a quickie with … Motion City Soundtrack and their hour-long Seduction trap at Lollapalooza

Despite being able to promote their new album and share their music with a crowd of thousands, performing at Lollapalooza means more to Motion City Soundtrack. It gives them the chance to work the same show many of their heroes have in the past.

“When we were in high school, listening to all alternative music, Lollapalooza was the show that all the cool bands played,” said Matt Taylor, the bassist of MCS. “It’s really cool that we get to play it now.”

This weekend will give the band the chance to see many bands they admire and one in particular that Taylor idolizes.

“Of course there are bands that are out now who are really cool [that are going to play], and then there are bands that, I’m not gonna lie, I listened to everyday when I was in ninth and 10th grade,” he said. “I’m really excited.”

Along with watching Eddie Vedder and crew, Taylor is looking forward to seeing The Hold Steady, Regina Spektor and Modest Mouse.

MCS will be playing on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the MySpace stage. Hopefully, their hour long set will bring about some new songs from their upcoming album, Even If It Kills Me, due out September 18.

“The songs are a bit more focused,” Taylor said about the new album in comparison to their others. “We got poppier on some songs, more aggressive on some songs and a lot softer on others.

I think the songs vary more now.”

In the past, MCS has worked with producers like Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 and +44; and on the soon-to-be-released album, they got the chance to work with Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger.

“He was incredible to work with,” said Taylor. “He’s a pop kind of guy … he got really involved with us and it was really fun. He came in and actually wanted to really dig into the songs and helped us piece them back together.”

Eli Janney of Girls Against Boys also co-produced with Schlesinger.

“It was a really interesting team to work with because you’ve got the darker side – the more punk rock guy – and then you’ve got the pop guy.”

MCS will be coming off a small club tour of the States which has been a break from Warped Tour. Also, last Saturday, July 28, they flew out to Japan for Fuji Rock where they joined bands like Beastie Boys and The Stooges. This will be the band’s third visit out there.

“They’re really excited about all music,” he says about the Japanese. “I think the more times we get out there and hopefully having a new record out and having the label over there will push our music to more people over there.”

After Lolla and a few more shows stateside, they will go across the pond for a few shows in the UK. Their plans for the fall include taping a new video and …”I can’t say anything more than that there will be a big tour in the fall,” said Taylor as though imparting highly confidential information.

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