then he's an awesome dude and everything works out,
things are happy and we get to keep doing this.
And if he can't do that, which would suck, it's
a different ballgame. I think a lot of bands don't
have so much having to ride on a singer. It's
(10:52):
just the way it is with us. So that's where
the group was going into the recording of the album
We're going to Talk About Today, which, of course, as
we said, is even if it kills Me, Even it
Kills Me, was recorded in early two thousand and seven
at Stratosphere Studios in Chelsea and Electric Lady Studios in
Greenwich Village. Justin Pierre has said that he consciously tried
(11:15):
to sing softer on this album than in previous releases,
worried he would be blowing out his voice, which, as
I alluded to earlier, was actually what kept me away
from this album initially, not so much him singing softer,
but just at being a less rock, raw album, which
is what I like from my Motion City soundtrack. He
told Jonah Beer in a noisy Rank your Records call
(11:36):
him where he ranked this third in Motion City's discography.
He said, I think I was in my head a
lot when making that album, and I was really concerned
with being able to perform the songs live, so I
learned how to sing them softly and pretty as opposed
to going for it.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
His ranking is wrong, by the way.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Now I've learned to just sing a certain way live
so I can get through an entire tour without blowing
out my voice. But back then I was started being
able to pull it off, so I sort of feel
like I lost a little bit in terms of my performance.
I feel like I could have gotten a little bit
gnarlier vocally in certain songs, but I didn't, and I
think you can best hear this softer approach to Motion
(12:14):
City soundtrack, which is where our opening lyric of the
day came from. This is the song last Night.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I'm still frustrated from last night things happened and halftime,
I'm sick of Evans.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
My partic research is no help, sinking aboutself, afraid.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Of all that. Never a wait, but I'm too tad,
play tad, I'll.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Sufficten, do't over half owned good bys.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
I turned all the startline and flee down the scene.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
She finds her pass to bankok and the wist stop
can't sleep on.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
The came.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Again.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
I love the holls and badic choking back here to
far she as for something and by the messages like
the cleaners emotions outside.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I trailed closely from bed.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
She tries out to cry. She shakes under me to baring.
I can't compare with your debts. This came.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Jake, not to correct you. Sorry, but the opening lyric
came from fell in Love Without You.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It is accusing. I just heard the last night and
I was like, there, it is right.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It is confusing. Because the album opens with last Night
I Fell in Love without You, and then there's a
song three songs later called last Night. It's a it's
a beautiful song.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It is a beautiful song, and it's a band favorite.
I would say it's a favorite song the album of
Joshua Caine and one of Pierre's favorite songs as well.
It originated a little differently than most of the band's songs.
The opening fingerpicking was just Caine kind of noodling in
the studio and the band and heard it, and they
composed the song almost on the spot, they said. Pierre
(15:05):
then wrote the lyrics in one sitting, drawing inspiration from
the movie Memento, but which he told aol Music which
al Music hilarious. Think of that movie, then listen to
the song again, it might make more sense. Joshuaccaine told
The Riverfront Times that last Night is his favorite song
on the album, when he said, it's a really catchy song,
but it's missing a lot of the traditional elements you
(15:26):
would normally put in a pop song, So I feel
like it's kind of a cool take on something traditional.
He said. The song reminds him of both The Cure
and Death Cab for Cutie.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, I don't know about the cure. I definitely can
hear the Death Caab parallel.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's true.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
I mean, it's just the the intentional softness of it,
right is.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, it's very Plans Era Death Cab, I would say, yeah.
Justin Pierre also struggled with writer's block, making this album
something that hadn't happened in the band's career before. In
that Rank of Records interview, he says, Even If It
Kills Me was the first time I had a bit
of writer's block, and I was still finishing a lot
of the lyrics while we were recording the songs, and
(16:05):
that never happened before. Last Night is one of my
favorite songs we've ever done. And I think a lot
of the songs on the record are great, but I
just think it's a little on the poppier side. That's
something gnarlier about a little on the poppier side. There's
something gnarlier about My Dinosaur Life and the New One,
and I think that's missing on Even If It Kills Me.
