Metronomy: Interview

Electronic music took a bit of a battering last year.  And I don’t mean in the physical sense, I’m talking about the shaping, experimenting and the development of a genre that has for many years been largely peddled in club environments and not so much on the live scene.

Whether Metronomy was instrumental in it’s rebirth is like asking whether the Klaxons did actually instigate Nu Rave, i.e. questionable, but it is thanks to the 3 piece in question that as a style of music it became representative of 2008 and is leading the way in 2009. Laptop aficionados aside, we are talking innovation led, conceptual dance, aided by their precise visual aesthetic (light up t-shirts bought for a quid) which has been grasped, well, from practically here to kingdom come.

Key instigator Joseph Mount, has been prolific on the production scene for a while now, and has a list of remixing projects almost longer than the Bayeux Tapestry under his belt. And along with his Metronomy comrades Gabriel Stebbing and Oscar Cash their genre defying clash of electronic and indie, amalgamated with a pinch of pop and a sprinkling of satire has almost rendered them untouchable on the hipster scene and inspiration fodder for anyone else trying to replicate the sound.

Last year’s album ‘Nights Out’ successfully combated 2nd album syndrome and shattered any preconceptions people may have had of Metronomy in the wake of album number 1.  The progression was extreme in many ways besides the fact that the sound and the band in fact had expanded, but provided them the opportunity to smash up the live circuit and break out from the underground comfort blanket that had enveloped them before their deal with Because Music.

We wait with baited breath for album numero trios, anticipated later this year (although Joe admits its just in idea form so far) to see what direction they pursue, and are intrigued as to the individual interests of each member.  Mount remains in demand for his skills as a producer, Cash plays bass for the band Saturn and Stebbing is stepping out of the Metronomy shadows as frontman and guitarist for new buzz band Your Twenties.

But first things first.  If you didn’t know before, Topman has become the latest brand to jump on the club night bandwagon with CTRL.  A concept where every month a band of their choice becomes the night’s controller, meaning that they get to curate the night themselves, get in a load of bands they rate to play, throw in a bit of press and spin the pioneers.  Launch night was Metronomy’s night, who added a bit of a European flavour to the Hoxton proceedings with live shows from Your Twenties, Kapo Von Napoo and Kamerakino.

Before the night got off to a start, we caught up with Joe and Gabriel to find out more about Topman CTRL, their album and the phenomenal year that was 2008.

4or The Record: We are here at Hoxton Bar & because you are the first band to be curating the first Topman CTRL monthly series, in which tonight you are programming the first show.  Tell us what it is all about.
Gabriel: Yeah, what’s it all about Joe?
Joe: It’s a nice little earner that’s what its all about [laughing].  Well basically they kind of said we will promote a gig and you can pick the bands, so it’s just kind of new bands that we like who will be playing tonight.

4TR: Ok so I see the link with Your Twenties playing tonight, because Gabriel also plays in that band, but is there any kind of Metronomy involvement with the others?
Joe: Well with Koko von Napoo, one of the girls from the band is a music journalist in France so we kept meting her in Paris…
Gabriel: and even in Barcelona as well, and at Benicassim she was there too.
Joe: Yeah and she gave me a 7 inch record of theirs to listen to, but I didn’t have a record player for like 6 months so just kept looking at it and thinking oh it looks alright, then finally played it and it was great.  It’s nice because Kamerakino are German and Koko Von Napoo are French and at the moment there’s not a great deal of bands in England that we get particularly excited about…apart from Your Twenties [laughs], but there’s some really good stuff happening in Europe, and because we get to travel around so much we get the chance to see it.  [Laughing] Its kind of an arms around Europe concert tonight.
Gabriel: [laughing] Yeah well obviously France, Germany and England are at the brink of war at the moment so we’re going to try and solve it through music and this concert is about bringing everyone together.
4TR: Along with Topman?
Gabriel: Yes us and Topman.
Joe: [laughs] Yeah he’s around too.

4TR: Lets talk about Metronomy and the last year, which was huge for you.  Did you expect the album ‘Nights Out’ to be as applauded as it was?
Joe: [laughs] As it is you mean?  I think no, you never expect it but you kind of hope absolutely that it will happen.  I mean we toured for so long without having anything out for various reasons and after a while you begin to worry about what people think about you or whether they kind of think you’re a joke.  So to always be confident in what you are doing and to finally release an album and a platform for people to kind of let you know you are alright; it’s quite an ego trip in a way.

4TR: There must be a million highlights from 2008, but any in particular stand out for each of you personally?
Gabriel: Playing in Auckland was a highlight, because for me that was the farthest away that we had ever been from home.  I mean you can’t get any further unless you go to the moon or something.
Joe: [laughing] I’m just going to shatter your universe now, but the moon isn’t the furthest you can go.
Gabriel: [laughing] Ok yeah whatever, I mean nobody has been further than the moon other than one of those dogs they put up there.  Anyway so we played in New Zealand and the gig was sold out and personally the concept of that was amazing.
4TR: What the fact that your music had been picked up around the world?
Gabriel: Absolutely!
Joe: I think the same thing happened when we played in Mexico, then in Japan and Australia.  You worry that you will be met with nothing, and so to go to these places and to be met like that is like how you dreamt it to be as a child.  So I guess the highlight is the whole thing and then to feel it’s going well. 

