Motion City Soundtrack

Only on Buzznet.com... check out video from Justin's Detroit stop on the Dino Trail!

Watch an acoustic version of "Broken Heart," performed live on Detroit's people mover subway car.

Stay tuned for more updates from The Dino Trail on mydinosaurlife.com!

I usually am.  Now that the record is done and Jesse’s wedding is over, my schedule is a little too free sometimes.  Madden 10 just came out and is already consuming too much of my life.

But, while I have such an open schedule, I thought I’d try and do some fun things.  The more bored I get, the more I am on Twitter.  I am going to try and have some contests here and there and give away some things.  I have lots of MCS related things in my apartment taking up space that are doing me no good.  Old drumsticks, posters, etc etc.  If you want any of this stuff, follow me at twitter.com/tonythaxton.  Sometime in the next week I’ll try and do something.  I’m unpredictable like that.

Today’s celebrity birthday, Steve Martin is 64.

So I shot a feature film this past weekend in just under 60 hours.  I’ve never been more sleep deprived in all my life.  My partner in crime Shane Nelson( http://omni-fusion.luun.tv/ ) co-starred, co-wrote, and co-directed the film with me.  Also, our friend Nels Lennes( http://www.nelslennes.com/ ) gave up his entire weekend, wife and child to co-star in this endeavor.  It was entirely awesome to steal shots form the Minneapolis Airport.  Security Guards were everywhere and apparently they just thought I was another irate traveler shouting into my cell phone.  We had stunt cars driven by non stunt drivers and photographed through sun roofs at top speed.  We traveled to Warped Tour and filmed the chaos within and behind the scenes.  Soooooo many people were extremely giving of their time and patience.  Dr. Shane Nelson is currently downloading the 30 plus hours of footage into his computer and will commence editing the project by the weeks end.  Hopefully the film will view like a Douglas Coupland novel reads(but not nearly as good, of corpse); 3 somewhat successful dudes, bitching about all the things they’re not doing as they hit and pass the 30 year mark.

In other news, I’ve started work on “Bad Jack” again.  I am going back to school in a few weeks and to prepare for the screenwriting classes I will be taking, I am trying to get a complete breakdown of the screenplay written.  Understand I have nearly a dozen versions of the script, but none are any good.  Using “North By Northwest” as a template, my teacher suggested I start fresh and make sure that “no one scene can be taken out of the script or else the script will fail.  If this happens, you know you have a good script.”  Does that make sense?

Also, I may be Producing a few songs for an actual band.  I don’t want to jinx myself, so I won’t mention their name just yet.  It’s hard to get work when you’re a total fucking junk show and a completely stubborn asshole that only wants to do things your way.  We’ll see what happens after the fist fights.

On my way to get my ass kicked by a Brazilian woman.  Dream come true.  Gonna get my one and only suit dry cleaned for Jesse Johnson’s Wedding and then read some Jane Fucking Austen.  Amen.

-Justin.

Check this out(It’s kind of ridiculous):

My brother, his wife & a few of their buddies started a company that gives you nicknames.  This is no joke.  I am dead serious & it rules.  I was not completely sold on the idea at first(nor did I understand it), but after a long day of doing nothing around various coffee shops & mental institutions in Minneapolis I came home to find a meeting of the Panda Crew in my apartment(my sister lives with me & also works for the company).  I watched them do research for several hours on the internet based on answers to a questionnaire on their website that people fill out.  They very cleverly weave all the information gathered from nickname seeking individuals & come up with the perfect one.  This floored me!  They have truly stumbled upon probably the greatest idea of the 21st century.  I believe the cost for their services is somewhere around $15.00 & they send you a bunch of Panda Bite paraphernalia with your new nickname embroidered on it(thanks to the good folks @ Heritage Embroidery & Design located in lovely downtown Stillwater, Minnesota).  I leave you the email they sent me upon completing the creation of my nickname(copyrighted, so don’t even think about it) & their website so you can check it out for yourselves.  They are just a bunch of 20-something year old punks who have real jobs & do this on the side because they are good at it & love it.  I’m way into that idea.  You should be too.  Amen.

http://www.pandabite.com/

Justin Pierre,

Your new Pandabite.com nickname is the SUNDANCE based on the following information from your questionnaire:

Pandabite.com noticed a little theme with your questionnaire, you like movies!  Whether you’re making movies in your spare time, aspiring to be a filmmaker, or digging through famous movie stars’ trash cans, you have a definite connection to the silver screen.  Heck even your favorite athlete isn’t even an athlete, he’s a movie star (Unless you are talking about his role in Any Given Sunday as Willy Beeman).  So a lover of theater such as yourself has undoubtably heard of the largest independent film festival in the US - The SUNDANCE Film Festival.So next time you’re speeding down SUNset Blvd, eating chicken with the cast of 90210, maybe you can hook them up with a part in your new feature film (We know a lot of them need it).  Just remember Pandabite.com is a huge fan of your music so don’t run off to the Oscars or Cannes too soon, but we look forward to seeing some of your future work at the SUNDANCE!
YOU HAVE BEEN BITTEN!

