(Left to right) Drexel alumnus Lenny Skolnick and undergraduate music industry student Justin Chapman are joined by Brian Southall and Justin Pierre, members of the band The Company We Keep, while working together to create a 7-inch record single.

Drexel University’s MAD Dragon Records (MDR) will team with the band Motion City Soundtrack  to produce a curated series of 7-inch record single releases by emerging artists entitled Making Moves. 

The singles will be co-released on limited edition 7-inch vinyl and digitally via MAD Dragon Records and Motion City Soundtrack’s recently launched record label, The Boombox Generation. They will be distributed by the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA).  Making Moves artists include: The Company We Keep (Detroit, Mich.), Brick + Mortar (Toms River, N.J.), Goldrush (Richmond, Va.), The Skies Revolt (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and A Great Big Pile of Leaves (Brooklyn, N.Y.).   Motion City Soundtrack will contribute two new songs for the series.  The releases are scheduled to take place between April and November 2012.

Members of Motion City Soundtrack (Justin Pierre, Josh Cain, Matt Taylor, Jesse Johnson, and Tony Thaxton) produced all of the artists’ recordings at Drexel University’s studios. Drexel’s Music Industry Program alumni, Lenny Skolnick, Dave Petit and undergraduate Justin Chapman engineered the sessions.

“It is a privilege for the students in the Music Industry Program and MAD Dragon Records to work with Motion City Soundtrack (MCS) for the Making Moves series,” said Terry Tompkins, associate teaching professor of the Music Industry Program and managing director of the Music Industry Program Entities at Drexel University. “This partnership provides a rare opportunity for our students to work with an accomplished and recognized band.  [Music City Soundtrack’s] interest and enthusiasm to work with our students has exceeded our wildest dreams.” 

The project came together at the South By Southwest music festival in 2011, according to Jesse Johnson of MCS.  

“I was at South By Southwest in 2011 with the band I manage, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, and Terry Tompkins attended their showcase,” Johnson said. “After a few emails and phone calls, the Making Moves project was hatched; it went from simply doing an A Great Big Pile of Leaves 7-inch to Motion City Soundtrack curating the series.”

“I'm hoping that people will be inspired by the collaboration and the many different factions involved with the series,” Matt Taylor of MCS said, “We came together with a common goal of releasing music that we're excited about. We want those who hear it to share in this excitement with us.”

The recording process was documented by students from the Drexel Film & Video program for a documentary “Making Of” DVD that will accompany a box set including all titles and will be released in late 2012.  The schedule of artist releases will begin with The Company We Keep, which is due to release in April. The full schedule of release dates will be announced in the spring.

Making Moves will kick-off with a showcase at the annual South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin Texas on Wednesday, March 14.  Motion City Soundtrack will headline and curate the showcase. All of the emerging artists in the series will perform during the evening. Motion City Soundtrack will also headline the annual MAD Dragon Concert on May 16 at Drexel’s Mandell Theater.  The concert will also feature many of the artists include in the Making Moves series.

For more information:

www.maddragonrecords.com

http://www.drexel.edu/westphal/undergraduate/MIP/

http://www.motioncitysoundtrack.com/news

About Drexel University’s Music Industry Program

Housed in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, the Music Industry Program introduces students to the business and technology sides of the industry through a hands-on, entrepreneurial approach. Students enrolled in the Music Industry bachelor’s degree program will complete part of their course requirements by managing all aspects of the program’s record label, MAD Dragon Records, including production, recording, marketing, copyrights, contracts and distribution.