2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Motion sickness that makes your knees buckle
The motion in your mind will not make you sick
Chrisanne Grise
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Get out your thinking cap, because The Motion Sick are here to play with your mind. This Boston-based indie rock group provides musical social commentary by mixing pop melodies with dark, twisted lyrics written in the style of author Kurt Vonnegut.
"What really inspires me is [Vonnegut's] writing style and his narratives in general," said lead singer and guitarist Mike Epstein in a phone interview with The Beacon. "He has a very atypical approach. He reveals all the plot details immediately because the important thing is not the actual events but what's in between. He really overturned what I was used to with narrative structure."
An example of such lyrics can be found in the song "The Owls Are Not What They Seem": "Born to learn death by rote with a silver knife to your throat, the incisions are already made." Then the song continues on with, "I won't let you run, There's nowhere left to run, there is never an escape…"
The band, which also includes Travis Richter on drums, bassist Matthew Girard and guitarist Patrick Mussari, released their Vonnegut-style narratives on their second CD, The Truth Will Catch You, Just Wait…, on Jan. 1 of this year and held their record release party last night, Feb. 27, at The Church. Epstein said the band waited almost two months for the party so college students would be back in school and the record could get some promotion ahead of time.
"We wanted to have the show when we had success with the album rather than just saying 'Here it is!' said Epstein. "We wanted to have momentum."
The wait paid off, because now The Truth has reached #71 on the College Media Journal Top 200 and the single, "30 Lives," has reached #67 on the CMJ Independent Select Tracks Chart. Their first album, released in 2006, Her Brilliant Fifteen, also earned the band praise, including "Band of the Month" from Spin Magazine in April 2006. Currently, the band is working on getting a video for "30 Lives" played on television channels such as MTV and Fuse.
"What really inspires me is [Vonnegut's] writing style and his narratives in general," said lead singer and guitarist Mike Epstein in a phone interview with The Beacon. "He has a very atypical approach. He reveals all the plot details immediately because the important thing is not the actual events but what's in between. He really overturned what I was used to with narrative structure."
An example of such lyrics can be found in the song "The Owls Are Not What They Seem": "Born to learn death by rote with a silver knife to your throat, the incisions are already made." Then the song continues on with, "I won't let you run, There's nowhere left to run, there is never an escape…"
The band, which also includes Travis Richter on drums, bassist Matthew Girard and guitarist Patrick Mussari, released their Vonnegut-style narratives on their second CD, The Truth Will Catch You, Just Wait…, on Jan. 1 of this year and held their record release party last night, Feb. 27, at The Church. Epstein said the band waited almost two months for the party so college students would be back in school and the record could get some promotion ahead of time.
"We wanted to have the show when we had success with the album rather than just saying 'Here it is!' said Epstein. "We wanted to have momentum."
The wait paid off, because now The Truth has reached #71 on the College Media Journal Top 200 and the single, "30 Lives," has reached #67 on the CMJ Independent Select Tracks Chart. Their first album, released in 2006, Her Brilliant Fifteen, also earned the band praise, including "Band of the Month" from Spin Magazine in April 2006. Currently, the band is working on getting a video for "30 Lives" played on television channels such as MTV and Fuse.
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