FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
1. THE PONY INTERVIEW WITH MOTION CITY
SOUNDTRACK
2. THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE STONE PONY: LADIES NIGHT DANCE PARTY
3. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
This Week at The Stone Pony: Boys Night Out (Thursday - Before Ladies Night Dance Party), Jammin' Paddy's Day Party (Friday), The Break (Saturday and Sunday)
New on the Stone Pony Calendar: Jammin' Paddy's Day Party (March 17), The Break (March 18), deSoL (March 24), Love Kittens (April 6), Days Awake (April 8), Juggling Suns CD Release Party (April 14), The Nils Lofgren Band (April 22), Status Green (April 28), Perpetual Groove (April 30)
Visit The Stone Pony on MySpace.com at: http://www.myspace.com/ponyrock
MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK'S "COMMIT THIS TO MEMORY" 2006 TOUR ARRIVES AT THE STONE PONY
Lots of people are going to be jealous if you catch Motion City Soundtrack at The Stone Pony on Saturday, March 25. On their current three-month tour, along with The Format, The Matches and Men, Women and Children, at least 25 of 32 shows have been or will be sell outs. Their latest single, "Hold Me Down," off their 2005 Epitaph Records' release "Commit This To Memory," is currently the featured download of the week on Fuse (visit http://www.fuse.tv/downloads.php for details), and the band has gotten heavy airplay on mtvU. A Warped Tour favorite, the band released their first full-length, "I am the Movie," on Epitaph in 2003, spawning the hits "The Future Freaks My Out" and "My Favorite Accident." Since then, this Minneapolis-based band has been everywhere, appearing musically on numerous compilations and on stage with acts ranging from Blank-182 to Fall Out Boy to Nas. Their European dates with Blink-182 also led to a partnership with Mark Hoppus, that band's bassist, who produced their latest release - his debut behind the faders.
With the band in the midst of another insane touring schedule, the Pony Newsletter interviewed their drummer extraordinaire Tony Thaxton about their recent successes and plans for a new album and playing The Bamboozle 2006 at the Meadowlands. For Pony readers outside of the United States, the band will be playing Pacific Rim dates in Japan and Australia later this year. For fans in the New Jersey area, get your tickets before this date gets added to the "sold out" list and don't miss your chance to commit some of the coolest power pop out there to memory.
The Stone Pony: You're coming off a very interesting tour of the U.K. Despite the cancelled shows, did you enjoy hanging out and performing with Funeral For A Friend and All-American Rejects and do you expect to be returning to the U.K. to make up any of the missed dates?
Tony Thaxton: We were looking forward to hanging with the Funeral For A Friend dudes; we had a lot of fun with them on the Warped Tour. But apparently it wasn't in the cards. No hard feelings, though. Matt lost his voice after one show. What can you do? It was a nice surprise being able to play some shows with the All American Rejects. We go back a long way with those guys and they were nice enough to throw us onto a couple of their shows when our tour got cancelled. We owe them. We might not be able to make up the shows over there until the fall, if even then. Our schedule is totally jam-packed right now until then.
The Stone Pony: Did you get to do any sightseeing while touring the U.K.? Were there any memorable tour stops or experiences you had that made the whole trip particularly worthwhile?
TT: The coolest thing I got to do this time was definitely in Liverpool. I'm a huge Beatles fan, and a friend of ours took me, Matt and Jesse out to a few Beatles landmarks around town. I got to see the house where John Lennon grew up, Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and The Cavern Club. It was pretty amazing to see the Cavern Club and stand on the stage there. So much history.
The Stony Pony: The big news with the band these days is that you'll be headlining the mtvU Campus Invasion Tour '06, which starts a couple weeks after your Pony gig. How did you happen to get hooked up on the tour, and do you think that it'll open the band to any new opportunities? Can you give us any information about where the tour will be heading?
TT: To be honest with you, I don't even know where all it is heading. The only thing I know is it only covers the Midwest and East Coast. I don't know anything beyond that, really. mtvU has been very nice to us and we've had some good luck there. We even won an mtvU Woodie award for breakthrough artist a few months back. We're just excited to be a part of it. Straylight Run and Hellogoodbye are also on the bill.
