Metric

Part 1

0:29Awesome, we're at the Air Canis and it's amazing. It is. It's really cool for you guys. It is. It's very exciting I mean it feels you know natural after being in arenas all across the country, but yeah On the tour I expect you to walk out tonight and be like wow, but it's like they all kind of look the same So good. They all look like rooms like this. I'm sure for most of the day. Yeah, what's it been like? They're playing in rooms like this. I mean across Kansas your home country. This is the hometown show tonight It feels like there's a lot of hometown shows on there doesn't it? Yeah, it's true Well, we all got to school in different places in the country and between the two bands all the time We've spent many cities like Vancouver. I mean pretty much every city We've worked our way up from the smallest venue to the biggest So we have a real connection with people who live there and we've spent a lot of time in every city so it's It's felt great. I mean we were literally joking in Calgary that like there was a week probably back in

1:182004 or something like that But I think we spent 10 days just going back and forth to be in Calgary and Edmonton We like lived at the days in on 7 16th Avenue Northwest or I don't know Calgary addresses Don't make any sense, but you know we like lived in this hotel for like 10 days and ever since then we were always joke It's like you know we're basically from Calgary at that point from everywhere and we're up from here I know we're talking about that. We got some plans for next year, but It was a good question word. Yeah, there's definitely there can't not be an up. There's always an up, but Sometimes you know in the early days of being a band the up is so clear It's just like the venue that fits a hundred more people is up You know like numbers are just up and then it there comes a point not to say at all like we've reached the top of numbers

2:03because that definitely hasn't happened but You know you kind of reach a point where it's possible that all the people that would like your music know and know your music and like your music and You know in some territories, and I don't know there's definitely an element of Finding out What's next? Internally as opposed to externally. Yeah, and there's all the film stuff to you. That's around you know We have our own studio Jimmy's been just like doing another round of renovations on that So there's a there's a lot of possibilities of a lot of things that we can do. It's exciting. I'm writing an opera All right, that wouldn't be surprising. I'm sure we're working ever that not writing an opera. I'm not I was thinking maybe opera Next up might be production stuff So I think it was you that was talking about seeing Roger Waters at Coachella and just like the surround sound and like really respecting the audience in terms

2:49Yeah, amazing. Yeah. Yeah, so in terms of this tour I guess the production value must have been up to to do arenas across this country. Yeah, well we work with such great people You know we have such talented people that have been on our crew for a lot of them for many years And I think it's kind of the same feeling for them of having the opportunity to have a you know a bigger a bigger canvas to work with And I really love what what they've come up with Yeah, it's a lot of people involved in every day. It's unbelievable when we come out It's like you know the number of hard hats on the tables and the number of people who are kind of really working around the clock to set the whole thing up It's really impressive very talented people that we are fortunate to work with for sure I mean we definitely share that sentiment of of respecting the fact that people are coming into these huge rooms and we need to be able to fill the room with

3:35with the show and and You know we like the idea of putting on a massive arena show and we like you know big spectacle and and Usually when people in our crew come up to us and pitch us on amazing ideas of lighting rigs and staging stuff And you know where to always we always get inevitably get the call from our manager That's like why did I told them not to pitch you on that stuff because I'm trying to make sure that you guys can like live and pay rent And yet you want to spend everything on four million lights for like three shows Well, yeah, I mean and that's the irony is in this age it really is a labor of love for you know Even at the level that we're at it's just a very different industry than it was you know as we joke like when people were making eagles money You know or like you know it's just not you have to begin it for something out of it money because that's

4:23That's not what's there you put at least in our case We put so much back into the whole thing because that's the experiences is the point So you know we're not gonna come all this way and then she the audience out of you know We want to give them the most incredible show that we can so So yeah, definitely not a recommended career path if you if you don't really love it You touched on something there about the fans and you guys made a record before Synthetica that was more for you than for the fans and you realized maybe we should do something more for the fans So where's the disconnect between making something for yourself and make it for the fans kind of more like we were hanging out Having a really good time at our own studio through the winter and wrote way too many songs that had like five-minute Outros that were just us jamming and having a really good time

