July 8, 2006
Motion City Soundtrack – Matt Taylor

C = Cath, M = Matt

C: For the record, can you state your name and what you do in the band?
M: My name is Matt and I play the bass, sometimes sing, sometimes tell really bad jokes.

C: You guys played the Warped Tour last year. How have things changed for you, as a band, since then?
M: We’re playing the main stage this year, which is a big difference. Last year we would play slightly smaller stages, and some days you’d have a great crowd, and some days it wouldn’t be as big. The main stage seems to attract a genuine interested crowd. They kind of hang out there all day and look at all the bands, which is good. The record’s been out another year, so that obviously makes a big difference. That many people more may have your record. There’s a lot more people out in full force singing.

C: What are your plans for after Warped is done with?
M: We’re going to the UK and Europe for about three or three and a half weeks. We’re doing a headlining tour over there. We’re taking Ok Go with us, and we’re going to have fun. It’s going to be awesome. We want to be recording this fall too. We just have to write a lot of songs before then.
C: Do you have any written so far?
M: We have many, many, many ideas, and we have two or three songs that are actually structured, but they don’t really have set vocals yet or anything. It’s very early.

C: Last month you re-released ‘Commit This To Memory’ with a bonus DVD. Why did you decide to re-release it, as opposed to coming out with a music DVD later on, separate from the CD?
M: That’s a good question. The label actually approached us about the idea. We thought it would be a cool way to get all the footage that we have and the extra song on a CD. I don’t know, we just kind of went that route rather than doing just the music DVD.
C: I haven’t had the chance to see it yet, but is it shorter than a regular music DVD?
M: No, it’s the same, if not longer. It’s got a full concert, and two or three hours of crazy, ridiculous things.

C: If you could tour with any one band, still together or not, who would it be and why?
M: If I was going to tour with a band that was not together, I would probably say Refused. Just because uh…
C: Because they’re Refused!
M: Yea, no explanation needed, right? Just the energy and craziness every night of watching them on stage would be a lot of fun, I think. And I’m a huge Radiohead fan. To tour with them would make no sense, but if I could watch them every night - or Nine Inch Nails! I’d like to watch them every night, too. I just saw them and they blew me away. I’ve never seen anything like it, so that would be fun.

C: In the music video for ‘Hold Me Down’, you had a bunch of kids throwing snowballs at you. What was the inspiration behind that?
M: Well, if you go backwards and look at all of our videos, they’re a little goofy. We just like to have fun with things and not be too serious. The ‘Hold Me Down’ video is pretty serious, and we just wanted a really pretty video to go with the song. But then, of course, we had to throw in something that catches you off guard. We thought kids throwing snowballs in our faces out of nowhere would be funny.
C: Who came up with that idea?
M: It was actually the director, Matt M. He submitted a treatment, and we went with it.
C: Yea, my friend thought there had to be some story behind it.
M: Nope, the video has no story. The song has the story and the video’s the visual, basically.

C: Are there any questions you are sick of being asked?
M: It’s not that I’m sick of it, it’s just that you get the same question all the time and you’re like “Oh”. I feel bad because I don’t have a creative answer anymore. It feels like I’m saying the same thing, but a lot of times people will say, “So you did _____, what was that like?”. It’s a very open ended thing like, “You worked with Mark Hoppus, what was that like?” and we just think that’s funny. It makes sense, it’s a good question because people want to know, but we get that a lot.

C: If you had the chance to interview your biggest musical influence, who would it be, and what’s one question you’d ask them?
M: That’s a humdinger of a question… Yes, I just said humdinger. I feel kind of generic, but Thom Yorke. He’s probably my favorite, I love his voice. I guess I would just ask him what he was like as a kid and what got him into playing music. I know I was into sports and then all the sudden I was like, “No. This is not me. I’m not aggressive, I’m not tough, and I don’t like competition”. So, I picked up a guitar. So yea, I guess just how did you get involved in music and was there one specific thing that made you realize.

C: What do you hope to have accomplished by the time your band decides to stop playing music?
M: I’ve really accomplished much more than I thought I would when I started out, so I’m happy in that respect. But, if I could… I know this sounds kind of materialistic, but I’d love to have a gold record hanging on my wall. Just so when I’m old I can be like, “That’s what I did. That’s why I spent x amount of years on the road and stayed away from my family all that time”.

C: If you could choose any animal to be Motion City Soundtrack’s mascot, what would it be and why?
M: That’s tough because we already kind of have one by default, because of that video. The pink bunny.
C: But now you have the option to choose one!
M: Yeah. Maybe a turtle, because it likes to hide and it’s really slow. We’re always late, so maybe a turtle would be good because we’re not very punctual. We’re always late to our signings. People are standing there and we’re like, “Sorry!”. So probably a turtle.

C: That was my last question. Do you have any closing statements?
M: Uh, bye? Thank you!