In many ways, Metric shouldn’t even be around right now, let alone riding the biggest high of their career with a rockin’ new record, sold-out shows, and regular radio play. They’re brash. They’re clever. They’re different. And they’ve nearly imploded more times than one can count. And yet, there’s something about their catchy brand of synth-pop that’s (finally) caught on with the masses. It’s about time.
They’ve got a crazy-sexy-cool frontwoman in Emily Haines, membership in the extended Broken Social Scene familia, a whack of great tunes, and rockstar style to spare. What’s not to like?
It’s been quite the journey for Haines and James Shaw (producer/guitarist) since they moved from Toronto to L.A., hooked up with new bandmates Josh Winstead (bass) and Joules Scott-Key (drums) along the way, had an album (the sultry Grow Up and Blow Away) shelved when their indie label went under, found success with Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, and came full-circle-right back home to T.O.
Burned out from wringing every last bit of juice from the Old World juggernaut, Haines and Shaw (once married, now separated) returned to Canada last year, while Winstead and Scott-Key went home to the U.S. For a time, the band wasn’t even sure they’d go on, but after some downtime and contemplation, regrouped to make their new album, Live It Out. Where in the past the focus has (deservedly) been on Haines’ ice-queen vocals, Live It Out sounds like a true full-band effort-noisy, edgy, and full-blast fun.
A conversation with Haines is never boring-thoughtful, poetic (her father was the late avant-garde poet Paul Haines), and unafraid to be provocative, she’s a rockstar for our time. We thought we’d let her tell you about her band and their new album in her own words.
Tabassum Siddiqui: This record has a really raw, energetic sound to it. Was it a priority to make it yourselves with no outside influence?
Emily Haines: James produced the record, so we absolutely wanted to make it as close to reality as possible, with the four of us playing together in the same room. We just tried to capture the mood of our live shows as well as develop that a bit more. We really wanted to establish ourselves as three-dimensional musicians on this record, and I hope that we did.
TS: With four people in the band, how does the songwriting process work?
EH: I wrote the songs on the piano-I write the lyrics and the progressions, and then I bring them to the band. James usually has some vision of an arrangement, and a general sound, and then the guys write their own parts. Sometimes people write parts for other people, but generally that’s how it works. This time a couple of songs were written on guitar by James-usually there’s a few that he writes, but for the most part I write them on piano.
TS: One of my favourite things about Metric is that you aren’t afraid to get political, both in the lyrics of your songs (such as the chorus to first single “Monster Hospital”: “I fought the war/But the war won”), and in engaging the crowd during your live shows.
EH: It’s funny, just as a side note, I did an interview yesterday where the (interviewer) was saying he thought that we completely lost all the political content (on the new album)-he was like, ‘Can you explain why there’s no political content?’ and my answer was: “‘I fought the war, but the war won’-did you, like, totally not get it?” I think he hadn’t listened to the record or something-it’s really disturbing.
Anyway, I think that song in particular, it’s not so much about fighting in the war, but fighting the fact that there always will be war. I do feel like we’re fighting perpetual war for perpetual peace-you could try to focus on the particulars of one fight, but you realize that on every scale there are battles you’re losing, and I guess that was just an acknowledgement of that.
And it’s not a hopeless statement-it’s a revelation, you know. Also, I think lyrically I speak for myself, but I also speak for the band; it’s sort of like the voice of the group. So it’s something that we all felt-this last year’s really been about facing our personal demons, and for a lot of people I know, it seems like we’ve been in the belly of the beast… lots of Dante’s Inferno imagery of sin and consequences. (laugh)
I don’t know if you caught the reference in there to Bobby Fuller-he’s the one who wrote, “I fought the law, but the law won.” I only found out later that he was actually murdered in his car-it was, like, the Mafia or something that killed him-he was shot in the head, which I didn’t know when I wrote the song, so there you go.
But I like the image of Daddy Warbucks as a symbol of, I dunno, war profiteering or something, up against the average musician who’s trying to carve out an existence that isn’t totally corrupt. I think that’s kind of what we’re getting at-you start to realize that you have the best intentions, but the world is already laid out. It’s really hard to find a way to do what you want to do and not end up complicit in really unpleasant things. Not to be really negative-does that sound negative?
