Welcome to the positioning of a pop-punk resurrection job for the ages.
On
the left facet of a settee of their supervisor’s Brooklyn workplace sits Justin Pierre.
Nonetheless very a lot rocking the freshly-electrocuted mad professor hair and
black-rimmed glasses, the Movement Metropolis Soundtrack frontman is casually quaffing
some juice. Have been it not for the truth that he usually charmingly places his hand up
earlier than talking like a really well mannered pupil, he would appear to be the punk science
instructor you want you had in school.
On
the fitting, sat beside him, is the person Justin describes as “the overall of the
band” – Joshua Cain, lead guitarist and co-founder of MCS, and present proprietor of
a supremely spectacular beard plucked straight from the pages of Norse
mythology.
At
totally different instances right now, the duo will wax lyrical on a bunch of subjects, together with
shout-outs to The Carpenters, Flaming Lips, saxophonist Roland Kirk (“that dude
fucking wails, three saxes without delay!”) and the 2002 Nicolas Cage movie
Adaptation. Within the immortal phrases of Olaf, they’re very a lot a pair who end
one another’s… sandwiches – Justin at all times able to chime in with a fast
addendum, or Josh to choose up a thread and run with it.
This
riveting match of phrase tennis is all such a far cry from the solemn second
which broke lots of people’s hearts – your correspondent’s too, FYI – in 2016
when Movement Metropolis Soundtrack got here to their “bittersweet realisation”.
“We
don’t know what the longer term holds,” they stated in a press release. “However for now we
are finished.”
So
it was that the brakes had been placed on one of many biggest and most distinctive
bands of the post-millennium, one which had graced us with classics like Commit
This To Reminiscence, Even If It Kills Me and My Dinosaur Life – information with
candour, intelligence, heartbreak and humour to burn, to not point out a few of
one of the best pop-punk hooks ever conceived.
A
lot of things led to them issuing that assertion. A altering, streaming-led
music trade. The calls for of household life. Years of touring taking a toll.
“We
realised how burned out we actually had been, and the way a lot progress we would have liked to do on
our personal,” displays Josh right now on the painful choice.
“I’m
a really sluggish learner – I are likely to have emotions, however I don’t know what they’re
associated to,” provides Justin. “I now realise, ‘Oh, I wanted to decelerate’ – which I
didn’t. I gained’t speak for anybody else, however it’s simply been a number of remedy and a
lot of engaged on myself and attempting to determine how, precisely, to be human, be
a very good husband, be a very good dad, be a very good pal. Issues like that. I’m nonetheless
very distant from a number of that, however I believe I’m nearer to it than I’ve ever
been. So it was very useful to take a break.”
Not
that they had been ever too far aside. The pair labored on Justin’s 2018 solo album,
In The Drink, however steadily the sensation took maintain that what that they had as soon as
wanted time away from was, truly, precisely the place they wanted to be.
“I
actually type of didn’t know who I used to be, and I used to be going by means of somewhat little bit of a
disaster of, ‘What am I going to do with my life?’” remembers Josh. “I didn’t
know what I used to be doing that interval till I got here to this resolve of, like, ‘Wait,
no, I made this band and this music my life! I don’t must run away from this
– that is what I’m.’ My id is related to this band.”
“This
band” have dabbled right here and there since that hiatus. Reunion reveals began in
2019. One-off singles. However now they’re again again. Behold: The Identical Previous
Wasted Great World, the primary new MCS album in 10 years which arrives on
September 19 by way of Epitaph.
And
a fucking incredible new album at that. This isn’t by probability. It sounds precisely
just like the document the band – accomplished by bassist Matt Taylor, keyboardist Jesse
Johnson and drummer Tony Thaxton – conspired to make.
“I
stated that we needed to make an album that we cared so much about,” explains Josh,
recalling the plan of assault. “It didn’t matter how properly it did, but when we
wished to proceed to do what we had been doing, even the ‘nostalgia’ factor, we had
to have one thing fuelling that fireplace.”
Mentioned
fireplace is raging on The Identical Previous Wasted Great World, from the lead single She
Is Afraid to Justin’s wild solo that performs on title-track – one which, Josh
rigorously explains, fully eclipses his personal actually cool passage enjoying at
the identical time.
“I’m
sorry that I fucking bulldozed over your guitar half,” says Justin, placing a
conciliatory hand on his pal’s shoulder.
It’s
a document you might spend hours speaking about. In addition to being an all weapons
blazing return, it options Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump, Deanna Belos of
Honest Engineer, Mat Kerekes from Citizen and two of Justin’s favorite
authors. On the finish of our dialog, Ok! asks if there’s something that’s not
been lined.
“How
lengthy do you continue to have?” Justin grins, although it’s unclear if he’s joking or
not.
Buckle
in, then, as Justin and Josh speak you thru probably the most anticipated returns
of latest reminiscence, taking in grief, studying easy methods to be human, and the way they now
have sufficient Patrick Stump a capellas stockpiled to make a complete album…