The New One here was referring to was their twenty
(16:26):
twelve album Go, which is when he did that interview
Even if It kills Me is also notable for having
three producers on the record, two of which are quite
famous and had very different experiences for the band. The
album was originally co produced by Eli Janney of Girls
(16:47):
Against Boys and the late great Adam Schlessinger from Fountains
of Wayne, who sadly passed away during the pandemic. About
working with Schlessinger, Pierre said, Adam works ten times faster
than most people, and he's already onto the next thing
before you have a chance to think about what you did,
so it was kind of like playing catch up. Another
(17:09):
part of the record, however, was recorded by Rick Ocasek
of The Cars legendary needs no introduction musician, But in
case you don't know, other than his work with The Cars,
he's also produced a little album called The Blue Album.
He produced Bad Religions, The Gray Race, which I didn't know.
(17:29):
He produced Guy by Voices Do the Collapse, among others.
He's produced albums by Suicide, an absolute legend in the
music world, and the group was obviously excited to record
with him, specifically for the fact that he produced the
Blue Album, though they were close to not booking him
until he called them back at the last minute. However,
(17:51):
working with him was not exactly what the band was
hoping for. Bassist Matthew Taylor told the Minnesota Star Tribune
that last record we did everything had to be perfect.
We did take after take after take working with Rick.
We'd think the guitars were out of tune, but he'd
be like perfect and as Justin Pierre says, then the
other half of the record was working with Rick Ocasek.
(18:14):
When he showed up. That was probably one of the
weirdest experiences because I think we thought one thing and
found out another. Oftentimes he would be there for a
couple hours a day, and he just confused me the
whole time, and I didn't really know what he was
talking about. I think he's good at picking the right songs,
and he did expand even if It kills Me, from
a little ditty to a full fledged song. But I
(18:35):
think the MVP of that session was his engineer, Chris Shaw,
who he later had mix go. So here is an
example of some of the work that Akasek did on
this record. This is even if it kills me.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
I've got a.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Lot of things A dude toun hour says second Magan list.
Speaker 8 (18:57):
Of things.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I don't ever thing.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
I've waiting here for the last t.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Since only nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
Oh my shit is.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Getting boxes thirty five a little more time to kill.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
It's set.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
I have a little stupid thing. Yeah, you think they are.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Well, but I'm too child to go to sleep tonight
and I'm to leave the too swallow the dreams.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Tonight the first.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
Time the.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Child most had damn sad. I'm not least let not.
Speaker 6 (19:56):
I'm doing a child till the.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Also want to get back on contract.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
In at it takes, even if it kills me.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Like I said, my favorite album Closer, I.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Feel like that's a good thesis song, if that makes sense.
I think a lot of a lot of bands have
like if you listen to one song to know what
we're about, make it this one. And I feel like,
at least lyrically, that's kind of the one that I
would say is Motion Cities.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, And I mean it's not to project too much,
but it's very much about you know, struggling with anxiety
or I mean maybe depression. I don't really know exactly
what what justin what was going through and and that
comes up on a lot of their songs, like I'm
sick of the things I do when I'm nervous, like
(21:03):
cleaning the oven or checking my tires, like that kind
of stuff. But this is the most I think visceral
of those, and I just I love the outro as
a rap on this album. I love the outro as
like you said a thesis statement, I love the outro
as just kind of to get cheesy here for a second,
(21:24):
just as kind of like an affirmation that the line
that gets repeated, I sure want to get back on track,
and I'll do whatever it takes, even if it kills me.
