Motion City Soundtrack have to be having the summer of their lives. Last year they dropped their seventh album, ‘The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World’, and six years after their reformation, Motion City Soundtrack are back in the UK for Slam Dunk. “It's always like a summer camp almost, when you play at the festivals,” says drummer Tony Thaxton, “We got to see Angel Dust today, which is a band that I've been trying to see for a long time, so that's cool. We’ve been hanging out with the Bayside guys and seeing a lot of old friends.”

“I forgot how great UK crowds are,” adds keyboardist Jesse Johnson. “It’s been ten years since we’ve been back. Last night, [when we played at Islington Academy] the show was just like such great energy and the crowd were singing along louder to the new songs than we’ve ever heard, I think.”

It’s been almost a year since ‘The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World’ came out, and after a decade away from recording, Motion City Soundtrack’s fans were just as pleased with the prospect of new record as the band were. “I think we’re all really proud of it,” shares Johnson, “Before we did it, because it had been so long since we’ve done new stuff together, I was admittedly a little skeptical about doing new stuff. I’ll be the first to admit it. But the results surpassed my expectations. I’m sure there’s some new bias there because it’s still kind of fresh and everything, but yeah, I’m really proud of it. I think we all are. Hopefully people are liking it… they seem to be! It’s like we kind of took the pressure off of being on a touring cycle or recording cycle and just did it.”

“I don’t think we really even say ‘let’s do this, let’s try to make this,’” agrees Thaxton, “we just sort of write songs that we like and hope other people like them.”

The standout track on the record has to be ‘Particle Physics’, featuring Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump. It was a collaboration which occurred naturally, according to Thaxton. “Patrick had parts for a song and he thought ‘this is kind of more like a Motion City Soundtrack song,’ so it was born from that.”

“I think the chorus was there,” says Johnson, “and then we took what was there and everybody put their own stuff to it. It was a lot of Patrick, but then us putting our own little flavour in there as well.”

“Luckily enough, we’ve been friends with those guys for twenty five years now or something like that,” smiles Thaxton.

Long friendships are part of the joy of Motion City Soundtrack, who’ve had a consistent lineup since their inception. “I’ve been saying lately that nothing matters,” laughs Johnson.  “As long as you don’t care about anything, you can do whatever you want.” Thaxton has a very similar philosophy. “I set the bar low in my head. So that way, nothing is disappointing, you know? That way whatever happens is cool. I know that sounds like overly simplistic, but… I’m an overly simplistic guy. What we always wanted was ‘let’s write stuff we like, hope other people like it, hopefully show up and care.’ If we can end up paying our bills this way, then great.” 

Even though they sound like they’re the epitome of relaxed rock stars, music is always at the forefront of their minds. Songs like ‘Your Days Are Numbered’, equal parts dreamy and emotive, show where their priorities lie. “[‘Your Days Are Numbered’] is a bit more mid tempo and not as energetic, but it’s not a mellow song by any means,” explains Thaxton. “I will admit that I liked the song when we did it, but it wasn’t one of my favourites on the record, and even when we were then putting out a video for it, I thought – and I will be the first to admit it – ‘really? We’re doing a video for that one?’ But now that we’ve been playing it live, it’s actually become one of my favourite. It’s been very fun to play with that.

“[My favourites] keep changing over time,” he continues. “If I had to pick a favourite, it would probably be ‘Melancholia’. We haven’t even played that one live yet! There’s something about the quirkiness of ‘Melancholia’ that I really enjoy and that I also think fits in with us as a band and our quirkiness.”

“It just kind of ties it all together a little bit,” agrees Johnson.

With shows in Ireland and an upcoming tour with Jimmy Eat World, the guys of Motion City Soundtrack are making the most of their live shows. The big question is: will we need to wait another decade for a new record? “That is a mystery. It took us, what, ten years to get this one, so it shouldn’t be ten years, we’ll say that. I hope not, because we’ll all be real old. Very old,” laughs Johnson. With shows like the storming Slam Dunk set they put on, we’re all ready to hear much more from Motion City Soundtrack.

KATE ALLVEY

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‘The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World’ is out now on Epitaph Records