The Stone Pony: When a band starts playing on a national level, do you still have the same camaraderie as you might have had starting out around your local scene? When you tour with other bands, or meet at large festivals, do you talk about opportunities you've heard about, cool places to play or share other advice?
TT: You try not to change too much. You're people who are all doing the same thing and trying to survive. It's all you do, so of course you're going to talk about it!
The Stone Pony: There is a ton of anticipation for your follow-up to last year's "Commit This To Memory". Do you feel any pressure because the album was so well-received to match those expectations? Do you feel an obligation to give fans the album they might be expecting, or do you still feel comfortable being as creative and experimental as you want in the studio?
TT: Is there anticipation already? They're gonna have to wait a while still! It's awesome that people are excited, though. We are too, but we've got a lot of writing to do first. There's always some nerves involved with doing a record, hoping people will like it. First off, we just try and make a record that we like and makes us proud. After that, if other people like it, then, perfect!
The Stone Pony: Speaking of a follow-up album, is there anything you can report about where that project stands, when you might be going into the studio and when fans will be able to get their hands on it? Are you anxious to get a new album out there or are you focused on other things now?
TT: We have a ton of touring ahead of us right now, as always. We plan on trying to write and demo a lot on the Warped Tour this summer. That's one of the hardest things about staying on the road for so long is it can be hard to find time to write. But it's definitely in our minds right now and hopefully the ball will start rolling a little faster soon.
The Stone Pony: The band is currently in the running for SPIN magazine's "Band Of The Year Competition." It is exciting for you to be recognized by the mainstream music press and do you tend to follow things like that while you're on the road? Want to give our readers your best plug for them to go and vote for you?
TT: We already lost! Thanks for trying, though. Now we have our fingers crossed for the Mad Magazine band of the millennium.
The Stone Pony: Your hometown of Minneapolis has a storied musical history. Were you influenced by the local music scene or any of the musicians who broke out of Minneapolis? Are there still a lot of good bands performing around Minneapolis, and is there a healthy live music scene in the area?
TT: I am definitely not the one to ask this question to. I am an import. Matt and I come from Virginia, but the base for the band is in Minneapolis. There are some good bands popping up around there now like Small Towns Burn A Little Slower, The Cardinal Sin, and Somerset.
The Stone Pony: One of your best-known songs, "The Future Freaks Me Out," was famously written in mere hours and, according to your bio, almost didn't make it onto you debut album. Does the band typically write songs quickly or was that experience somewhat unusual? Do you tend to develop songs collaboratively, or do band members work on their own parts individually and bring them together as a more-or-less finished product?
TT: I'm not sure if it was written THAT fast, but it did happen pretty quick. In the initial session for "I am the Movie," that was the last song written and was written right before we went into the studio. Justin hadn't written all of the lyrics yet, but the gist of the "I'm On Fire" chorus was there and it wouldn't leave our heads.
Songwriting totally differs all of the time for us, though. Sometimes something just clicks immediately, sometimes we rack our brains for a year over one part. Sometimes Justin has something he came up with at home and shows us, sometimes I have a beat that I want to show everyone and see what happens, there's lots of things that happen. You just never know.
The Stone Pony: Is the band looking forward to playing the 2006 Bamboozle show at the Meadowlands in May? Are there any other project we haven't discussed that you would like fans to watch out for the months ahead?
TT: We're so stoked for Bamboozle. I'm excited to see the layout this year, being a new location and all. Bamboozle/Skate and Surf the last few years has been amazing for us. Two years ago definitely was one of those landmark shows for us. We were setting up our gear and looked out and saw how many people were waiting for us to play and we were like "when did this happen?" It's definitely one of my top five favorite shows we've ever played.
The official Motion City Soundtrack website can be found at www.motioncitysoundtrack.com.
THURSDAY NIGHTS: LADIES NIGHT DANCE PARTY
18 for girls, 21 for guys - Ladies 21+: Free admission all night!
To enter, ID a must! - Reduced admission for guys 21 & up w/ valid college ID
Dress Code: Dress to impress, no headgear, no baggies, no t-shirts, no
athletic wear, clean sneakers & clean Timbee's OK - Crazy contests at midnight with MC BJ
DJ John Farruggio - $1 Coors Drafts all night - Doors open at 10 pm
Ladies Night on MySpace: www.myspace.com/ponythursday