You know this this kind of if you decide that
you can't get back, like like there's two paths you
can kind of take with this stuff, and on the one,
(21:46):
you know, like not to be over dramatic, but you know,
suicide is a real thing, right, Like like killing yourself is,
or even having thoughts or ideations about that is certainly
something that can come up in dealing with the stuff,
especially coming off the Extended Course where he's talking about
feeling helpless for the most part and just trying to
(22:06):
open his eyes and the realization that he'll never get
over it, but he asked to try. So you know this,
I'll do whatever it takes because you know, literally, any
outcome that you could get to is worth it, you know.
I don't know. I love that song. I think it's
a really beautiful song. I think it wraps up one
of my favorite albums just perfectly.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah. I think that's a good way to sum it up.
And I don't know if the band intended it to
be that way, but it definitely became that and I guess.
And I also think it's interesting from the Rick Ocasek
sort of angle that he produced all the singles to
this record. He produced This Is for Real, Last Night,
Calling All Cops, Broken Heart, and even If It Kills Me,
(22:51):
which I think that speaks to his like pop sensibilities,
so to speak. Pierre obviously felt many kinds of ways
after sort of the negative experience with working with him,
especially because one of his hero is a literal legend
and that's not what you expect. He said in that
Rank of Records. For a while, I was really nervous
(23:11):
about saying anything about my experiences of working with Rick.
But it was kind of a bum out because literally
I didn't understand a thing he said. I would do
something terrible and he'd go, it doesn't get any better
than that. And then I'd do something I thought was
great and he'd be like, do it again. So I
think he was just playing some sort of head game
with me or us the whole time. I just don't
know what happened during the experience. It didn't make any sense.
(23:35):
I thought the song sounded weird and confusing. I didn't
know what was going on. We've recorded a bunch of
stuff and never really got to listen to it, and
then Chris Shaw went away for a few days, and
I think he spent a lot of time editing, picked
the best vocal takes and put it all together. So
when we got back it sounded amazing, which I think
is interesting. On your point about lyrically the album and
(23:57):
the song, even it kills me, especially the album's not
quite as dark or as grim I would say, as
you commit this to memory, but it's still very much
in tune with their as you said, Pierre's inward looking
self analysis, so to speak. Joshua Caine told The Riverfront
Times about Comit This to Memory that Justin was in
(24:19):
such a bad state of mind when he wrote our
last album that it turned out to be a really
grim record, whereas this record is more about being lonely
and less about being self loathing. I also think this
is a really impactful record for a lot of those reasons.
I know it's huge for you in that way, Blake,
And as Mary Anne Elouise wrote in a retrospective article
(24:40):
about the album's tenth anniversary for Vice, she said, I
read the album as a promise to recover, even if
it was the last thing Pierre did. I had previously
thought recovery meant being entirely better, but that album taught
me that I would perhaps never be quite right, that
I would always be obsessive and neurotic and traumatized. And
this was not lost on Justin Pierre, who told the
(25:02):
Off the Record podcast, I may or may not be pipolar,
have crippling panic attacks and exhausting OCD. I may or
may not be an alcoholic. I made a decision to
turn my life around and set about it slowly, day
after day, step by grueling step, over the course of
several years, which I think probably speaks to the I
don't want to say broader appeal because that makes it
(25:24):
sound like it was done for commercial purposes, And I
don't want to give that impression, but I do think
this album is one that really resonates with fans of
this band. Like I know, if you watch live videos
of them, people go fucking nuts for the songs off
this record.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah. Yeah, And I think you know, like that essay
laid out and like justin came to terms with that.
You know, the kind of acceptance of having to do
the work even if there's not like a clear solution
or finish line is a really important lesson and it
takes a while, and you know, as someone who does therapy,
it can be kind of frustrating to you know, hey,
(26:01):
maybe four sectionons later you're back talking about the same thing.
But that's important stuff, and uh, you know Motion City
can can help you work through it a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah. And I think they're I think they're a band.
