Since When Are Brownies So Sketchy?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love Motion City Soundtrack (to save time typing, I’ll just refer to them as MCS). I’ve posted it many times on this site – and I’ve said it on the podcast, back when the front man, Justin Pierre became the first male guest of The Indie Biz Chicks Podcast.

Most recently, I wrote about why I think you should go buy their latest album, My Dinosaur Life. In November, I wrote about how genius the marketing plan was for this album. Well, that hard work paid off, as the album debuted at #15 on Billboard this week, selling 300,000 copies in the first week.

This is HUGE. To give you some comparison, their last album, Even If It Kills Me sold 33,000 copies in it’s first week when it was released in 2007 and peaked at #16 on Billboard. Their 2005 release, Commit This To Memory peaked at #76 on Billboard. To be fair, that album was leaked months before it’s release. And that kind of thing doesn’t exactly help album sales.

You need to be pretty much blind not to see the growth of this band by looking at those numbers. The fact that they sold 300,000 copies in one week – without ever being a band with a big radio hit seems pretty amazing to me. That success pays tribute to the amount of time this band has spent touring and interacting with fans over the years, as well as the great work they are doing with social media lately.

Last night they played in Pontiac, a town located about 40 minutes from me, so of course I went. One of the opening bands on this tour is The Swellers. I think that’s pretty cool because The Swellers and I are from the same town (Flint, MI). I don’t know them – I’m 32, so I’m about a decade older than them and was already living in Alaska when they started playing. But I still enjoy the fact that they are on this tour.

Rounding out the tour are This Providence and Set Your Goals. Witnessing the Set Your Goals set was my first clue that I might be getting a little old. Because it was INSANE. I am a music-loving girl, and I’ve been to a lot of shows, and I’ve also survived a lot of mosh pits, but I’ve never seen one quite like that. it was full of round-house kicks and seemed a little bit excessive to me. My foot is still in pain from being stomped on by one hurly burly guy.

And then, it was MCS’s turn. Within the first two songs I had two crowd surfers fall on my head and then things settled down for the remainder of the show and I was only punched, pulled and hit a few more times. Of course, I was sprayed with about 500 bottles of water, but that didn’t hurt.

But I did survive, and I did have a lot of fun. These guys do know how to put on a good show. They interact with the crowd and you can tell that they are there to have a good time. They also come out into the crowd and hang out after their shows.

I had made brownies – before I go further you are probably thinking “What? She made brownies and took them to a show?” And yes, I did. That’s the kind of girl I am. I am also the kind of girl who made my dog a bone-shaped cake for his birthday and made him wear a birthday hat while eating it. And that’s a bulldog, by the way… So, yeah, I’m a nerd. Whatever.

So, anyway, I had made brownies but they were out in the car. I have known Justin for a few years, but had never talked to anyone else in the band – up until last night. While I was waiting for Justin to have a free moment, I struck up a conversation with the bassist, Matt Taylor, and told him that I had brownies and he volunteered to walk out with me to get them. And after I got done talking with Justin (and having him write a note to my nephew — I wouldn’t be the world’s best aunt if I didn’t bring back t-shirts, notes, and kazoos), Matt did walk out with me to grab them.

My sister was already waiting in the car – she was in no mood to wait around in the venue. I got in the car and she looked at me and said “That dude must trust you.” And so I asked her what she meant, and she said that if someone told her they had brought her brownies, she would think it was really sketchy and wonder what I put in them…

I had never really thought of that….

The thought of it did make me laugh, though…

But I can tell you right now: If any of you ever see me at a show or an event, and I hand you a baked good, it’s really not sketchy. It’s simply because I’m a nice girl.

*** The pictures from the event are not that great. I’m short. I was taking pictures of what I could see to send to my 10 year old nephew (well, to his Dad’s phone). Taking them with my Droid, I might add. If you want to see what they look like, go to their website and look at good pictures. And the picture of the merchandise is stuff for my nephew. Like I said… World’s Best Aunt!

And P.S. here’s a video of my 5 year old nephew “playing” one of their songs, The Future Freaks Me Out, on his MCS kazoo.

Trenton-MCS-Kazoo from Crissy Herron on Vimeo.