Metric Interview: SXSW 2010

When it came time for Toronto vedettes Metric to make their fourth record, rather than sign with a major, the synth-rock indie icons did it on their own.

The band's self-released 'Fantasies' was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize and earned them several Juno nominations, including group of the year, alongside special gigs like the recent all-star Neil Young tribute in Vancouver, and a shared bill with Patti Smith during New York Fashion Week.

"It's been amazing," says jubilant guitarist and co-founder Jimmy Shaw, reached in Toronto days before frontwoman Emily Haines will arrive for a pre-SXSW songwriting and studio session for Metric's fifth record. "For the first time in our lives, we really had the patience to sit back and wait for the record to gel and lock."

Describe your sound in your own words.

Metered emotional dance rock

How did your band form?

Over a common disgust of white funk.

What are your musical influences?

Film.

How did you come up with your band name?

It was a word I used to save a beat on a sampler and it just seemed to make sense.

What's your biggest vice?

Vices.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Well, really, to be honest with you, it's nothing. But my friend showed me this awesome thing that looked like a tube of Mentos, and you take out one of the little things that look like Mentos and you add water to it and it pops up into a one-foot by one-foot moist towel! Of course, I'm the drunk guy showing everyone and when I need a moist towel there are none left.

Who was your first celeb crush?

Alyssa Milano from 'Who's the Boss,' like "Oh my god, you're so hot and I'm so six right now."

Beatles or Stones?

The Kinks.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Daria wearing a headband and hippie clothing and doing the hippie dance at our Fashion Week show. I just thought, "wow, that girl's hot," and turns out she's a supermodel.