5:08I think it was and then at the end we kind of had to edit it down and add a few things and make it more a metric record It was just it was just really fun frankly It's just that we had not used any sort of objective eye Yeah, and so when you make something without objectivity You know you're gonna discover a few things once you step outside and come back and go I'm so obvious that for 14 minutes like that's really not necessary And it wasn't necessarily like like oh my god our fans aren't gonna like this It's like I am one of those fans and I didn't really like it And I was identifying with what I knew they would feel so like what you want from a metric record You know, it's like yeah, we can all play let's go to the Dakota and play till dawn amazing, but you know Yeah, I love that place But yeah, it was a pretty yeah pretty pretty hilarious revelation because we all had it at the same time and you know

5:57We called Jules to be Jimmy called Jules our drummer to say hey man We're actually not done the record at all and he said yeah I knew you were gonna say that because it was too easy You know you have to really it was too much fun You got to go back in and really push yourself and that was that last stage of electric lady It was really great To to really tighten it up and bring it together and Josh was saying it was the most comfortable that anyone's felt in the studio together the success of fantasies for us allowed us to Not feel like we had to just fight for anything that we were gonna get you know which is definitely how we felt in old world underground and live it out and Like we just felt like at any moment if we made two bad decisions consecutively the whole thing would be over and We didn't feel that way after fantasies, you know fantasies sort of put us on a level where?

6:44you know, we had the buffer of maybe making like in mistake and And And that led to like a level of comfort, you know that was that was like we weren't so nervous about what was gonna happen I also think that we've been working together for long enough at that point We know who each other is and we've come to terms with you know our own growth and our growth as a group and our growth as individuals and friendships and that You know, we just work smoother together when someone decides to throw their little hissy fit which we all do all four of us Outrageous, you know, I'm not I would not say one member more than any other. I really genuinely wouldn't Mine are ridiculous when they happen and I'm pretty glad I don't have to see it from the outside But we know we all know what to do now. It's like no one gets offended. No one gets freaked out. No one gets

7:35Annoyed or pissed off. You just just take it and stride, you know, it's not that took 10 years of relationships now that we're there It's it's easier. It's really boring, but no, I'm just kidding Did the success lead to success lead to more creativity or you need a break? I mean you toured what pretty two years Really inspired at the time like this There's something that happens like in a moment where you know Like we've always talked about the idea that the success of the band was so slow and steady, you know for two in 2010 it did a thing that it had never done before and that was a really exciting time You know and that was I think we all came out of that time really juiced up, you know So we took that energy in and just went right in with it. Yeah, and instead of pressure. It was actually the absence of

8:26Fear or something. It was like Jimmy was saying like it was so nice for us to feel like finally people were listening They seemed to understand it was like okay. Yeah, we don't have to battle this every step of the way just to get our music heard It felt like we finally kind of had some ears and we could develop as artists as opposed to just Trying to prove something What about you as a lyricist cuz I heard you say you were trying to be as honest as you could with this record without being autobiographical Yeah, it's more like I just don't personally go in for the confessional tone like I'm not someone who writes lyrics from your journal You know what I mean? I just not my style and the artists that I've really admired have take a different tone and I just I'm just personally kind of fascinated by like, you know the the use of the pronoun and how you can say I When you're talking about someone else and you can say you when you're talking about yourself and just like always exploring

9:17You know your tricks there everybody knows but always exploring, you know What's what is the what is the emotion of the community around you your friends? Like I don't feel like I'm only speaking for myself when I write, you know I'm like considering what I've seen happen in the lives of my bandmates and my friends and family and my city and the world and you know like just trying to be like, you know, aware beyond your own little stupid problems, so Yeah Did that answer the question I think so any I mean to tie it up because we're gonna close things up with the friends thing Stars are on tour with you. Yeah, I'm forever everyone's been talking about this But that's got are they coming on songs cuz Chris and Evan play on to the tracks at least on this record We talked about doing that but on stage you mean yeah

10:04It was a little annoying and and then we just kind of I don't know there's an element of we just want to Relax, you know, we'd we rather do yeah like what we've been doing like they come to our bus after the show Evans, you know He's got his little baby on tour and he kind of needs to be you know a dad at moments and which is beautiful to see and But the tour has been I'm just gonna be tears later on. There's put it that way Yeah, it's because it'll be over after tonight and it took after the first night in Victoria We realized that the last time these two bands shared a stage was March 2002 where was that yeah, that was at bottom of the hill in San Francisco and so it's 10 and a half years and That's ridiculous And trying to probably try and find a way to do it again somehow before I let you go five good questions one more dancers

