Motion City Soundtrack is a pop-punk, indie band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have released two albums, both on Epitaph Records. Their newest album, Commit This to Memory, was released on June 7, 2005.
The band consists of: Justin Pierre - Vocals, Guitars Matthew Taylor - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals Jesse Johnson - Moog Synthesizer, Keyboards Joshua Cain - Guitars, Backing Vocals Tony Thaxton - Drums, Percussion
Motion City Soundtrack formed in Minneapolis in 1999. They released a number of EPs and gained a sizable following before recording their first full-length album, I Am the Movie.
I Am the Movie was self-released twice in 2002 and was quickly picked up by Epitaph Records for a nationwide release.
Backed by the success of their first album, Motion City Soundtrack toured for quite some time and in 2003 released the third track on I Am the Movie, "The Future Freaks Me Out", as their first single. The single's insanely catchy chorus and its memorable video made it a massive hit and brought the previously unknown band their first step toward fame. According to the band's official Web site, the song's success was surprising, as the band "wrote the song in mere hours and it almost didn't even make it onto their debut."
A second single was released later that year, "My Favorite Accident", with a similarly quirky but also more dramatic video.
In 2004, Motion City Soundtrack went on tour throughout Europe and Japan with pop-punk stars blink-182. During the tour, Mark Hoppus, the bassist for blink-182, mentioned to the members of Motion City Soundtrack that he was considering in pursuing work in record production when his band went on hiatus later in the year. The comment was passed off more or less as a joke at first, but on the last day of the bands' tour, Motion City Soundtrack's singer Justin Pierre asked Hoppus if he would be interested in producing their next record. Hoppus agreed eagerly.