I don't want to say ahead of their time for
that because I obviously they're not the first band to
talk to these kind of things.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
No, but his songwriting is so clever, Like it's very
clever and accessible. He has a bit of that like
Wonder Years to Dan Campbell to him where like it's
very specific the leaders he chooses, and like we went
into the example in the Commit to Memory episode about
how he chose the names Max and core Line for
(26:38):
a song, and like, you don't have a friend's named
maxic core Line, but that doesn't really matter, or like
your neuroses are maybe not cleaning the oven or checking
the tires. But like all of these things, you know,
he gets specific about. But I do think the specificity
to make the song interesting without losing the accessibility and
(27:02):
the relatability is something that kind of separates a lot
of songwriters writing about this stuff, and it's you know,
it's one of the reasons that I'm so attached to
bands like Motion City Soundtrack in the Wonder Years, whereas
you know, I don't know, like to use another example,
the Hotel Year is a band that I really like,
(27:22):
and their lyrics are very like poetic and you know,
the pros is great and it's clear they read a
lot of Mary Oliver and stuff, but there's not that
same level of relatability at least on the you know,
the first layer or two. You you really gotta kind
of engage and think about it. So I don't know,
I think It's always been a huge strength of Justin Pierre,
(27:43):
and you know the fact that he wasn't conscious of
it as he was writing this stuff, and it's only
come out in kind of retrospective interviews that he was
able to navigate that I think makes a lot of sense,
because I don't think you can, like, I don't think
that level of relatability can be inal, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah, I think that's fair, and I also think it's
maybe when I maybe by ahead of their time, what
I really meant was influential because I was having this
thought the other day. I was walking around listening to
the Oregammy Angel record and I was thinking about how
I wish when I was younger there was a band
that was like because they're so positive in their like
(28:23):
emo rock music, and I was like, oh, I wish
there was a band that like gave that message. And
I'm sure there was, but like, for argument's sake, I
wish there was a band that gave that message to
me when I was the age that like, you listened
to this kind of music and it was kind of like, well,
Motion City was right there, and I don't know if
I really took in their lyrics as much when I
was younger, but going back now, I was like, oh,
make this is like an I think this band is
(28:47):
more important than they get credit for to not put
too much weight on them. But I think that's how
I feel about it.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, I think that's fair. I should we play another song?
I want to hear another song.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yeah, yeah, all right, So the other song we're gonna
play from this album is sort of a Columbia house
party All Star Game of a song. This is one
of the band's few overtly political songs, which Pierre say
has written from an apathetic point of view. He told
a well music, I try not to be too heavy handed.
It's just kind of a laundry list of things that
(29:20):
bum me out. And the reason I say this is
a CHP all star game is This song features Max
Beamis of Say Anything, Rachel Minton of Zoloft, The Rock
and Roll Destroyer, and Sean Harris of The Matches. This
is Hello, Helicopter hellollicarlater a.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
But he's rest emotion five not well, it's kill be
killed in one. He will get the best of them.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Caulter be my friend?
Speaker 8 (30:02):
Will you take me away? O?
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Hell cop to have you heard the news.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
Swimming food, garbage, dumped back bills.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
There s no wild card you had show down.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
So let somebody else our cure.
Speaker 7 (30:36):
Of for.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
I'm not saying anything you haven't heard before.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I'm just trying to understand.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
The where we are. Oh hell cop to ry you stand.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
But he's rest and marsh fine, Well.
Speaker 6 (31:08):
That's killed, be killed in one.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
They will get the best of them.
Speaker 6 (31:16):
Hell character, I lesson.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
No one gives a shit about the things they do.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Maybe they were ahead of their time. Anyway, We're gonna
jump a little bit to release this album because we
have other things to talk about today.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, we're gonna do a little quantum leap, even.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
If it kills me. Was intended to be the album
that was going to launch the band into music stardom
and help them achieve a quote follow up boy like success.