10:58Road or studio Both strode you know, I'm gonna be brutal at this one. Okay. Well, I know we're currently read When you hear song usually hits you first lyrics melody or rhythm rhythm song you've written your most proud of I Ask everyone these questions. I know they're not easy. I hate this this this format the surefire like rapid fire like dogs or cats I think they're a little more than the dogs or cats No, I'm sure people find it. I'm sure your your viewers really enjoy it, but I'm just Suck at it. Yeah, I love this is really to me like I don't you know, let me think ahead. What was the question? Best time we ever wrote hustle rose I really like that song well, then why don't we ever play it? Well, I have a little swim what you're what are you most excited to play tonight?

11:52Gold guns girls because I just get to solo like crazy good reason all right in one word Ah, come on in one structure. Hey, that might be a good one in one word metric structure. Yeah Finally I cracked the code of the sheriff the rapid fire one more answers just give the answer before the question you can Thank you. You've taught me a lot Here to educate thanks guys. Thank you. I appreciate it

Part 2

0:05So you guys just shot a video for Lost Kid? We did. Like a week ago. Tell me about this. What was that like? Well, I have to tell you, my favorite thing is not being in videos. I think it's kind of a strange medium, to be honest. And it's a time that's interesting because of all the online view, you know, viewing you can get the online viewage. It's a whole other world for short. Films for really great directors and people who want to do things that are outside the confines of like, you know, look hot and lean on a car, you know, which I've actually, I walked around a car in Youth Without Youth video. I actually like that video. I think it got cut though, didn't it? Did it? I think it was just my leg or something. For a minute it was like, hot car shot. I think we were like, Emily's leg makes that car look fat, so let's get it. Nice. But so the Lost Kid video, we're really excited because we're working with this director called Sammy Raul,

0:52he's a Canadian director and a production company called Believe, that's out of New York. And it's a really, really cool thing they did. I don't want to give too much away, but they went and shot in Mexico. And they're exploring all sorts of interesting mythological meanings of the search for your, for the mother, for the, for the, for this sort of spiritual self that we're all kind of missing. And the protagonist is a highly unusual protagonist for what you would probably visualize. I've been sending out some little sneak peeks of it and people are really freaking out that the protagonist is not actually a kitten. But then I just send them to that cat that's running for mayor in Mexico. I don't know if you saw that, I was just like, there's always more as the cat that's running for mayor. But I don't want to give too much away, but yes, I'm really excited to see the great work of Sammy and his whole team.

1:42It's going to be true. I'm trying to sound like a kitten in that song. I feel like you're trying to do like the cutest voice possible. I know, I know, it's funny. It's funny that's this song that evolved over a long time. I started that in Buenos Aires actually before fantasies. And it was, it was this sort of like, yeah, like a kitten could rap or something. I don't know what the hell it is. And the storyline is highly, I don't know. A lot of times when I'm writing things, I think it's a lot of subconscious stuff. In that case of cultural expectations of girls or something about that of like, you know, kitten on the catwalk, high heel shoes and like, you know, victim of the system, say it isn't so, you know, in this sort of sympathy you feel sometimes for young women, you're just like, do you want to be doing that? You know? So, but in the end, hopefully it's just a great jam that people enjoy. So speaking of great jams, you guys just played through great jams.

2:27You guys want to talk about writing one of those? Any three I'll let you guys choose which one? Let's see. Well, I mean, the middle song Synthetic of, it turned into like this thing. At some point, we have this board in the studio, which is like, you know, just like soundproofing stuff that you can pin stuff up on. And we have all these ideas up on the board and we're making that record in particular. And there were everything from like, you know, a chord change to a lyric to a song title to, you know, and it was like, yeah, sure. And it was like an inspiration, you know. And so we had this song that started out actually as a little Tokyo. And then it sort of kept evolving and every single time I would go to an instrument, I'd be like, oh, I'm writing a new song and it'd be the exact same chords, the exact same tempo, the same melody, and then Emily would be like, you wrote that like nine times in a row.