At our rehearsal space, the band next door is playing Blackend. Matt flipped out, ran out the door and went for a closer look. True story.

-Justin.

Check it out:

During the writing of our latest record I took an evening off to do some voice work in an upcoming Animated Film called Godkiller. It is written and directed by the sometimes talented Matt Pizzolo. Look him up on IMDB. We wanted to inform any of you that are already going to Comic Con this weekend that there will be shenanigans galore & a signing by some of the cast members of the film(Danielle Harris of Rob Zombie’s Halloween Films & Free Willy, Bill Moseley of The Devil’s Rejects & Honey I Blew Up The Kid, Nicki Clyne of Battlestar Galactica & John Tucker Must Die, & me). I am dropping in a link to the trailer of the film. Be warned! This is 17 & over type of material beyond this point. It involves some seriously twisted shit(which is why I signed on to do it). You have been warned.

http://halo8.tv/blog-index/

I hope you enjoy & come out. I really don’t want to be that one guy involved in the project that nobody gives a rip about. The signing times are as follows:

Saturday July 25th
(in the Halo-8 booth, #430)
2pm: POP SKULL (Katz, Katz, Hughes, Henry)
3pm: XOMBIE (Farr, Edwards)
4pm: GODKILLER (Moseley, Clyne, Pierre, Pizzolo)

Sunday July 26th
(official Comic Con signings in the Sails Pavilion)
12pm: GODKILLER in room AA1 (Harris, Clyne, Pierre, Pizzolo)
1pm: POP SKULL in room AA1 (Katz, Katz, Hughes, Henry)
2pm: XOMBIE in room AA3 (Farr, Edwards)

Please pass this information and link on to any humans you know; good or bad. Thank you.

-Justin.

Just wanted to let you all know that team MCS is back in the saddle and about to rehearse for the upcoming Blink 182 shows this Thursday and Friday. It is the first time we’ve played some of these songs together in about 9 months. I will really try and start telling you about all the stupid and boring shit my days consist of on a more consistent basis. I promise. Take care and be awesome.

-Justin.

We have a new record folks.  After several months of writing, some vacation time, a broken arm, surgery, recovery, physical therapy, and a lot of recording-in-a-weird-order-because-i-couldn’t-play-drums-yet, June 28th was the day we finished record #4.  Special thanks to everyone who was involved in the recording of this record, I can’t explain how much fun it was, and what a great team of people we worked with.  It wasn’t easy to get to where we are now, but we did it, and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it.  Be patient, and I think you’ll be happy.

Tony

Well hello there!  Tony here, blogging from the studio.  We’re getting so close to the end of this record, I can taste it.  And boy does it taste good.  We should be done with this sucker in a matter of DAYS.  That’s right, DAYS.  Very, very excited for everyone to hear it.  But you must be patient.  Mwahahahahaha.

I wanted to let you all know about my new toy/clothing/art/etc company, Analog Playset. Our online store just got up and running, and we have some shirts and things available now.  This is just the beginning though.  Expect announcements on more projects very soon.  PLEASE check out www.analogplayset.com or click the link to the store below(I still don’t know how to be fancy and insert proper links in my blogs)!!!

CORRECTION:apparently the links show up if I just type them.  Good to know!

Analog Playset

Well look who finally decided to get his hands dirty on this record!

-Matt

I am a mere 5 days away from beginning the drum tracking on record #4. I know, a little backwards.  If you’re out of the loop(congrats on getting out!), I broke my arm, had surgery, and we had to work the recording process a little backwards this time around.  That’s the short version.  So, instead of me tracking first, and then everyone building on top of drums, everyone else played their parts to programmed drums or demo drums.  I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re all stoked to get some REAL drums on these songs to get this record sounding like a RECORD.  So stoked.  And amped.  And jazzed.  And psyched.  And wound up.  Maybe a hint of freaky-deekiness is involved as well.

Today’s celebrity birthday, Joe Piscopo is 58.

