All you have to do to know that the members of Motion City Soundtrack have been around each other as much as any married couple over the past five years is to witness sharp exchanges like this:
Josh: “We feel like we’re lucky. We don’t feel like we deserve anything.”
Justin: “We were talking about the fact that we’re lucky we’ve gotten far enough to be putting out our third record.”
Josh: “Our goals for the longest time were just to be able to pay our bills and headline (Minneapolis club) First Avenue. Now, it’s like, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a gold record,’ and it seems ridiculous that could even be a goal. But every record we’ve released has doubled the sales. So double of our last one would be gold (500,000 copies sold).”
Jesse: “Every record has doubled. All two of them.”
In the past five years, the loud and melodic pop/punk quintet made up of singer/guitarist Justin Pierre, guitarist Josh Cain, keyboardist Jesse Johnson, bassist Matt Taylor and drummer Tony Thaxton has quietly become the biggest rock band from Minneapolis
All signs point to MCS getting even bigger now with its third album, “Even If It Kills Me,” which came out Sept. 18 on Epitaph Records.
The first video from the album, for the weepy rocker “Broken Heart,” premiered on MTV’s “Total Request Live” despite a low-budget quality. The next video, for the Weezer-ish “This Is for Real,” should do even better since its director filmed hit clips by the Plain White T’s and Death Cab for Cutie.
The band members recently recalled the successes and challenges in their own marriage.
Jesse: “There are bands that have been signed for one week and blow up.”
Josh: “Do you mean Panic! at the Disco? It happens, that’s a fact. We just weren’t one of those amazing instances, so we hit the pavement instead.”
Jesse: “Which was fine. We were willing to literally go broke trying to do this. A lot of other bands get to that scare point and break down and get a job. We were at that point in December (2002) right before we got signed. We were like, ‘Is this it?’ We couldn’t pay our bills. I’d sold all my other musical instruments.”
Josh: “There were even many months after we signed to Epitaph when we struggled. We were all living on like a $500 a month stipend. Which is tough when your rent is $700.”
Motion City Soundtrack is clearly doing better. The band isn’t rich; it’s “comfortable.” Its second album, 2005’s “Commit This to Memory,” sold close to 250,000 copies, but a lot of money was lost to promotional costs and bootlegging. Guesses are that 30,000-plus copies of the CD were illegally leaked on the Internet before it went on sale.
Touring has unquestionably been the band’s main vehicle.
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“They were patient and worked their way up, stage by stage,” said Kevin Lyman, founder and producer of the Warped Tour, where MCS ascended over several summers.
Lyman recalled how the guys regularly met with fans on tour and showed “that good Midwestern work ethic that they probably learned from their parents.
“It seemed like they had a plan and didn’t think it had to happen overnight. They snuck up on becoming leaders of this scene vs. pushing it down everyone’s throats.”
Motion City Soundtrack
When: 7 p.m. Dec. 15; 6 p.m. Dec. 16
Where: House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn St.
Price: $23.50-$25.50 at 312-559-1212