3:17And so every time it would have sort of one extra little section and then one night we sat in the studio and we were like, I wonder if all of these things are going to come together to make this one big piece of music. So we went over to the other board and we put this word void right in the middle of this huge thing. It was the only thing over there. And it was like the all ominous sort of overseeing sound of the whole record. And eventually it got sort of whittled and whittled down. Yeah, I mean it was like 45 minutes of music or something that we managed to make in Sisanthetica. And it was one of the last ones we finished because I struggled with the, now the lyrics flow really, they make sense, I hope they make sense to you. But I feel like it's one of the more clear lyrical songs. But I struggled with that bridge, I struggled with little parts really passionately, like fought for the things I wanted to say.

4:07And a lot of what's interesting in our processes with Jimmy and I with writing together is, you know, anyone who knows my solo material, you know, I also like to write sort of abstract more ethereal stuff that's not necessarily like clear what the hell I'm talking about, but you get a feeling. But so a lot of with metric what we've been working on is being like, no, I kind of want to know what you're actually saying. I want to feel at least emotionally feel connected with what you're saying. So there's been a lot of meat, you know, in that song, I like how are these lyrics? And Jimmy would be like, totally, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I'd be like, damn, if you don't know, and you've been playing music with me for 15 years, someone who's just, you know, checking out the jam, what are they going to be like, what now? So it's been a really amazing process of just clarifying really what are you trying to say? I mean, you can get away with a lot of ambiguity lyrically, but you know, my dad was a writer, so he was very serious about the value of each word and sort of austere use of language.

5:00So it's a good challenge. It's the direction of going with my writing. I was watching the interview with you on yesterday preparing for this and you mentioned your father. And I was wondering, have you ever thought about taking some of his words and putting them into tunes? Like, have you used his lyrics before? I actually have, and it's happened in a really beautiful, almost like my father's passed away, in a sort of beautiful ghostly way. An example is the song Dream So Real from Synthetica. He has a poem which I'm actually going to read for you from my mind and heart. It's a really good example of his writing, which is Dream So Real, we wake up in them, remembering none of them, an odd woe stirring us so. You know, it's lovely. It's almost like a haiku or something. So with that song, I really struggled for a title for a long time. It was called The Song That Has No Name. And people that care about us were just like, guys, you can't, no, the song, that's not fair to the song.

5:52I love that, too. Did you? I thought it was fun. It became Dream So Real. Yeah, it's a great title. It's connected with, you know, and thematically that song is sort of looking at that question of like, I don't know, doing this my whole life. I give everything to it. I hope I'm making a difference. But in the end, you're just kind of like, you realize you're just this little thing on the radio and you're just such a peripheral part of culture, you know, in a way. And it's like maybe I should be doing something completely else where I could genuinely help people because, I don't know. You're doing with the necklace, aren't you? What did I read? Oh, that's cool. Fleet For Hear Me. What is this? It's a beautiful project. I'm the friend. She's a really amazing designer of jewelry and other things. And she's from Vancouver. And she started a company called Fleet. And she came up with this idea of doing a collaboration with this really amazing organization called Hear Me that finds a way to get equipment into schools or

6:39villages, places where kids have no way of getting just an instrument under their hands or in no way of capturing anything they might write. You know, which for me has been such a blessing just to record it. My dad always said, whatever it is, you're just playing a piano, just record it. You know, just give yourself that opportunity. So she did a collaboration with them. And we designed this, I wish I was wearing one. It's a pen and it's a pen. It looks just like kind of a cool necklace. But when you open it up, there's a pen. And there, and it says, believe in the power of songs, which is a line from DreamSorial. So, yeah, it's a nice thing to be part of. And it's a little, a very small contribution to one thing. But it helps. It's better than nothing. It's kind of a thing. So believe in the power of songs, I was going to ask you guys, for each of you, from either a musician's point of view or as a listener, where has the power of song brought you?

