Too Much Metro, Too Many Stations
Imagine for a second that you're one of Metro Station. Let's say Blake, the bassist/synth player. In your home country, you are very popular, off the back of a much loved pop-rock album and just the right kind of Disney connections - including both Hannah Montana and Camp Rock, but missing that all-important High School Musical hookup. Being ambitious, you start to release singles all around the world, and play gigs all over the place, winning new friends and new fans with every performance.
Then, without any warning at all, suddenly it's two years later, and you've essentially lived the same day, with very little variation, every day until you are no longer sure what your family look like, or if it's Christmas.
This is when the call comes from some silly British radio blog, wanting to ask you questions about your life in showbiz...well, it's enough to make anyone confused, frankly.
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ChartBlog:Hi Blake, how're you?
Blake: I'm good thanks, how're you?
ChartBlog: I'm very well, thank you. What's the weather like where you are?
Blake: Uh...I don't know! It's kind of cool out...I didn't really pay attention on the ride over.
ChartBlog: I wanted to ask about this sort of thing. Am I right in thinking you've been touring solidly since the album came out two years ago?
Blake: Yeah, almost straight through the last two years. We have a couple of weeks off here and there, but pretty much non-stop.
ChartBlog: So do you have any idea of where you are any any given time?
Blake: Usually we get off the plane or get off the bus and I'm like "where are we again?" So I never know. And hey, it's sunny out!
ChartBlog: Well done! If you're touring a lot, do Metro Station put signs up at the mixing desk with the name of the place written on them, so you don't get it wrong?
Blake: Luckily I'm not on a microphone, cos I'm always confused. But Trace and Mason have it written on a sheet. But one time we had just left Germany and we're in Belgium, and Trace is yelling "what's up Germany!", "thank you, Germany!" for the whole show.
ChartBlog: People hate it, don't they? They're all thinking "you have ONE WORD to get right, and you can't even be bothered!"
Blake: Well, after you do it you feel so bad, like "Oh man, I don't even know where we are"
ChartBlog: And then you've got a song like 'Seventeen Forever', which is about living in the moment, doing what you can, while you can. And it was written three years ago, and you're STILL talking about it to fans and journos as if it's brand now...is it like groundhog day?
Blake: I guess it is, isn't it. Like we play the same set almost every night...cos this is still our first record, so those are all the songs that we're playing live still. Yeah, it's kinda weird.
ChartBlog: You're never tempted to throw in a cover of 'Raining Blood' by Slayer, y'know, just for the band?
Blake: We should! We should give that a shot. Our fans would love it. They love pop music, so I'm sure Slayer would be right up their alley.
ChartBlog: Have you ever had to re-shoot any promotional material due to the changing nature of Trace's skin?
Blake: Umm...mostly it's just "talk about the new song", instead of "the old one", stuff like that.
ChartBlog: Is your night-terror secretly that one day one of you will have to get a job, and you can't face McDonalds because people will constantly bug you by asking for a "shake-shake shake shake a-shake"?
Blake: [Laughs] That would be terrible. And I don't know if you've seen Trace's tattoos lately, but they're all over the place now. I don't know if he COULD get a job! This has to work out, we have no choice.
ChartBlog: He's not really school counsellor material, is he?
Blake: I don't think so. Maybe he could talk about his mistakes, like "I thought this band was gonna work out and it didn't, I got all these tattoos..." kids can learn lessons, definitely.
ChartBlog: So, you must be dying to do some new songs..?
Blake: I can't wait. We're supposed to record in January, and we have a ton of stuff ready, so I'm excited to let people hear it.
ChartBlog: What's it going to be like? Are you going hip hop?
Blake: We thought about it! We thought about metal, but then once we started doing some demos we were like "man, we can't rap!", and we can't play metal guitars, so we're probably going to do the same type of thing. It's gonna be pop songs, really dancey, like the first album. And hopefully just bigger...and better.
ChartBlog: If you had to put 'Seventeen Forever' in a wrestling match with the Courteeners song 'Not Nineteen Forever', which song do you think would win?
Blake: [really thinks about it seriously] Hmm...I think 'Seventeen Forever' would have a really good shot. It's in top form right now, it's at its peak. So I think it'd have a really good shot.
ChartBlog: What are its strong holds?
Blake: I don't know that much about the sport, so I don't know the names, but it'd probably choke the song. And then punch it in the face.
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Comment number 1.
At 11th Aug 2009, spirit wrote:Now this interview I like .
We get info on the songs , their tour , and an insight into new material , and the customary humour .
A good read !
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Comment number 2.
At 11th Aug 2009, Daniel wrote:Yep! This is the only Chartblog interview I've actually read!
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