Metric Wonders What 'Indie' Means on Eve of Indie Awards

Canadian Music Week's premiere event is its annual Indie Awards ceremony, honouring the creme of the country's independent musician crop. But what does indie even mean anymore?

Does it mean stumbling out of bed at noon and moseying around one's hipster hood in search of coffee and sex? Does it imply drawn-out debates about blogging, roommates and ProTools? Are plaid shirts, cupcakes and Converse involved? Is it sponsored by American Apparel?

Let us ask Jimmy Shaw of Metric, who, after three albums released on various "indie" labels, self-released his band's fourth record, 'Fantasie' which is nominated for four Indie awards.

"What is indie? I think I had a better answer five years ago," he tells Spinner. "Now I have no clue. It's not the Junos, it's the Indie Awards, celebrating something where they put the word indie in front of it so they don't have to give it to Nickelback."

"For the most part, I find awards for the arts a little bit strange, but I'll take accolades when they come! It's an accepted part of the equation. People like to see good, evil; success, failure; winners, losers. It's part of the duality of human nature."

Philosophy aside, Jimmy -- ever the anthropologist -- has over the years observed the slow, steady rise of a new breed of rock star, one formed by "indie" values as opposed to the decadent rock stars of yore.

"Since Kurt Cobain died there hasn't really been a new massive icon," he says. "There seems to be a new era of rock stars who are way less excessive and way less ignorant. I think Thom Yorke is a great example of that. And Phoenix is a really good example. I mean, could the guy be any more chill and unassuming? Also, Andrew VanWyngarden from MGMT, the guys in Arctic Monkeys... Fans' fascination used to be about, 'Wow, that guy doesn't even know where his f---ing shoes are, it's amazing.'

"Things are different now."

The Indie Award Nominees are...

FAVOURITE ALBUM
Alexisonfire - Old Crows / Young Cardinals (Dine Alone)
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels (Nettwerk)
Japandroids - Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar)
Joel Plaskett - Three (MapleMusic)
Metric - Fantasies (Last Gang)

FAVOURITE SINGLE
Danny Fernandes - Fantasy (CP)
Deborah Cox - Beautiful U R (DECO/Image/E1)
Faber Drive - G-Get Up and Dance! (604)
Marianas Trench - Cross My Heart (604)
Metric - Gimme Sympathy (Last Gang)

FAVOURITE GROUP/DUO
Constantines (Arts & Crafts)
Handsome Furs (Sub Pop)
Metric (Last Gang)
Patrick Watson & The Wooden Arms (Secret City)
Tegan and Sara (Vapor/Sire)

FAVOURITE SOLO ARTIST
Coeur de Pirate (Dare To Care)
Dan Mangan (fileunder:music)
Joel Plaskett (MapleMusic)
Julie Doiron (Endearing)
Timber Timbre (Arts & Crafts)

FAVOURITE VIDEO
Alexisonfire - Young Cardinals (Dine Alone)
Danny Fernandes - Fantasy (CP)
Lights - Drive My Soul (Underground Operations)
Marianas Trench - Cross My Heart (604)
Theory Of A Deadman - All or Nothing (604)

FAVOURITE LIVE ARTIST/GROUP
Alexisonfire (Dine Alone)
Arkells (Dine Alone)
Metric (Last Gang)
The Trews (Bumstead)
You Say Party! We Say Die! (Paper Bag)

FAVOURITE BLUES ARTIST/GROUP
Colin James (MapleMusic)
Colin Linden (True North Records)
Harrison Kennedy (Electro-Fi)
Jim Byrnes (Black Hen)
Monkey Junk (Beefy Productions)

FAVOURITE CHILDREN'S ARTIST/GROUP
The Bee's Knees (The Children's Group)
Chris McKhool (Independent)
Duplex! (Mint Records Inc.)
The Funky Mamas (Independent)
The Kerplunks (Independent)