Joshuacain told The Vindicator, Ultimately, I don't think we care
that much. We do our thing and people like it
or they don't. The album, however, didn't sell as well
as the band and likely their label had hoped. I
(32:01):
forgot to mention that before this album came out, the
band signed to Columbia Records the major label. Most of
the album sales are blamed sort of just on it
being two thousand and seven and kind of around the
time where the music industry really tanked. The album failed
to go gold, and none of the singles really found
success on radio or MTV. However, it still represented a
(32:23):
bunch of career best for the band. It pickedd at
number sixteen on the Billboard two hundred and number one
on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart. It debuted with thirty
three thousand sales, which is double the first week of
sales of Commit This Memory, Broken Heart and This Is
for Real, two songs we didn't really talk about were
the singles. I only wanted to mention this because I
(32:44):
learned that This Is for Real's single includes a B
side that's a cover of Plymouth Rock by Lifter Puller,
which I didn't know until I was researching. And I
now must find that CD single and purchase it, even
though I have no way to play it. It had
to was also released in early two thousand and eight
as a third single. The album was mostly well received,
(33:07):
received favorable ratings from Spin in the New York Times
three out of five from Associated Press three out of
five from Blender, eighty three percent from Absolute Punk, and
six out of ten from Pop Matters. The New York
Times review said that together they made an album that
sounds like one long sugar rush, and so long as
the rush lasts, it sounds pretty great. They also praised
Justin Pierre, saying he never sounds better than when he's
(33:30):
rushing from an overwritten verse into a perfectly simple refrain.
Andy Greenwald reviewed this for Blender, saying every generation needs
a Weezer, and Motion City soundtrack is the Weezer of Emo,
which I don't totally know what that means, but I
like it.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
I'm going to push back on every generation needing Weezer.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I mean, in two thousand and seven, I think you
can make the argument. Despite the relative success of the record,
it also sort of marked the begin of what could
be called the beginning of the end of the band,
or at least as they were, even though they would
release three more albums. Joshua Cain told The Alternative in
twenty twenty, there was a sense of I feel the
(34:13):
cracks in the ship. I can feel it leaking. When
you have a band and things start happening like they
did for us, and being unwarped, and the momentum, it's
like a drug. It feels good. It feels good to
feel like it's happening. But somewhere in there it got
real weird. For a long time, the stuff we went
through as a band, it was just a lot for
us to go through and never really unpack or process.
(34:34):
That's the biggest realization as we got away from it.
I feel like there were years there where I was
on stage thinking about just going home, and I never
told anybody that, thinking I'm not enjoying the part that
I'm supposed to enjoy anymore. And if you are a
fan of this band, I highly recommend tracking down that
interview in The Alternative with Joshua Cain and Justin Pierre.
It's super open and honest and really interesting. I feel
(34:57):
like this band should check it out, all.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Right, Jake. So, the band did not break up, even though,
as you mentioned, there was a little bit of the
signs of fracturing or at least fatigue, and instead they
continued on and they made three more albums to date,
including Your Favorite and one of Kerrang's fifty one Greatest
Punk Albums Ever, coming in at number eighteen. We're gonna
(35:20):
talk about my Dinosaur Life. Then we're gonna get personal
after this, all right, Jake, So My Dinosaur Life comes
(35:41):
out in twenty ten. It is my commuting back and
forth from Kitchener to Toronto when I was in a
I guess that's not long distance relationship but semi distance distanced.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, I would say it's distance.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
But this is this is the the Motion City Soundtrack
album for you.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah, this one I think I got. As I said
last week and sort of talked about earlier, this was
a period of time where reviews very much influenced the
kind of music I listened to, and I don't I
truly don't remember how I came across it, but I
noticed that the AV Club gave it an A and
at the time, it was kind of weird to see
(36:26):
quote unquote hipster publications give those kind of high scores
to emo records. So I was like, I should check
this out, and I did, and I loved it, and
I still love it. It's one of my favorite like
pop punk, emo albums, or just albums in general. I
really like this album. I love the lyrics. It's also
sort of a It's my album of walking around after
(36:49):
being dumped by my friend in Montreal.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Planet.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah, I have a very clear memory of listening to
that song like the day after and being like, oh no. Maybe.
