Justin Courtney Pierre UK Tour 2019

A little London tour

Motion City Soundtrack was pretty influential on my teenage years. I came across them after Mark Hoppus mentioned them on his podcast because he was producing their latest album at the time, then I went down the rabbit hole and got obsessed.

As I’ve grown up, the music has matured with me, my musical taste has gone in a different direction to what it was ten years ago, but whenever I catch wind of MCS, I’m checking out whatever the news is straight away!

Which lead me to seeing Justin posting about playing Slam Dunk in 2019, so I just sent him a message on Instagram saying how I was a big fan and if he needed photos/videos/whatever, I’d love to help him out seeing as I felt like I owed him for all the music he’d given to me (and everyone else) over the years.

I didn’t hear anything for a few days. I didn’t expect to. And it’s not the first time I’ve sent a message to someone I’m a fan of offering my services to not hear anything. It’s the way it goes. Whatever.

A few days later, I got a reply. An incredibly humble and grateful reply. We bounced back and forth a few times before figuring the details out; I’d miss Slam Dunk North because I’d be in Germany shooting a wedding, but I’d meet them (Justin and his guitarist/best friend Tommy) at Slam Dunk South the following day.

Slam Dunk Festival South 2019

A night at Underworld, Camden

This next video is just something extra I put together in honour of the man himself and his wisdom.

It was a wild couple of days, more for the fact that I was hanging out and casually talking with this guy that I’d idolised and obsessed over the creative work of for the past however many years.

Justin literally hung out until the last possible minute at both Slam Dunk and his solo gig at Underworld a couple of days later - in-between those gigs, he celebrated his gig with a few fans meeting up with him to hit up Prince Charles Cinema and food.

It’s kinda weird, I knew I had things I wanted to ask Justin from the years of listening to his music, but none of that came to mind at the time, and that’s alright! It was a truly humbling experience seeing how appreciative he was of his fans, talking to any and everyone for however long they wanted.

Shout-out to Tommy too with his extensive knowledge of Welsh music, and the fact that he was low-key in Small Towns Burn a Little Slower - a band I’d not heard of in years but somehow a couple of songs still stick in my head!