7:25I know. Manifest Destiny, man. Well, this morning it brought us to a bunch of airports. And you're leaving one in an hour to go to Niagara and Flint, I was talking about it. Exactly. I mean, it's brought us everywhere we've ever gone. You know, it's, I think in the beginning we had a ridiculously naive sense of where a song could take you. And pretty sure we still maybe have a ridiculously naive sense of where songs can take us. Because it keeps actually happening. Like, a really good example of, of it to me as Stadium Love, which, you know, fantasies was so well received, it was such a breakthrough album for us. But maybe some of you guys know the many years we spent before that, you know, it's like, we've lived out an old world underground. And so, Stadium Love was such a sort of dream. It was just like, yeah, imagine like a stadium.

8:10I mean, we were playing in clubs when we wrote that song. And then, throughout the life of that album, somehow we manifested this thing of where, because of the song itself in order to properly present it live, it was like, yeah, we should really be up the production. And it sort of was a visualization, like a sonic expression of where we wanted to go. And then we found ourselves at the end of that cycle, like playing with muse, you know, like in a normal dorm dome in New Jersey. In New Jersey with like the one that cops gave us the escort out. I was just like, Stadium Love, wow, you know, as opposed to my tendency would be to write songs that are just like, this is what's wrong, this is what's bad, this is probably going to be this bad forever, you know. And then you start to realize, is that going to take me, you know, do I want to live with that?

8:58We're still realizing at some point that, you know, especially lyrically, you're saying you're repeating stuff every single night. And you're saying it like with passion. So you should be careful what you're saying, because you're going to end up living whatever, you know, you're preaching and teaching and repeating on a daily basis. So it's, we started realizing that maybe, you know, what we were writing would actually sort of start to change the path of what was happening externally as well. And I think that was a powerful realization. Yeah, and help him alive was a big one for that too, for me, because I would just be, you know, it's just so nerve-racking to get in front of people. And like, you know, especially in this time, you put yourself so out there and it's kind of anyone can throw anything at you verbally or, you know, beer bottles or whatever. Twitter balls. Twitter balls, yeah. It's a really intense existence. And I had struggled so much with just exactly the feeling of that song of like, you know, I tremble, they're going to eat me alive.

9:53Like, and then sort of the really just was honest about how scared I was every time I stood up on stage, but suddenly I had a song that instead of fighting it or doing like a lot of sort of, you know, operation compensation as we used to call it, just like, I'm going to just like run around of here and nobody will notice me. It's like not really working, but so, you know, that's a way to express it that I could own it. And then the chorus of that song is sort of like, it's like your own cheerleader being like, if you're still alive, my regrets are few, you know, it's like, you can do this. It's okay. And it really resonated with other people, I think, in the same way. So that was a good example of the power of songs, too. I was just thinking that you guys have to go to Niagara since, and I do want to get some of these fan questions in. Audrey Lee, what's your favorite song to play on tour and why? Why?

10:38Why? We actually answered this one the other day and it's funny because someone asked the question, what's your favorite song to play on tour? Or what's the song that just the set doesn't feel complete unless you play? Oh, yeah. And we sort of latched onto the second half of that because, you know, we realized recently we've actually never played a show without playing Dead Disco, not one. And it's a song from Old World Underground, which is 2003. We've tried. I believe you sent me an actual CD to my collodrated station back in the summer. Is that right? You used to mail them, right? Yeah, I used to put them in the envelope and, yeah, that's cool. And strangely, the song has become, you know, internally our biggest point of expression because we've been playing it for so long, it's so free. We feel like we can do whatever we want to do within it.

11:26And it's taken us to so many different weird and awesome musical places where, you know, we walk off stage and it's become the thing that will guide us forward into the next musical direction. It's just this, like, you know, our oldest child in a sense, you know, the like the pimply teenager of all of our songs. Yeah, and breathing underwater is just like a pristine little baby. Yeah. That just goes like, we're. Does it fit better beside other songs in the set? Like, does it need to live in a certain place at the beginning at the end? It usually lives at the end. Near the end. It's hard to start the set with like a 12-minute jam. We did that at that really horrible place in Milwaukee once. Yeah, we played this place called the rave in Milwaukee that's like, it's bad. It was just, it was right across from where Jeffrey Dahmer lived, like seriously.