One of the reasons this album is so good is
they reunited with commit This to Memory producer and Blink
twenty two person Mark Hoppus to maybe the album. Maybe
you've heard of him? I think it rules, they felt.
(37:14):
The band felt that recording with Hoppus was a little
looser than the first time and that they had a
lot more fun. Uh, And then they would also subsequently
join Blink twenty two on tour for Blink's twenty ten
reunion tour. I was kind of saying, how I like
my Motion City soundtrack a little rocky or a little
rar and this album definitely gives that, especially on this
song this is Disappear to.
Speaker 9 (37:36):
The Deep, then to the hot Line Home Tratch, Little
Deep Drafting Medication, also down a'm Pty Collapsibstay Shadowy three,
the Submassassination.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Clops around here. Yes he was on the waiting list.
Speaker 6 (38:00):
You win, I'm something you secret.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
Y, you disopere any time I want to.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
Time, I feel you shuffle through my skin.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
I wat you tell you.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
How I can't be.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
You shut up there.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
I can disappear anytime I want.
Speaker 7 (38:43):
To time I feel you shovel through Muskin, I am
with you till the end.
Speaker 6 (38:53):
I should bet your house when it sounds to higher.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Satin man, I really think, I mean, I think he's
(39:27):
a talented singer, like a talented vocalist anyway, but I
really think my dinosaur life. Like there are a couple
of tracks on this album where he really stretches it
in a good way and you can see, you know
that he's he's more than the you know, kind of
power pop. I mean, this is this is more of
a power pop album, but you get what I'm saying,
(39:47):
Like even even even the verses in that one, and
like he's breathless getting to the choruses. Young on some
of the songs on this album, he rules.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
He does a lot of what we talked about in
our Cursive episode with Tim Kasher, how they write too
many lyrics for the timber of the verse and they
just sort of have to figure out how to fit
them in and they do, and then it's like but
that like it being so packed in I think is
what makes them so impactful, and it gives a.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Real reading one of my articles. Yeah, I mean, that's
just many words here.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
That's why you're the best fan. No, that's not that,
ain't it well? This ain't it for?
Speaker 5 (40:28):
This?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
Wasn't it for Emergency Soundtrack. They were dropped by Columbia
after the release of My Diosaur Life, with Justin Pierre
saying to spin I guess we didn't do as well
as they hoped or expected to, and we felt that
having all their resources at our disposal would perhaps propel
us into another dimension. But what we are what we are,
regardless of what label or machine is behind us. We
did exceptionally well, though, if you want to look at
(40:49):
it strictly based on sales numbers in today's climate. The
band would follow that. They released Go in twenty twelve
and Panic Stations in twenty fifteen, neither of which I
like that much. I don't know about you. There's a
couple of good tracks, but nothing that.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Yeah, there's a big drop off after the first four albums.
His solo stuff is okay, but not Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
I think it's telling that on their twenty twenty reunion
tour they only played songs from the first four and
they didn't play a single song from Go where panic
stations speaking of. They announced their breakup in March of
twenty sixteen, releasing a statement saying we have no idea
what the future holds, but for now we are done.
Justin Pierre told the Minnesota Star Tribune, We've done this
(41:31):
one thing constantly for so many years, NonStop. We all
wanted to have something else to look forward to in
our lives. They embarked on a farewell tour, concluding with
the show at the Metro in Chicago, where they played
thirty six songs. Who has sold out crowd? As You Said?
