Typical to Metric’s style, their new album, Fantasies, opens up with sick heart pounding drums, some haunting echoy lyrics and a track that makes you want to assume the rock stance and pump your fist.  Turn it up kids this album needs a pair of quality speakers and loud volume to give it the proper listen.  First up and my personal favorite, “Help I’m Alive” is a sure hit and kicks off the album with the perfect amount of well, everything.

After touring full time from 2003 to 2006 the band mates took some time apart to “reconnect with their humanity.”  Calling Bear Creek (Seattle, Washington) home, the band allowed artistic freedom to reign and all was allowed during their time in the wilderness.  From cupid’s grip on her heart(Sick Muse), to gold and guns and getting off(Gold Gun Girls), this album lives up to its name.  What first began as a potential acoustic album turned into a dreamy collection of wild, fantastical tracks which now make up Fantasies. You can find the new album in stores April 14th.

Wednesday, February 18th on the 22nd and a half floor of ATO Records marked a blistery but fabulous day for Fend.  Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw took some time out of their busy schedules to sit down and talk with us about the new album, random life lessons, band cohesion and most importantly sports wear for babies.

Fend: “There seems to be a reoccuring theme about war/conflict in your work, the newest being Stadium Love, can you tell me what the song is about?”

Emily Haines: “Its the breakdown of the natural world, the line between spectator and participant is completely blurred, every living thing is in the ring, you are betting on the duck and then you are hit in the head.  As strange as it may be the whole band was like oh yeah totally.”

Jimmy Shaw: ” Oh Yeah totally, animals turning on themselves.”

Emily Haines: “The song was inspired by Jules Scott-Key, drummer, he wrote in very tiny print spider vs bat on a bulletin board and I glanced at that phrase on the bulletin board and i was like I got it.  The whole band totally got it, even if the rest of the world doesnt.”

Fend: ” All members of the band have side projects outside of Metric, do you think that helps with the band’s cohesion and the creative process?”

Emily Haines: “(After she thought I said sad rather than side projects) “I think my side project was  a sad project, but I got it out of my system..you go from this amazing moment in your life where you have worked really hard and  you get to it and it feels like your dreams are coming true, and then you have no dreams -they have come true. Its a very confusing place and I think a lot of people get lost in that.  You get to this point in your life…you have gotta go home, if you dont have one go get one now.”

Jimmy Shaw: “If you want to do something else for a second you need to do that and then come back with a renewed sense of energy… its always a little bit scary….theres the possiblity that you might not come back and thats what makes it exciting, and what makes you want to come back because you are free- I know right now we have never wanted to be more a part of this band.”

Fend: “What was the biggest gamble in putting out a record on your own?  Do you think its a realistic thing for other bands?”

Jimmy Shaw: “I dont think its the right thing for every band to do right now, I think its harder to get off the ground right now than its ever been, you need a push, we toured for 8 years non stop and not every band is dumb enough to do that.  I dont think its that revolutionary, all we are doing is releasing a record exactly like everybody else does but we arent doing it with one giant company, we set it up on our own.”

Emily Haines: “When it came to making decisions to what to do, we know how it(music industry) works.  Its not all fairy dust, its really concrete things, timing-time to set things up, communication and organization to set things up.  It takes the bummer part out, I want to write, but in order to do that I have to deal with this fucking asshole, and we have just gotten rid of those people.”

Jimmy Shaw: “The question was whats the risk, and the answer is there is less risk, going with any company right now is a risk.”

Fend: “Help I’m Alive was leaked out, why do you think it has resonated so universally?”

Emily Haines: “I dont know, its a really inspiring moment for that to happen, its something we struggled with always…this song on its own jumped off the record and ran away, it set up this record in a way we could have never planned.”

Notable routine before a show and Emily’s on Stage Headbanging:

Jimmy Shaw:“10 minutes before the show, Jules is jules nothing ever phases him, Josh goes in a wierd state…because he cant play right now he goes into this zen master state, I pace and drink and smoke, Emily does stretches, and gives the giant over view ‘this should be like this,’ she paints the whole picture.”

Emily Haines: “I love that part of playing, the gathering process that takes all these different forms.   About the head banging thing, something happens, you know those eliptical machines its something like that everything gets working in motion and I feel like if I would stop everything would fall down.”