12:11No, all the crew were like, hey, do you see Dahmer's place? It's like, no, no, no way. And then it was down in the basement and then it was like, they would shoot horror movies down there, like they'd fill it with water and shoot horror movies. It was just like, ahh! It was really loud. Everyone hated us. We just played that disco for like 15 minutes and then ran away. That kind of leads into Kristen Turco's question. What is the thought process behind choosing which older songs to include in a set? Well, simply it's the ones that we still know how to play. Yeah, true. We'll even talk about that a lot lately as well because you know, you have to sort of go into when you're out on the road. It's a pretty big production. We get a lot of people, you know, five people crew and there's big trucks and you, so sometimes you're going into a festival setting where it's an hour. And you just, there's just no room for like, and now, you know, track eight from album one.

12:57It's just not effective. So a lot of the last few years have been to really try to curate for people who are maybe new to the band. Like the most impactful sort of collection of our past material. But I think we're hoping in the fall to open it up more and play some of the other ones like Ending Start and, you know, IOU from Old World. We haven't played in so long and it's kind of, it's cool. How's the Rose? We've played a bit. That's one of the ones she asked for. Oh really? I think that one's going to come back. I think so. It's just kind of, you know, it's just, it's a big production to keep everything going and find the time. And so I think it'd be nice for us musically to be with someone. We ran into the producer from Old World Underground on the street in New York two days ago. It's so weird. And there's Michael Andrews. He did the Donnie Darko soundtrack. And a bunch of soundtracks, since then. Yeah. But he discovered us at the Silver Lake Lounge in LA.

13:43They were like, Anne Person there. We were talking about that song. He still, he uses the word radical all the time. He's like, not rad. He actually says, radical, man. He's awesome. We were talking about that song and it just kind of came up. And I think it occurred to both me and Emily. Like, it's come up in the past, but then running into him and he's got a big beard. Something about the beard and the radical. It's more important. You know, it's like, it's working. We've got to do this song. Yeah. It's a little comeback. You alluded to playing shows in the fall. So last time we saw you was the ACC here in November. So another tour past everyone kind of like. Yeah, we're still putting it together, you know. And trying, I think the big thing we're trying to do is, you know, you work so hard to get this thing up off the ground. And we're so happy that we do. But then you have to make sure you don't just repeat yourself. You know, so it's multi-faceted. It's like everyone in their work and their life. Like, you accomplish something and you're like, okay, good. But then you don't just go like, yep.

14:29You know, it doesn't really get you anywhere. So we have to look at, you know, other sides of our musical ability. What do we want to make sure we keep developing and don't, you don't want to become like, I'm the girl that goes like this and sings Native love, you know. I love that I can rock the faces off of 10,000 people. But I also like playing small clubs and, you know, I really like doing it. All the things in between is playing the ACC for us was very much like, wow, we set out, just do something at the beginning of this band. And that was it. And I think it opened up an opportunity to re-envision what might be in the future. Yeah, like all sorts of possibilities of sonic things and different collaborations. I don't think I've totally come up with the answer for that yet. But I'd like the question. Yeah, we talked about it in November too and I think you guys are still trying to figure it out. So I got a lot of things happen since then. Nothing.

15:14Certainly a couple of three j-nose. Sitting around just going like, yep. Yeah. So last time we did five questions, it was interesting. We're going to see if this works again. I think you figured out how to crack the code last time. The lightning round. Exactly. But do you remember how you figured it out last time? What, no, what? Okay. We'll see if this happens. Road or studio? Studio right now. Yeah, studio right now. Landon or McCartney? Don't do this to me. Ringo. Ha ha. James? Well, you just have to think George Harrison. Are you still reading? I just got to Harrison. Yeah. When you hear a song, what usually is you first? Lyric's Melody or Rhythm? Rhythm. I think it's Melody for me probably. A song you've written you're most proud of. Aww. I got to say, I mean, artificial nocturnes kind of like, yeah. Yeah, I did. Yeah, I started the record like that.

15:59Yeah, I was going to say that's why I started. Okay. Yeah. Oh, maybe Hustle Rose. Yeah, that's the good one. That's what you said last time. Yeah. In one word, metric. Love, man. Yeah, family. Awesome. Thanks guys. Bye.