4TR: Do you feel like you have achieved that elusive crossover element with your record now that it has been picked up in the mainstream as well as on the underground circuit?
Joe: [laughing] I don’t know if we have crossed over to be honest.
4TR: Well to sell out in Auckland and other countries around the world is huge, plus a lot of people and publications put ‘Nights Out’ in their top ten record of 2008 lists. 
Joe: Yeah its amazing; I suppose the thing is it sort of feels like if you are playing in the band you are in this funny position. You’re between the audiences who love you as you are and are happy with everything you do, but then also behind you are record labels who always want you to move forward.  So you never really feel like you have reached a point where you are kind of in the public domain, because there’s always someone going ‘but, you could do this and you could do this’. 
Gabriel: [laughing] You know what it’s like when you are in the eye of the hurricane.
Joe: [laughing] And that’s a very romantic way of putting it!

4TR: Are you going to continue along similar lines with the next album or are we going to see something completely different again from Metronomy?
Joe: Well I don’t know really…
4TR: Have you started work on it?
Joe: Yeah I have, but because we’ve been away so much it’s kind of difficult.  At the moment everything is kind of just ideas. I guess with the position we are at now, if we wanted to do something incredibly cynical you would record a very luscious album with lots of radio friendly hits and then you would probably have a chance of getting to the next crossover stage.  But that’s not really the idea.  I guess you can tell with some bands when they are reaching for that, like it took Kings of Leon 3 records to feel comfortable enough to think well fuck it we’ll just kind of push it over the edge.  But for us on our second record that seems a little premature.  I think the next record is actually going to be a bit more of a difficult listen [laughs]. 

4TR: But you have already progressed massively from your early demos with the vocal aspects, making the band a 3 piece and the stage show.
Joe: Yeah we did all that, so I suppose we have progressed a lot already, but I don’t know I guess we will have to wait and see.

4TR: You’re releasing a Deluxe 2 CD edition of ‘Nights Out’ in May including new tracks, remixes and some very special collaborations.  What is the story about that?
Joe: [laughing] It’s like a maxi edition, a maxi album. Basically alot of the b-sides were only released on vinyl, so most people haven’t got them, so there will be some b-sides, hopefully some remixes I have done for other bands and some remixes of Metronomy stuff and then some new music that has been written for the bonus element.  And then I heard today, but I don’t know if it’s too much of a coup, but there might be a song I did with Kate Nash.  Before she did her record I wrote a song with her and so possibly that track will go on the album.  [Laughs] That’s the kind of cynical push to sell the album, a Kate Nash vocal, but it’s surprisingly good.

4TR: Joe you are well respected for your outside interests in particular as a producer and remixer for other artists.  Is that going to be something you will continue to focus on?
Joe: Yeah I think especially the production thing feels like a far more worthwhile thing to do, because when you are remixing you’re not working with the artists anyway you’re just kind of mucking around with what they have done.  So production is a lot more exciting. But then again there’s not much time to do any of it at the moment because Metronomy is so busy, but I would definitely love to carry on with it.

4TR: We spoke to Anita Blay, The Cocknbullkid recently and she said you have been working together on her album production.
Joe: Yeah absolutely and that’s nice because I have kind of been doing stuff with her for a couple of years and when we got in touch with each other there was nothing really happening seriously for either of us.

4TR: Do you make a point of seeking out new music or artist’s to work with or have you got to the stage where people just ask you now?
Joe: [laughing] Well yeah, that has happened, I mean its really nice to try and keep up to date with what’s going on.  The nice thing is that at the moment when we play shows, people will come up to us after and give us their cds and stuff, and ‘cos we’ve got so much time to kill in the van we put them on.
Gabriel: And they either stay in the car or they get chucked out the window.
Joe: [laughing] Basically yeah, but I suppose the one kind of slightly ironic thing about being in a band that’s doing alright, is that you don’t really find yourself with as much time to listen to music as you did.
Gabriel: You do see lots of bands though, support bands and stuff, but its kind of quite rare when we find a band that we all like.  So it’s nice with a night like tonight where we all agree that the bands playing are good bands.  We’re all quite discerning, so to have a consensus that we all like something is quite rare.

4TR: So you all have very different musical tastes then?
Gabriel: Well I wouldn’t say that, as I think there’s a lot of meeting and convergence in terms of our taste, but we do have our specialist areas yeah.

4TR: And finally, the visual aesthetic and showmanship displayed throughout a Metronomy show is as notorious as the music.  Will that be continuing, along with the slightly tongue in cheek flashing t-shirts?
Joe:  Yeah absolutely, I think the way we see it is if you’re going to watch a band, unless you are going to it because they are renowned for their melancholy for example, you want to go and see something and get your moneys worth.  So you want to enjoy what you’re watching and well as hearing.  That’s what we try and do really, and you know the t-shirts are just from pound shops.  A quid each.  Amazing. 
 

Words: Francesca Strange

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