Justin Pierre sounds flustered on the other end of the line at the start of his phone interview with Nova. And it’s no wonder – the Motion City Soundtrack frontman interrupted a pretty successful shopping trip in central Minnesota to chat to us. “I was out shopping and I got a reminder email that I had interviews today so I was running to find an alley that’s not too windy – because it’s winter and it’s cold here."
Pierre, the singer, guitarist, and frontman of the Minneapolis-based pop punk quintet, is gearing up to head Down Under with his clan for their second Australian Soundwave appearance. With a brand new record hitting shelves on Friday, there's a lot of buzz surronding the group at the moment -- and a heap of anticipation to see what they'll unleash on fans.
“This album’s going to be it’s a barn-stormer,” Pierre saying, laughing.” I don’t know why I said that and don’t even know what that means.”
“There was a lot of calculation that went into it the last record and on this record there’s none of that. It’s sort of like going back to how we used to write songs. We just wrote whatever came to us and did it without thinking. It just feels like fun –pure unadulterated fun.”
Pierre says this time around, they launched into the creative and recording process of their fourth studio album with a much greater sense of freedom than ever before which is an ironic turn of events. Ordinarily, moving from an indie like Epitaph to a major like Colombia would have the opposite effect on a band.
“From an artistic standpoint (we ) joke about how we got off Epitaph and made the most punk record of our career so far. We just kind of did what we wanted and we gave it to the label and they said it’s awesome."
In less than six weeks, Aussie fans will get the full impact of what these boys have been up to. As excited as Pierre is to play again for Aussie crowds, he says he’s also pumped to see some his all-time favourite bands play before and after him.
“I’m super excited for Sunny Day Real Estate – that’s the top, top, top, and next is Faith No More. I’m a huge fan and loved them growing up, and never got to see them. Angel Dust still holds up as one of my favourite records. And the Get up Kids because they’re back and they were really awesome, plus The Weakerthans, and I never got to see Jane’s Addiction. That will be cool.”
In addition to Soundwave, the band’s also pegged to share some sideshow with Sunny Day Real Estate – one of music's longest-standing emo outfits. Despite being in the business for close to 13 years now, Pierre is struggling, even now, to contain his excitement. “I’m going to be so nervous and excited for Sunny Day that I don’t know what I’m going to do. While we're playing I may just freak out (laughs)."
As Pierre spends time working up a plan of attack on the best way to pluck up the courage to rub shoulders with his music idols, fans Down Under will be warming up to what's tipped to be one hell of a performance.“It’s going to blow your mind. I say that joking, of course. No, really, I hope you walk away from our show going 'Goddamn that was good.”
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