FAVOURITE CLASSICAL ARTIST/GROUP
Angele Dubeau (Analekta)
Gerald Finley (Hyperion)
James Ehnes (Onyx)
Karina Gauvin (ATMA Classique)
Quartetto Gelato (True North Records)

FAVOURITE COUNTRY ARTIST/GROUP
Dean Brody (Broken Bow Records)
Doc Walker (Open Road Recordings)
Johnny Reid (Open Road Recordings)
Road Hammers (Open Road Recordings)
Victoria Banks (OnRamp)

FAVOURITE ELECTRONIC ARTIST/GROUP
A-Trak (Fool's Gold)
Junior Boys (Domino)
Peaches (XL Recordings)
Shout Out Out Out Out (Normals Welcome)
Tiga (Last Gang)

FAVOURITE FOLK/ROOTS ARTIST/GROUP
Catherine MacLellan (True North Records)
Dan Mangan (fileunder:music)
Deep Dark Woods (Black Hen Music)
Great Lake Swimmers (Nettwerk)
The Wooden Sky (Black Box Music)

FAVOURITE FRANCOPHONE ARTIST/GROUP
Jean Leloup (Dare To Care)
La Patère Rose (Dare To Care)
Malajube (Dare To Care)
Mara Tremblay (Audiogram)
Marie-Pierre Arthur (Bonsound)

FAVOURITE JAZZ ARTIST/GROUP
Brandi Disterheft (Justin Time)
Diana Panton (Independent)
Don Thompson Quartet (Sackville)
Oliver Jones (Justin Time)
Sophie Milman (True North Records)

FAVOURITE METAL ARTIST/GROUP
3 Inches Of Blood (Century Media)
Augury (Sonic Unyon)
Protest The Hero (Underground Operations)
Sacrifice (Sonic Unyon)
Voivod (Sonic Unyon)

FAVOURITE POP ARTIST/GROUP
Chantal Kreviazuk (Nettwerk)
Danny Fernandes (CP Records)
Lights (Underground Operations)
Marianas Trench (604 Records)
Mother Mother (Last Gang)

FAVOURITE PUNK/HARDCORE ARTIST/GROUP
Alexisonfire (Dine Alone)
Comeback Kid (Smallman)
Dead and Divine (Distort)
Fucked Up (Jade Tree)
Propagandhi (Smallman)

FAVOURITE ROCK ARTIST/GROUP
Arkells (Dine Alone)
Desperate Union (Independent)
Die Mannequin (How To Kill Music)
The Rural Alberta Advantage (Paper Bag)
Theory Of A Deadman (604 Records)

FAVOURITE URBAN ARTIST/GROUP
D-Sisive (Urbnet)
Grand Analog (Urbnet)
Kae Sun (Urbnet)
Miles Jones (Urbnet)
Swollen Members (Suburban Noize)

FAVOURITE WORLD ARTIST/GROUP
Alex Cuba (Caracol)
Auresia (Independent)
Sultans Of String (Independent)
Vandana Vishwas (Independent)

FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL ALBUM
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
Girls - Album (True Panther Sounds)
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (Warp)
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glass Note)
The XX - The xx (Young Turks/XL)

FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL SINGLE
Cascada - Evacuate The Dancefloor (Awesome)
Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses (Domino)
Phoenix - 1901 (Glass Note)
Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) (Ultra)
Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch (Dangerbird Records)

FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL GROUP
Arctic Monkeys (Domino)
Dinosaur Jr. (Jagjaguwar)
Dirty Projectors (Domino)
Phoenix (Glass Note)
Silversun Pickups (Dangerbird Records)

FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL SOLO ARTIST
Atlas Sound (Kranky)
Neko Case (Anti)
Speech Debelle (Big Dada)
Tom Waits (Anti)
Tune-Yards (Marriage/4AD)

FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST/GROUP
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (Community Music/Fairfax Recordings)
Fever Ray (Rabid Records)
Friendly Fires (XL Recordings)
Passion Pit (French Kiss)
We Were Promised Jetpacks (FatCat Records)