ShareThisJoshua Cain was too young to see The Replacements, Husker Du and Soul Asylum in their prime, but the guitarist for pop-rock band Motion City Soundtrack is old enough to take pride in his hometown Minneapolis scene.
He even thought of his band as one of the hopes for filling that void when those classic post-punk bands moved on.
"It's a huge thing for me. I have a lot of pride in Minneapolis, even though it's cold as (hell) right now as I walk outside," he says in a phone interview. "When I was growing up, I used to go to an all-ages show every Sunday and see a ton of local bands like Walt Mink and Soul Asylum. It influenced me as a musician to play a certain way. In the late '90s and early 2000s, that whole scene had dried up and it really bummed me out, so I was really happy to be in a band and be starting a semi-successful career going into the 2000s to try to revitalize things here, be a part of it."
Influenced by such bands as Weezer and blink-182, Motion City Soundtrack formed in 1997 and self-released its debut, "I Am the Movie," in 2002. A year later, the album was re-released by Epitaph and Motion City was on its way. After touring with blink in 2004, blink bassist Mark Hoppus produced Motion City's second album, and while it wasn't the record that broke the Minneapolis band, it was a step forward.
The breakthrough came in 2007 with "Even If It Kills Me," a joint production between Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Eli Janney (Girls Against Boys) and Ric Ocasek (The Cars) that hit No. 16 on Billboard and was praised as sounding like "one long sugar rush" and "the Weezer of emo."
That description could apply as well to the band's new album, "My Dinosaur Life," which won't be confused with any kind of grand musical experiment, but is winning fans and critics for its bubbly energy and catchy hooks, not to mention the urgent delivery and clever wordplay of frontman Justin Pierre.
For the new album, Motion City returned to the blink bassist for production without worrying about blink-182 rubbing off too much.
"I don't worry about sounding like them because I just don't think we do," Cain says. "We have similar bands that we like. Mark is a huge fan of Dinosaur Jr. and Ned's Atomic Dustbin. He grew up on a lot of the same music that I did. If there are any similarities, I think that's where it's coming from. We don't have to worry about people sayin', 'Oh, it's just a blink ripoff!' The benefit of working with Mark is he's made a lot of records and he's been through the system. He's seen how the music world's changed. He brings that knowledge of what not to worry, what to worry about."
Going in, the band and producer were all on the same page about the approach.
"We had a lot of conversations about wanting to make just a rock record," the guitarist says. "We started writing some songs and thought, 'These are some really good, dark rock songs that we enjoy.' We wanted to feel like it was a solid rock record and not worry about loading it with so-called hits. We've worried about that at times, but this time we were able to shake that, and that's a big step for our band."
Asked about how hard it is to sound fresh in this genre, he says, "I don't know. What genre are we in?"
Somewhere between power-pop and pop-punk, I say. "You're certainly not metal."
"Right," he says with a laugh. "I've never really worried about genre. Whenever we're on tour and trying to fit the right bands for us, what we've found is a lot of things for us, from heavier bands to pop-driven bands. I feel like we cross a lot of genres."
Speaking of touring packages, Motion City Soundtrack had a good one going with Weezer in December until Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo ended up cracking his ribs in a bus accident just a few dates in the tour. It was disappointing for a number of reasons, not the least of which was not getting many chances to see Weezer. The first night, in Chicago, Motion City had to move its bus for the Weezer semis. The next night, in Milwaukee, Motion City had to leave right after its set for a college show on the East Coast. Then, in Toronto, a few of the Motion City guys went to see the band Phoenix, thinking they could see Weezer in Boston.
"So, a few of our members never even got to see Weezer," says the Motion City guitarist, who hadn't seen them since 1995. "But they treated us really well. I'm bummed it got cut short, and I'm glad no one got too seriously hurt."
Motion City Soundtrack is on the road now with Set Your Goals and This Providence, and will back this summer on the Warped Tour. The Minneapolis band knows what to expect from that whole scene.
"It's pretty much split down the middle within our band how they feel about the tour," Cain says. "Obviously, we all love it because it's a great opportunity. It's just a tough tour being out in the sun and everyone's put on the same level real quick. It's hot and it's gross. But other than that, a lot of people come out who would not normally get to go to shows, especially young people you can't tap. It's an amazing thing to get that audience."
(Contact Scott Mervis at smervis(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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