Justin Pierre released his solo album In the Drink in
twenty eighteen, which was co produced by himself and Joshua Caine,
(41:54):
and then in June of twenty eighteen, the band announced
that they were reforming. Their reunion tour, as I Said,
took place in twenty twenty, called the Don't Call It
a Comeback tour. They had also planned to go to
the UK to play the Slam Dunk Festival, but that
was unfortunately scuttled by the COVID pandemic. They released three
songs in twenty twenty. The first was a cover of
(42:15):
Fountains of Wayne a Dip in the Ocean for a
tribute to Adam Schlessinger, who tragically died due to COVID.
They also released a previously unreleased song, Crooked Ways, which
was apparently intended for release on one of those weirdly
Good Twilight soundtracks but never made it, and they also
released a cover of Ed Akerson's Wired Weird for a
(42:36):
tribute album to him, who passed away in twenty nineteen.
Akerson produced Go. Joshua Caine has said there's no future
plans for new music, but as Justin Pierre told The
Alternative in that interview, I mentioned I've said this before, Josh,
Matt and I we've sent bad ideas back and forth
intermittently since two thousand and six. There's music to be made.
I feel that there are songs that I'm like, fuck,
(42:57):
this could be amazing. I've got this diddy that perfect
for me. I found I'm much more concept driven. I
can't write something unless I've got this big, ridiculous plan.
We do have a lot of songs, and I think
we could put this thing together if we could all
get on the same page. But with the pandemic dot
dot dot, and that's where we leave them.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
That is where we leave them. As sirens go outside
my window and we get the bad take alarm. So
I guess it's time for some bad takes or some
bad and regrettable tattoos.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Maybe.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Yeah, let's talk tattoos.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
So back in the commit This to the Memory episode,
I revealed that the so I have two half sleeves,
so the top of each arm is covered. I have
one tattoo on each forum and one on my back.
Only a couple of those, like, only the one half
sleeve is really music related, and there are no direct references.
(43:54):
It's all just kind of inspired by stuff around certain
bands or certain moments that mean a lot to me. However,
the words even if it kills me are the only
words I have in any of my tattoos, So obviously
this album and that sentiment mean a lot to me. Jake,
you have some music related tattoos as well.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yeah, I have a single music testo. I have a
single tattoo which is a music tattoo. I have the
Stay Positive logo from the Old Steady record from two
thousand and eight. I got it because I was working
one summer at university at a charity, and all the
people around me were very positive people. And I was
(44:38):
twenty one years old and let's say, not the most
positive person in the world. And I decided that was
going to be my new outlook on life. So I
don't get my favorite band's positivity logo tattooed on me.
I don't know if the positivity thing really stuck over
the next decade, but I go through fits and starts
of enjoying having this tattoo. I would say someday I'm
(45:00):
like yeah, and like, boy, that's on my arm.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the way it goes
with tattoos.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Right exactly. That's the tattoos you get when you're twenty.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yeah, I mean I got mine. I think I only
have one of mine when I was twenty and the
rest have kind of been pieced together over time. So
that sleeve that I have is I mean, it's kind
of just like a personal sleeve. Like there are some
nods to my brothers and some friends and stuff like that. Again, nothing,
nothing discrete and explicit in part because like, you know,
(45:29):
if I was getting tattoos when I was eighteen or twenty, like,
I'd probably have some brand new tattoos now that I
would really regret, so you want that plausible deniability if
anyone gets canceled. But also just like I just think
it's more It was more interesting for me going through
the process of with my tattoo artists of what kind
(45:50):
of I mean mostly I just wanted a half sleeve
because I had one on the other arm. You know,
what kind of art could we create using these influences
so within mind and there's even if it kills me
text on a flaming typewriter as the page burns.
Speaker 5 (46:06):
I do have.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I have this like Luchador guy as part of that sleeve,
and it's more of a thing for my brother and
inspired by Reneemergreed, but part of the idea came for me.
