Not so long ago, Motion City Soundtrack was playing basement shows to crowds you could count on one hand. Despite their small size, those downstairs gigs turned out to be absolutely huge for Motion City, as it just so happens that Fall Out Boy and All-American Rejects were playing those same cellars.

"Even when we did those first dates with the All-American Rejects, they said to us then that if they got big, they'd take us out on tour," says drummer Tony Thaxton, 29. "The first headlining tour they did after Swing, Swing (AAR's 2002 breakthrough hit) got really big, they took us on the road. They are men of their word."

With a little help from its friends, Motion City Soundtrack - which is rounded out by vocalist/guitarist Justin Pierre, guitarist Joshua Cain, keyboardist Jesse Johnson and bassist Matthew Taylor - has become one of the most popular bands in pop-punk.

The band is signed to Epitaph (which is about as major-label as a punk act can get) and Motion City songs such as This is For Real and Everything is Alright have received steady rotation on MTV. According to Wikipedia, the band has managed to sell almost 600,000 copies of its three studio releases, although that number should probably be even higher.

"Basically the day after it (2005's Commit this to Memory) was finished being mastered, it was on the Internet," Thaxton s
says. "This was four months away from when it was getting released, so it was kind of a bummer."

When it came time for Motion City's next release, last year's Even if it Kills Me, the band made sure it wouldn't leak.

"This time, we were kind of assholes about it, not letting anybody have the record," Thaxton says.

"A lot of people at Epitaph didn't even have it. Any promotional copies that went out were watermarked so they could be traced. We kept it pretty tight and it seemed to work this time."

Don't worry, downloaders - Motion City holds no hard feelings and won't kick your pirate asses in the back alley. Speaking of alleys (segue!), Motion City hit the lanes for the This is For Real video, although Thaxton admits he and his bandmates were a bit out of their element and aren't exactly hardcore pinheads.

"I don't know if we're that into bowling," Thaxton says. "We enjoy it if it's around, but none of us are necessarily good at it. We play Wii bowling more than actually bowling."