Hey peeps. Matt here. Yesterday Tony, Christina (his ladyfriend), Kristen (my fiancée), and I went to the Museum of Death in Hollywood for a nice, light-hearted sunny Sunday afternoon jaunt. Well, spoiler alert: the MOD is a bit of a bum out. I don’t mean that in a “they didn’t have enough disgusting photos of dead people” way. I mean, I was DISSSSTURBED. Notice the caps lock. Yeah. No joke. And I’m not gonna lie. I’m still having a hard time shaking some of the imagery that I saw. I’ll spare the details. I’ll just say that I’m really happy to be alive and healthy.

In less dead news, we’re getting kind of close to finishing the record. Tony should be tracking drums in a week. That’s when the magic happens. These songs are already coming to life and once Tone hits those skins… Ooh wee!! I’m excited.

Hope everyone is well!

Yeah, the feet are on the console. That can only mean one thing. It’s quittin’ time.

hi peeps! what’s going on? we’re still in los angeles recording the new record. it’s coming along nicely. this is shaping up to be un record fantastique (i think i just tooted our own horn again). right now i’m recording some harmonies to a new song that justin recently brought to the hypothetical table. this sucker’s gonna be tasty and the song’s gonna be pretty good too. luckily, i’ve got the apartment to myself tonight since my roommate jesse johnson is out with tony thaxton at a joeledbetter.com art show. so i can make pathetic little noises into my blue snowflake mic with no one nearby to hear.

so i go through spells with music where nothing new really grabs my earballs and warrants my attention. do you ever feel that way? well, these records have recently ruled my world and i’m so happy about it (and yes i’m really late on some of these):

rogue wave - asleep at heaven’s gate

phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix

metric - fantasies

peter bjorn & john - living thing

i’d like everyone to know that i just spent a half hour trying to insert album artwork. i couldn’t get the formatting right and i was scared that it would look like garbage after i hit publish, so i yanked it and opted for plain text. my blog would have been so much cooler with images. oh well. i’ll practice up and try to deliver next time. me and my big mouth.

oh, for those of you twitterists that aren’t in the know, we all are on the twitter if you want to say “hi” or “wow. you’re an idiot for thinking that” or “grow up” or “yes, i agree that mario lopez’s work is waaaay under-rated” or whatever you want, really. we are @matthewstaylor, @jessemackj, @jcpmcs, @joshuacain, and @tonythaxton. follow us if you’re not already. i would say everyone’s doing it, but that would be a colossal lie. some people are doing it. you should be one of those some people.

alright, i’m gonna watch some conan reruns on hulu now. have a nice, relaxing sunday everyone!

-matt taylor bass.

Listening to Matty T tracking some bass for the jam of jams.  Not to toot our own horn(TOOT TOOT!), but I’d be surprised if this song isn’t a single for the new record.  It’s called “Forget About It” as of right now, I have no idea if that title will stay or go.  The song sounds like a good family movie and Shaquille O’Neal got in a fist fight, and they both had to go to the emergency room afterwards.  

I have nothing quality to tell you.  I just felt the blog necessity.  

Today’s celebrity birthday, Justin Kirk is 40.

This is what it looks like in the fortress of solitude.  Words are being carefully selected and organized(or reorganized), to convey messages of the authors choosing.  With a bit of luck, the fortress doors will one day swing wide.

Love,

Tony

I got to watch my own band play 2 days ago.  What a weird experience.  Here’s me watching, and my opinion.

Tony

last night i had the pleasure of seeing blink182 play for the first time in several years.  i felt warm inside like either i had pissed myself or my chakras had been realigned.  perhaps even both.  the party itself was a bizarre endeavorence(made that word up).  they had miniature everythings(burgers, sushi, cupcakes) on silver platters floating about and in-between good looking people who were well-dressed.  i fought my way through several robots to get one diet coke.  i nursed that fucker all night long.  is it crazy that before last night i had never seen weezer live before?  i am admitting this to you, good people(or person).  they were thoroughly entertaining.  pat is my favorite.  does he always play guitar live now.  wtf?(stands for: what the fuck.  i think it’s an australian thing)  today tony is gonna come watch his band play.  i am hoping to talk him into making a guest appearance.  if any of you know how i can entrap him into doing that, please let me know.

book stuff:  i just finished the 2nd installment of the percy jackson & the olympians series.  kid stuff, but i dig it.  i would say that those who like harry potter would dig it but you have to imagine you’re in grade school and not care that there is no real conflict.  now i’m reading palestine:peace not apartheid by jimmy carter.  that shit is all about conflict.

movies:

all that jazz - 4*

the kid stays in the picture - 5*

cries & whispers - 4*

the soloist - 4*

lady vengeance - 4*

star trek - 5*

mi vida loca - 4*

the limits of control - 4*

that’s it for now.  be good and stay golden.

-justin.