Funeral for a Friend, one of their albums has an
album cover based heavily on his work, and I just
(46:29):
love the idea of the covered face series. There is
a skull hand reaching across a heart that is very
Alkaline trio. There are kind of blue, green and pink
accents that are the colors from the Blank Woid eighty
two self titled and there is a mixtape labeled Summer
five Mix, which would include from Under the Court Tree,
(46:51):
commit This to memory a fever you can't sweat out,
Crimson almost here from the Academy is So you get
a lot of stuff. I'm probably missing a couple because
I can only see so much of my arm at
once without getting up and going and looking in the mirror.
But yeah, I kind of laid out a bunch of
stuff like that and went through it with my my
artists between sessions and stuff, and I don't know, I feel.
Speaker 8 (47:14):
Good about it.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
I like the way it looks. It's nice and bright.
I don't like explaining every single one of those things.
So when someone asks me what the tattoo means, my
favorite response is that I it means I like tattoos,
which is me being a jerk. But you know, I
don't do that often. So I feel like I get
some I get a couple, I get a couple of freebies.
(47:35):
Would you ever get another band tattoo or like music
inspired tattoo, jake or a tattoo in general?
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Yeah, I definitely have. I've had a lot of sort
of ideas over the years. A lot of it is
honestly complicated by the fact of what I do for
work in that right. Covering tattoos when you're not famous
is a pain in the ass because you have to
use a lot of makeup that is just take it.
Just I feel bad, like I don't want to hold
up the makeup artist for like taking twenty minutes to
(48:01):
cover some shitty thing I got on my arm when
I was twenty and I'm not famous enough for them
to digitally remove my tattoos. But yeah, I have a
few ideas of things that I wanted to get that
I've never really pulled the trigger on. I do have
a standing bet with some people that have the Blue
Jays every won the World Series, I have to get
the logo tattooed on me somewhere. I don't know if
(48:22):
that still stands because it was in twenty fifteen, but yeah,
I think I'm definitely I would. I think the answer
is I would like to get more tattoos, but I'm
reluctant for reasons that have nothing to do with the
tattoos themselves.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
Yeah, I hit the critical threshold of like it doesn't
really matter right now anymore. Yeah, like short of it
coming up above the neck line on my shirt, you
can't like I could wear a long sleeve and you
can't tell. But like, if I'm in a T shirt,
you're gonna be able to see them. And I don't
have a real job, so that shouldn't really matter, all right, man,
(48:57):
Well maybe we'll get a Columbia House pretty tattoo, although
our Columbia party logo is already very similar to the
two that's whoever we have, so it's uh, that's fine. Yeah,
all right, Jake, we have to speaking of mixtapes, we
have to pick a song off of even if it
kills me for the mixtape.
Speaker 5 (49:15):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (49:17):
I think, both as a closer to the mixtape, so
to speak, because I don't know if we'll be picking
them next week, or.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
We'll still pick a song but they might just go
on the B side instead or something.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
Yeah, as a closer to the notes to the mixtape
Volume one, let's call it. I think it only makes
sense to go with the closing song from this album, which,
as you say, is one of your favorite closers. So
I think even if it kills me, it makes the
most sense.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Unless you're in Japan, in which case is not the
album closer, which is confusing on Spotify because it's not
the it's not the album Closer on Spotify. I don't
think that is. It is it's not the album Closer
on some streaming service because you get the bonus tracks.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Ah, yes, of course, yes, that.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Makes sense to me. Thank you to producer Dylan for
all his great work. Thank you to Justin Pierre for
a lovely album and a lovely discography that means a
lot to me. And thank you to you, Jake.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
Yeah, man, this was pretty close. So I think what
we originally envisioned, just with less alcohol.
Speaker 5 (50:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Yeah, I thought you were talking about the episode.
Speaker 6 (50:22):
At first.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
It's like, oh, no, you might not you might not
have been drinking alcohol.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
But no, this is a good episode too. We're good,
We're good at this.
Speaker 6 (50:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Anyway, we will talk to you guys next week. Please
(51:17):
try to fish
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