It’s been quite apparent lately that Metric is just everywhere in Toronto.
Last Thursday and Friday (Jan.17-18), the Toronto quartet premiered their upcoming live DVD, Live at Metropolis, at Toronto’s Royal Cinema. At the last minute, I decided to go on Friday night and see if the DVD was worth that yearlong wait. To my surprise, the audience present was quite smaller than I imagined, which isn’t a bad thing, it was just cosier for the rest of us. We were treated to two music videos before the show started – Emily Haines’ eerily fantastic “Our Hell” followed by Metric’s “Poster of a Girl” from their 2005 Polaris Prize-nominated album, Live it Out (both videos were shot in Toronto too). The show itself had its pros and cons. Pros included trippy editing techniques imposed by the Deco Dawson, the exuberant energy we get to see from the band because it was fairly early on in their Live it Out tour, and as always, Emily Haines’ intriguing onstage persona and dance moves. The cons stacked up too though. Poor footage due to production issues (the initial reason why this DVD took so long, the band wasn’t content with the footage and shelved the project for months), lack of camera time on other members (as the band joked about drummer, Joules Scott Key, “There is a drummer in this band!”) and the cutting out of essential (or just preferred) Metric songs yielded an okay outcome. But again, most of those problems have nothing to do with the band, itself. As Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw and Josh Winstead mentioned in an post-screening Q&A session, they were not completely satisfied with the circumstances of this either and if considering another stab at making a DVD in the future, they would see over production more. “It was all thrown at us very quickly with little notice,” Shaw said about the actual shooting of the show. “The production company chose Montreal.” But with the incorporation of Dawson in the editing process, the DVD was quite significantly salvaged. Quirky editing created a unique experience for the viewers and heightened the energy projected on each track. The epic stunner, “Dead Disco” which extended to a 13 minute track (as it usually does at shows) almost make the whole DVD worth watching just to reach that climatic end to an average show overall. So if you’re a big fan of Metric, this should satisfy some of your musical needs until they release a new record. But if you’re not, then I’d say save your money and either borrow it off of someone or Youtube their live performances.
In other Metric news, after a two-month break from each other, all four members have gradually reunited in Toronto to resume recording for their upcoming follow up to Live it Out. The band has been performing new material for the past few months, as they are “testing” them out on audiences first before going into the studio to finalize tracks. So far, most of the tracks are sounding great, especially “Freddie” and “Twilight”. But don’t expect “Up in Flames” to be on the final track listing, as Shaw and others pulled it off set lists at shows early on due to unknown/unexplainable reasons. “I don’t know, something about it was just bugging me a lot,” said Shaw.
Last Thursday and Friday (Jan.17-18), the Toronto quartet premiered their upcoming live DVD, Live at Metropolis, at Toronto’s Royal Cinema. At the last minute, I decided to go on Friday night and see if the DVD was worth that yearlong wait. To my surprise, the audience present was quite smaller than I imagined, which isn’t a bad thing, it was just cosier for the rest of us. We were treated to two music videos before the show started – Emily Haines’ eerily fantastic “Our Hell” followed by Metric’s “Poster of a Girl” from their 2005 Polaris Prize-nominated album, Live it Out (both videos were shot in Toronto too). The show itself had its pros and cons. Pros included trippy editing techniques imposed by the Deco Dawson, the exuberant energy we get to see from the band because it was fairly early on in their Live it Out tour, and as always, Emily Haines’ intriguing onstage persona and dance moves. The cons stacked up too though. Poor footage due to production issues (the initial reason why this DVD took so long, the band wasn’t content with the footage and shelved the project for months), lack of camera time on other members (as the band joked about drummer, Joules Scott Key, “There is a drummer in this band!”) and the cutting out of essential (or just preferred) Metric songs yielded an okay outcome. But again, most of those problems have nothing to do with the band, itself. As Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw and Josh Winstead mentioned in an post-screening Q&A session, they were not completely satisfied with the circumstances of this either and if considering another stab at making a DVD in the future, they would see over production more. “It was all thrown at us very quickly with little notice,” Shaw said about the actual shooting of the show. “The production company chose Montreal.” But with the incorporation of Dawson in the editing process, the DVD was quite significantly salvaged. Quirky editing created a unique experience for the viewers and heightened the energy projected on each track. The epic stunner, “Dead Disco” which extended to a 13 minute track (as it usually does at shows) almost make the whole DVD worth watching just to reach that climatic end to an average show overall. So if you’re a big fan of Metric, this should satisfy some of your musical needs until they release a new record. But if you’re not, then I’d say save your money and either borrow it off of someone or Youtube their live performances.
In other Metric news, after a two-month break from each other, all four members have gradually reunited in Toronto to resume recording for their upcoming follow up to Live it Out. The band has been performing new material for the past few months, as they are “testing” them out on audiences first before going into the studio to finalize tracks. So far, most of the tracks are sounding great, especially “Freddie” and “Twilight”. But don’t expect “Up in Flames” to be on the final track listing, as Shaw and others pulled it off set lists at shows early on due to unknown/unexplainable reasons. “I don’t know, something about it was just bugging me a lot,” said Shaw.
And finally, to cap off my Metric sundae of reports, last week the band announced an upcoming show at the Sound Academy in Toronto on Feb. 7. Bad news for the youngsters, this show is 19+. But you never know, chances are you could run into them around Toronto within the next two-three weeks!
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