TS: But at the end of the day, in your songs, and also with the band in general, there’s a sense of hope. How did you pull through that dark period and soldier on to make the record?
EH: I think what happened is that we were just honest with ourselves about everything. I’m sure everyone can relate to that-you can just spend your whole life blindly pursuing something, but at some point, you have to stop and realize, ‘What am I working for; what am I trying to prove? Are there more important things I’m neglecting?’
I think we came to a conclusion about how we wanted to do this if we were going to keep going. And it wasn’t even a conversation so much as it was that each of us individually had some time to figure it out, and we all came back to it with twice as much energy and passion.
The last tour that we did of Europe was a really amazing time for the band. Just realizing that we are family, and we are really, really good friends, and it’s hard, but if we can all give everything to this…
The more you do it, the more you realize what a compromise it is to put your whole life into a band-it gets more dangerous, if you know what I mean. It’s hard not to lose sight of regular life.
So we made a real commitment that all four of us were going to match each other equally in the project and just make it the most beautiful thing we could for as long as it lasts. And I definitely feel that when I’m with those guys, I’m protected, I’m with the right people, and that we’re doing something good.
TS: You and James decided to come home, and you appear to have found some solace in that. It seems to be such a great time to be part of the local/Canadian music scene right now.
EH: I think it’s really great, and I love that the bands all sound so different-there really aren’t two that are the same. It would be shitty if the Canadian scene was just a certain sound, but it’s not-you could fill your entire record collection with albums made in Canada, and have music for every mood and every occasion.
TS: And yet, despite the burgeoning popularity of many of these bands, only a select few get that coveted heavy rotation on the radio. You once openly criticized Edge 102 at a concert hosted by them, yet here they are now playing Metric songs on a regular basis!
EH: It’s hilarious. In many ways, that’s exactly what the point of this band has always been-we wanted to be something genuine on the radio. Which is not to negate anybody else’s work, but it’s not just me who thinks that most of what gets on the radio is completely prefabricated-you know, they come up with a business plan before they come up with the music, right? Which is not a surprise to anyone, but still everyone acts like they don’t know that or something.
But I think it’s great-we’re so happy. I really commend them for embracing us-it’s not easy to embrace real bands, because we’re human and we’re outspoken and scrappy and a little weird, and there are hundreds of bands on either side of us that would just do whatever it took to be on the radio. So I think it’s really amazing that they’ve taken a risk on us, and that people like the music. You know, except for the ones that don’t. (laugh)
TS: Is it fair to say, though, that Metric’s real popularity stems from its killer live show?
EH: It’s really amazing, because that’s something no one can take away from you, and that you know isn’t artificial. We just went and did some campus shows (out west)-these kids are there because they found the music themselves, and they came when we played tiny shows.
We really have gotten to the out-of-the-way places, and I love the feeling when I go back and I know that no one told them to like us-it wasn’t in some magazine, you know what I mean? They found it themselves. Now we can just make records for them, and we don’t have to think about anybody else, really. I like that. It’s really fun, too.
TS: In the pop milieu, we don’t often see a lot of strong female imagery, but you’re pretty deliberate about how you present yourself as a frontwoman.
EH: Yeah, man, the sexy librarian. Sure, man, we owe it to the ladies. I feel like I owe it to other girls to actually be a musician-it still seems revolutionary to in fact be able to play an instrument, I’ve noticed. People are still like, ‘And she writes her own songs!’ It’s like, ‘Of course I write-I’m a writer!’ I think sometimes more attention is paid to (the girl thing) than it needs to be, but it’s okay. I want to do a good job.
TS: And you’ve been working on your own solo project. When’s that coming out?
EH: It’ll probably (be released) in September next year. It’s evolving into kind of a larger project. I think it’s going to be this sort of… orchestral compositions. It’ll be cool.
TS: The solo shows you did last year were very ‘anti-Metric,’ almost-totally stripped down, quiet, and intimate. It was an interesting contrast to the ‘rockstar Emily’ we’re used to seeing with the band.
EH: It was really hard to do, just putting yourself out there like that. But I’ll figure it out. I just want to make sure I don’t set myself up to do something really challenging for no reason.
Metric plays the second of two sold-out (sorry) shows tonight at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
