Phillyist Interviews... Josh Winstead of Metric

So I was doing some research on you before this interview, Josh, and it ends up you are the only member of Metric without his own wikipedia page.
Really?

Indeed. So, with that in mind, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself and how you hooked up with the band.
Well, Joules and I are the Americans of the group. We both went to University of Texas, and played in a million bands together starting in 1991. We moved to New York City together where we played in another band called The Death of Death; it was a short lived but great band. Annnnnndd after that Joules joined Metric. At that time, I was going to play some music in Amsterdam, not Amsterdam excuse me, Indonesia. I was escorting my girlfriend there; she was studying dance at the time and... It is really loud over here I’m sorry.

It’s all good, I can hear you.
Uhhh ok. So, when I came back they needed a bass player and I decided to take the position. It was actually the first time I ever played bass. I mean, I messed around with it before with friends, but I’m a guitar player and singer. It actually worked out really well. I had been playing with Joules so many years that we became a very tight rhythm section.

So, that was after Grow Up and Blow away was put together, correct?
Yup...yes it was.

Right. So, obviously the band was pretty established by then. How do you feel the band changed once you and Joules were added to the mix?
Hold on one second I’m going to get out of this loud area.

Ya, ya....
It’s really impossible. Hold on just one second?

Take your time.
Getting away now...I am running past the generator...

[laughs]
I’ll be able to concentrate. I don’t even know what I said a minute ago.

...because the more recent stuff definitely seems to have a more guitar-driven sound.
I think what happened was, Jimmy and Emily were really influenced by recording styles and things like that and wanted to do more things in the studio. They found that they were not able to control that aspect of their life very well, like they were always under the pressures of studio managers and record labels and things like [that]. SO they realized that if they joined a LIVE band and focused on live music that they could control a little bit more of what was going on in their lives.

Hmmm.
And Joules and I were the exact opposite. We had focused on live music for our whole entire thing and hadn’t really focused on recording at all. So it was kind of like a... a match of two teams coming together trying to do the best thing. And....I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing and I’ll completely admit [that] maybe I messed up Metric. [laughs]

[laughs] Ok.
...because some people like the older stuff, but I think I definitely brought a heavier vibe to the band. I think Jimmy became interested in learning to play the guitar like that and I know he hadn’t really done that before. Though, I think, it was kind of a spark plug to the heavier sound that is starting to come around. Though that was also a natural progression of someone like Jimmy who never really was playing guitar live before. When I first saw him he was on the drumset.

Ya, the earlier stuff definitely seems to have more of a drum machine, electronic vibe.
So, I think when Joules and I joined the band and gave him room to experiment with guitar, the one thing that happens when you play guitar you just want to turn it up sometimes.

Ya, ya definitely.
...cus, it’s really fun. But ya, I think that influence came through more on Live It Out then on Old World Underground. It came though a little bit, but I think he really experimented with it in Live It Out. And it’s interesting because with the stuff Metric is doing now it’s again coming back to the guitar having a more calm place in the band, which I think is a natural progression of the experimenting and learning where the whole thing was going to go. So I don’t know if I can say I had too much to do with that, but I am definitely the dude that likes the heavier stuff.

That's interesting. That’s a good segue actually; so how do you feel about the work you are doing with Bang Lime? Which is fantastic by the way.
Thank you.

Ya, I was listening to your singles over on your MySpace page. It really surprised me considering my only exposure to you and Joules was through Metric.
Ya, that’s most people's reaction, too. They are like “what the...uh, you play guitar? You sing?” But for me, I’m really happy with it. It’s one of those things where it helps you to enjoy everything you are doing in life when you get to express many sides of yourself. Sometimes we get pigeonholed as people, and then we kind of have to follow those roots. Being able to express those emotions and those different sides of your personality really makes it easier to continue to do things like being in Metric. For both Emily and I, her ability to go and do the Soft Skeleton stuff really made it easier for her to come back to Metric. Those were songs that she needed to get out. A lot of people ask, “Oh, was this because Emily wanted to do that?” or, “Is this a sign of you guys breaking up?” I think it is more a sign of us trusting each other and realizing that we are multi-dimensional and that we need to continue to do things like this to have a strong band.

Ya, you have to let go sometimes in order to come back together.
Exactly.

So how has that been going out and touring with Bang Lime and having fans come in expecting something different?
It was both really good and really bad which is an interesting thing because we really got spoiled the last two years with Metric. At the beginning of our tour, there was nobody around. We would play for 10 people, 5 people, sometimes. Seriously, I remember a couple shows where it was just the bar staff. Nobody showed up. But that was something I think every band has to go though unless you are one of those overnight made-in-the-studio type things where it's a big publicity hype.

Ya.
I think for us, being able to tour like that in the early days of Metric, it was a really good learning experience. When we went off with Bang Lime some people thought it was going to be huge and I was like, “You have to understand, we are the rhythm section and most people are not so interested.” They like the music but really the face of Metric is Emily. So some people thought there would be huge crowds and, you know, some places there were a lot of people and other places there weren’t very many people at all. It was a great ego check and it was also very good to go back and have those challenges again where you have to actually win the crowd over. Where they are not already pre-sold to liking whatever you are going to do. I think that really makes true fans again, when they really have to open their minds up and listen to it. I think we did a really good job. I’m really excited to do that again in a couple months when there is another break.

So you are looking at doing another tour?
Well, not this second... Metric is going to be on tour for another four and a half weeks and then, we will be preparing to go into the studio but we don’t know exactly when that date is going to happen. But ya it will be interesting to see. I’m looking forward to it.

Metric is making another album now, right?
Yes we are.

I know you can only say so much, but how is it working out?
Actually, I am more excited [about] it than any of them before. I mean, that also might be because Joules and I are more involved in the writing and things like that. It’s becoming more and more of a collaborative effort as the years go on, which I assume is a natural progression of working with people as well, you know.

Speaking of the writing; that is one thing I have noticed too in listening to Bang Lime. The lyrics have the same very subtle, not personally involved but still very political tone to them that, ummm, I hear in Metric’s work as well.
Yes, very much so.

Do you do any lyrical work in Metric or is that all Emily?
Nope, not at all. All the lyrics are Emily and...I think that is why it is easy to be in Metric for me because I am very outspoken on a lot of things and she represents a strong voice for all four of us. The boys of the band don’t really talk too much on the mic and don’t write the lyrics, so it’s really nice when she speaks out and I can completely stand behind it all the time. A lot of people don’t want to hear that kind of stuff in music. To me it’s like, and some of the songs on Bang Lime are silly love songs about going down to South America with the love of your life and others are completely about political based ideas. We are trying to be full rounded people.

Excellent. Well Josh, listen, it was great talking to you. I look forward to seeing you in concert one of these days.
Thanks, man. I’m going to have to do something about that no wikipedia article on Josh now.

Ya man, you might just fade out of existence otherwise.
[laughs] That’s all right. I’ve never even looked at wikipedia yet. I think I’m good.

Fair enough.

Metric will be preforming at the Trocadero on Wednesday, September 19.