Motion City Soundtrack has never been overtly political. The band, hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, has always made synth-pop inflected punk music, and social issues have never been their focus — until now.
“We’re definitely very political people,” guitarist Joshua Cain says on a recent Zoom call. “It’s just our band wasn’t really about politics, per se.” But after ICE aggression and violence began detonating right at their doorstep this month, Motion City Soundtrack is rising to the moment. “It’s really important for us to use our voices,” Cain says.
But Cain and lead singer Justin Pierre are doing more than just speaking up. Following the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Pierre and Cain have been on streets in different capacities, either filming ICE’ agents’ excessive force and kidnapping of individuals or driving protestors to rallies. Speaking to Rolling Stone, both band members detail everything they’ve witnessed so far — and how the Minneapolis community is coming together to stand up against ICE.
How does it feel to have ICE’s Operation Metro Surge, which is targeting undocumented immigrants in the Twin Cities, hit so close to home as Minneapolis citizens who grew up in Minnesota?
Pierre: It becomes really real when it does happen in your city, or in my case at my kid’s school. I was told that ICE agents showed up at the elementary school one day and got out of their vehicles. They didn’t do anything but they were walking around the school with their guns in the air, and then left. All the kids ran to the window and saw that, and they were scared out of their minds. They’re weaponizing children and they’re terrorizing them and traumatizing them.
Cain: It felt real in a different way, like when the pandemic started and you had that deep pit in your stomach. I started seeing friends of mine filming atrocities, like literal crimes on the streets and watched the way the people that are supposed to be in authority show who they are. I mean, not even the military rolls around without name tags on. What the fuck is this? It felt like we were being attacked.
After Renee Good’s murder, it felt like I might have to make a run because war was going to break out in our streets. I was like, “Wait, this is different.” This isn’t just a small area. It was happening everywhere all at once. This is roving gangs of people harassing citizens, disappearing people, and making up their own rules. You come across cars just fucking running with the doors ripped off and the windows shattered sitting in the street everywhere. The [anti-ICE protester] they beat up at the gas station, that happened half a mile from my house.
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Justin, you witnessed an abduction in real time. Can you tell me about that experience?
Pierre: I just happened to be in the area. I found out that there was something going on, and then there was a bunch of people with iPhones out. I pulled over and just started filming. It was fucking crazy. They busted this dude’s window open, pulled him out of the car, handcuffed him, and put him in their car.
That’s so scary. What has the community response in Minneapolis been to these horrors?
Pierre: There’s an amount of community that is being built that people have talked about for a very long time, but have never actually taken action to make happen until now. In Minnesota, I feel like there are still these bubbles of race. But I am seeing a whole lot more white people reaching out to people that they don’t necessarily know and saying,
“Hey, I’ve got your back. What do you need? How can I help?” I love the decentralized nature of all of us. There’s no leadership, we’re just all working together and trying to help each other. It’s good to know that there are levels of the fight against what ICE is doing.
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Josh: Minnesotans just started showing up in different ways. Some people are out in the street following [ICE] and filming. Some people are pulling over when they see something happen. Some people are donating to families. Some people are staying home to protect their family. Some people are holding artist spaces. Some people are putting spaces together for other small business owners to talk through what they can do and help through this process. There’s a lot of stuff to do and there’s a lot of ways to do it.
What have you guys witnessed in Minnesota that you wish was being reported on more?
Cain: When George Floyd was murdered, there was a lot of anger at a time that felt like everything was wrong. Anger was the only voice people had and they used it, and that’s great. Buildings can be built again. This is more like we as a community are coming together to prevent an occupying force from ruining our city and trying to pretend like they have some sort of ability to take it over.
You guys were on the ground in Minnapolis, but left for your tour, which kicked off Jan. 23 and wraps in mid-February. What’s the most challenging part of leaving home and being on the road right now while this happens?
Pierre: Not being able to be there to do those things on the ground. I’ve been asking for people to send me stuff they’ve recorded and then I can post it. That’s something I can do while on tour. What we offer our fans each night is a brief reprieve from the horrors of daily living, and it does have validity. I believe in art and I think that art is protest.
Cain: It feels different to tour right now than I think it’s ever felt. I’m literally crying on tour after seeing [Minnesota rapper] Nur-D fucking hog tied on the ground yelling at everybody for help. Like what the fuck is going on? It’s so jarring to see. So we’re all running at a really high level of anxiety and there’s a constant worry if everybody’s going to be okay at home.
Our band’s been focusing on the fact that we’re here to hold big community spaces, whether it’s an escape for someone coming to the show, or it’s getting together with like-minded people that feel the same and celebrating community.
Artists like Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Bragg have released protest songs while Tom Morello just put on a benefit concert in Minneapolis. Does MCS have any plans to do a protest song or benefit show?
Pierre: We haven’t talked about it, but I’m down for anything. What I want is to give up money on behalf of a cause and to bring awareness. Those are the things that would really excite me to do when it comes to a protest song or a concert. Morello, he can engage a crowd and knows what to say, but he spent an entire lifetime doing it. I feel like most of us have not spent that long trying to speak up. But the more you put your foot in your mouth, and the more you sound like a fucking idiot, the better you get at not sounding like an idiot.
Cain: We want to have a shirt that could be a donation to law firms or even to immigrant families directly in Minnesota that are suffering from this. I love the idea of doing a protest song. Our band made our own version of a protest song in the past.We snuck “Hello Helicopter” on Even If It Kills Me, which is definitely an anti-war song. Our new record weirdly has a song already on there: “Mi Corazón.” It is a great song and it’s about the idea that our kids are growing up now in a world where your government is trying to attack your city and this is a reality.
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What do you hope fans take away from you speaking up about ICE?
Pierre: I really don’t give a shit what people think about me as long as I am helpful and useful and doing the work. I’m in the fight. I’m here to join the people and do what I can and be of service to whoever needs it. If you decide that whatever we’re doing is so upsetting to you that you can’t listen to our band anymore, that’s fine.There’s a line that every individual has to find for themselves. The point here is that this is some next level shit.
Cain: I know I’m just some white guy, but I do care about people and I do want to use my voice best I can and whatever platform I have to keep the work going. We need to build upon whatever has happened. We can’t just let it all fizzle apart and go back to our lives. The biggest thing our country needs is for people to stay connected and continue showing [the government] that they’re not right and that we will not bend to their will, even in times that are good because that’s when evil seeps in.
