‘Hey is that Jimmy?
‘Hey yeah, I’m kinda driving at the moment…can you hold on just a sec…?
‘…’
‘Sorry about that how’s it going?’
’No worries. It’s good how are y…’
’No worries. It’s good how are y…’
‘Fuck you!’
’…’
’…’
’Fuck you! Sorry, can you hold on for a second?’
’…’
’…’
’Will you get some papers? I’m busy right now…sorry about that man, my friends being an asshole. I’m good to go, shoot.’
Jimmy Shaw seems a little distracted. Not only has he possibly broken the law by answering my call in the first place (there was no indication of a hands free kit being used) the fleeting summer serenity he was enjoying is soon to be disturbed by a yammering hack in one ear and a vocal background disagreement about cigarette papers. It’s fair enough really as the Metric, and Broken Social Scene guitarist, is probably a little frayed after a year that’s seen Metric open for The Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden, a gruelling transatlantic tour and the belated release of album ‘Live it Out’ in the Europe.
Oblivious to the fact he’s soon to be left by the highway in the general Seattle area and disregarding the odd 18 wheel interruption and subsequent time lapses spent establishing whether Jimmy’s road kill or not, he’s happy to talk about the Canadian music scene, Sheffield on a Friday night and the prospect of Metric’s coolness. Actually he’s just happy the sun’s out.
‘Things are really good. We’ve been touring for 3 and a half months, finished up in the UK and now we’ve all kind of split up and gone our own ways for a while; four corners of the globe kind of thing. I’m in Seattle at the moment mixing a record in this wonderful 400 year old barn studio called Bearcreek for a side project and the sun’s out and its summer.’
For anyone unfamiliar with the band, Metric are reinforcements for the current Canadian invasion. Formed in a Brooklyn basement, Metric’s sultry, refined pop sound might be slightly removed from their raggedy cousins but the maple leaf seal of approval remains much the same even if the band recruitment process isn’t as stringent.‘Emily and I have known each other for about 10 years but the band actually formed in an apartment in Brooklyn. Emily and I were doing some shows where I was drumming and I’m a terrible drummer, and this guy came up to me after one of the shows and said he really liked what we did. I said he should join us in an offbeat way and it turned out he played drums and we call him Joules now. He’s our drummer. He had a great haircut and a nice girlfriend so it all worked out.’
A MSTRKRFT remix of the already sublime ‘Monster Hospital’ gradually worked its way onto playlists and dance floors across the country and despite Jimmy’s insistence ‘the original is better’ it didn’t do too much harm to their street cred as witnesses to any of their UK shows would testify;
‘The tour was great. We’ve always been really hesitant to come over to England but it was intriguing. We’d done a huge tour of North America and didn’t really know what to expect coming here. I think we successfully stayed drunk the whole time and had a load of fun and everyone else had a good time. I expected arms crossed and serious faces because we were told some crowds can be quite tough but the Barfly was a total mosh pit and kids were stage diving and throwing themselves everywhere. Everyone was moving. It was chaos.’
‘Hang on… (Jimmy shouts to Gas station attendant) did the guy who just bought coffee split…the guy in the green convertible?’
’Oh yeah he left.’
’Fuck! He left me on the side of the highway. Ah well it’s a nice day and I don’t mind walking…where were we?’
’Oh yeah he left.’
’Fuck! He left me on the side of the highway. Ah well it’s a nice day and I don’t mind walking…where were we?’
Playing Madison Square Garden is like, a big deal. Supporting the Stones at Madison Square Garden is like, huuuuuuge. Isn’t it?
‘It’s the fucking Stones. We could headline Madison Square Garden or whatever but because it’s the Stones it’s a big show. There’s a lot of shitty shows there as well but I don’t look at it as ‘the next big step’ or anything. We could have been paid £3 million to open for the Stones or played 8 sold out nights in the Coliseum in Rome and it wouldn’t make any difference.’
So you’re in Brighton and people are speaking French and pouring syrup on everything (doubtful) it’s at that point you realise it’s The Great Escape and there’s a silly amount of Canadian bands on the bill. Lucky for us, they’re all friends…
’There’s a lot of amazing bands and a lot of camaraderie between us all. I’ve lived a lot of places and hung out with musicians in different scenes but everyone is really friendly and supportive in the Canadian one. You don’t walk into a room and someone ignores you so there’s no rock n roll pretension or anything and half the time you just have to kind of know someone and you’re friends straight away and that’s fucking great.’
With Arcade Fire soaring to mainstream acclaim, Canada’s music scene has continually been put under the spotlight and acts like The New Pornographers, Death From Above 1979, Wolf Parade and Broken Social Scene have all made the indie grade over the past year whilst solo acts like AC Newman and Neko Case have also risen to prominence through their bands. With a wealth of talent, a revolving door band policy and an eagerness to help each other out, it might just be lazy but it’s what friends are for.
‘We all help each other out as producers, musicians, friends, whatever. It’s easy because there’s just this endless pool of talent where everyone’s using each other and having a great time doing it. It’s nice not to have to leave your circle of friends to go to work. You know? Me and Emily can play with Broken Social Scene and go straight to playing with Metric without really thinking about it. Metric and BSC couldn’t sound more different but couldn’t be closer in terms of the people involved.’’It’s surprising to be cool all of a sudden’ he mulls;
‘The scene is dictated by the fact the bands are so good and there’s no doctrine or ideal that we all abide by or anything. It’s because we’re all such good musicians that we can play with each other and there be no problems.’
With the festival circuit beckoning, ‘Live it Out’ due for UK release on July 10 and a secondary influx of Canadian bands, Jimmy’s relaxed to the point of blasé about any frenzy; ‘I’m not worried by major exposure because it’s not going to affect my greater cause or major career plan or anything. I have no desire to enter the NME sweepstakes or anything because I feel although they cover a lot of good bands they choose some for the wrong reasons. It’s all fickle enough as it is but if people pick up on us and like what they hear then it’s all good.’
With the festival circuit beckoning, ‘Live it Out’ due for UK release on July 10 and a secondary influx of Canadian bands, Jimmy’s relaxed to the point of blasé about any frenzy; ‘I’m not worried by major exposure because it’s not going to affect my greater cause or major career plan or anything. I have no desire to enter the NME sweepstakes or anything because I feel although they cover a lot of good bands they choose some for the wrong reasons. It’s all fickle enough as it is but if people pick up on us and like what they hear then it’s all good.’
Having spent 20 minutes walking in baking sunshine, minus both a convertible and the elusive cigarette papers it seems as good a time as any to ask him about something he hated;
’Sheffield. I was there on a Friday and I wanted to go out and get something to eat. There were too many people walking down the street with little clothes’.
’You mean like mini skirts, crop tops, that kind of thing?’
’Yeah, exactly. Know your size people.’
’You mean like mini skirts, crop tops, that kind of thing?’
’Yeah, exactly. Know your size people.’
Luckily only Leeds and Reading beckon for Metric this time round and with aspirations ‘to be the shining highlight of the Carling Weekend’ Metric may just be made to measure.
Live photos by: Sharjo
