Watch Spotting: Jesse Mack Johnson, Keyboardist For Motion City Soundtrack, Wearing A Rolex 'Starbucks' Submariner On Stage

January 11, 2024

I remember going to my best friends house down the street after school most days so we could watch FuseTV, watch music videos, and learn the licks to our favorite songs from The Starting Line, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, Something Corporate, Underoath the list goes on. There's a reason I got a Les Paul instead of a Stratocaster for my first electric guitar. But as much as the Warped Tour 2005 compilation album basically changed my life, I didnt get to go to Warped Tour. My first taste of live music from that genre and era came from Motion City Soundtrack. Motion City Soundtrack has been selling out shows in Brooklyn for over 20 years now. Most of the music we got in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was country music and older rock bands on their casino tours (I think Three Dog Night are basically Wisconsin residents at this point, and Ill cop to having been the youngest person at a Moody Blues concert by a solid two-decade margin), and a lucky visit from John Mayer on his Heavier Things tour. But we got Motion City Soundtrack twice. As much as I liked The All-American Rejects, I went to their show largely for the opener C MCS. The energy, the lyrics C these guys had it all. They still do.? Lead singer and lyricist Justin Pierre. Jesse Mack Johnson on the keys. On a rainy Tuesday night this week, Motion City Soundtrack played to a sold-out crowd at the Warsaw in Brooklyn for the 20th Anniversary of their debut I Am the Movie album. That's tremendous longevity for any band C and their fans were out in force to celebrate. And proving how small the watch world really is, Im lucky enough to now be buddies with Jesse Mack Johnson, the keyboard player for the band. Johnson has been a guest on H Radio and Cole Pennington profiled him in a Four + One a while back. After that, Cole introduced us over beers and burgers one night a short time later. Eventually, we became friends and now hang out or bump into each other at meetups in the city when hes not on the road. Johnson hooked me up with both a photo pass and a backstage pass for the show, and afterward, we all sat around and talked music, gear, and watches (in what one of their friends called "the nerdiest conversation ever"). Concerts were one of the first things I photographed when I picked up a camera, so I dusted off those skills for some music-meets-watch photography. While I associate Johnson most with his love of Tudor Submariners, he told me he wanted something that would withstand all the dings, dents, bumps, and sweat of a set. Oh, that and the moogstand he does on the Moog MG-1 keyboard every night. What's the best watch to stand up to all that? Moogstand! You can kind of see a watch here. Let's get closer. Okay, it looks like a Rolex but in the show lighting it's hard to tell which one. Can we get closer? Got it. Johnson was rocking a Rolex Starbucks Submariner ref. 126610LV. When his AD called him six months ago, they asked him if he was really going to wear it. He promised he would, and he told me he recently sent them a photo of the scratched-up Starbucks. As a bonus, he said most non-watch people dont know a green Sub exists, so people are likely to write it off as a fake.? Zach Comtois on the Les Paul. I found out after the show that Zach Comtois, the bands touring guitarist, is a watch guy, too. On his wrist was a trusty Hamilton Field Khaki, but I wasn't able to snap a photo. Maybe I'll catch it next time. If you're in the New York City area, the band is playing tonight (January 11th) at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, before heading to Boston, Buffalo, and Toronto to close out the tour.