Metronomy talk crop rotation

United Kingdom | | 30 September 2008

Virtual Festivals: You’ve just released your second album, Nights Out, with which you’ve been billed as more of a band than an electronic project. Was that a conscious decision to put that out there or has peoples’ perception of it changed?
Joseph Mount: "I think it’s nicer to be seen as a band because for a while there was kind of a line between Metronomy and the live thing, but I think partly that's because we did so many shows without putting much out, and also because it feels so much nicer. I think people can get into a band more if they see them as a band."
Oscar Cash: "We don’t see ourselves as session musicians really."
JM: "The only example we'd use as a comparable thing is someone like Calvin Harris, who’s backed by this band of guys who don’t necessarily look like they’re even mates. Because we know each other so well it’s quite natural, really."

VF: There’s been some parallels been drawn between you and Hot Chip because you’re getting a lot of attention now and that happened to them with their second album. Do you want to become as big as them or would you rather stay at the level you’re at now?
OC: "Bigger!"
Gabriel Stebbing: "I want to be bigger than a hot chip."
JM: "The only similarities I can see are we are men, we play keyboards and that’s pretty much all I see. I think the attitudes and thoughts behind it are worlds apart. But we aspire to be successful and probably more successful than them. Also, they’re on EMI and it’s quite nice to think we can just do it ourselves."

VF: The media reaction for Nights Out has been positive. Did the amount of hype, and the 9/10 from the NME in particular, surprise you considering that for debut album Pip Paine you didn’t get much recognition at all?
JM: "Our relationship with the NME fluctuates. The way we feel about them depends on how much they like us. We knew they liked Nights Out but the 9 was very flattering. I guess as a band, the way you feel about the NME is you know their job is to sell magazines so they have to do certain things. So they have to put Noel Gallagher on the front cover every so often – it’s a money making thing. But for them to pick up on us, not because there’s a label pushing us to them saying, “this is the next big thing" means they have got off their own backs and got into it. It kind of restores your faith a little bit. And in the same week as the Glasvegas thing, to get the same rating as them is really flattering."

VF: Are you still doing your remixes?
JM: "I’m holding off them at the moment. Although there is this song by Lil Wayne’s label I'm doing. They’re putting out this artist who’s their first rock/rap artist. Lil Wayne features on this record and I want to get involved with him, so I’m going to do a remix and just use the Lil Wayne rap. But other than that I’m trying to concentrate more on our own production."

VF: I heard a rumour you’re doing a bit of production for Sophie Ellis Bextor, is there any truth in that? And you’re working with the Cocknbullkid too? Is production and remixes as or more important to you than the band?
JM: "Yes, that’s correct. I’m going to steal her from that Feeling man. But it’s no less or more important – it’s just part of it. There’s the live stuff and then there’s the studio stuff. It’s all kind of the same; I think there’s not that many people who are embracing all of it. It’s good; it’s a nice way of getting to do something that’s slightly different, especially working with Sophie Ellis Bextor. You don’t have to think about how you want to be seen so much and you can let yourself go."

VF: At tonight’s gig you’ve got Tubelord playing with you. Have you heard them before?
JM: "I think I have heard them before. I’m not sure if I like them but I’ve definitely heard them."

VF: The gig is part of the Levi’s Ones to Watch series. So who are your ones to watch?
JM: "The sad thing is there’s not a great deal that’s good in the way of new music at the moment, but I think of what there is then definitely, yeah. Cocknbullkid’s amazing. Gabriel was getting into White Williams..."
GS: "Yeah, I really like his tracks. If he gets a really smoking hot live band I think he’ll be really good."
JM: "I was talking to this guy Joe, who runs Angular records, and he was saying the pendulum has swung back over to America at the moment. So look elsewhere at the moment, I’d say. Give the English a bit of time."
OC: "You’ve got to move your crops around so you can have healthy soil."
JM: "Another band though is Koko Van Napoo. Sexy girls singing about horses, what more do you want?"

by Rhian Daly