Metronomy interview: returning to the road, regrets, and elections

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Whichever way you look at things, two years is a long time to be out of any game. Especially when that game is music. 

Any band that manages such a hiatus clearly did something very right before putting a pin in the relentless touring schedules and appearances. Hence Metronomy making the decision and still coming out the other end as one of the UK’s most in-demand outfits. 

Don’t call it a comeback, though - the respite wasn’t all feet up. Despite the quintet’s notable absence from the live calendar, between their upcoming tour and September 2015 they’ve managed to put out Summer ’08, an album that reflects on a decade dedicated to the demands of aural success, whilst frontman Joe Mount collaborated with Robyn on synth pop triumph The Hardest Thing To Do, in and amongst enjoying some much needed head space with nearest and dearest.

Keen to have a chat with the renowned gent ahead of their UK tour - which includes dates in Manchester, Sheffield, London and Glasgow, as well as a headline performance at Liverpool Sound City - we gave him a call to talk sabbaticals, avoiding vanishing, and why now is the time to get back on stage. 

So, how’s it been going preparing for the tour? 

So Easter weekend was a break between the first and second weeks of us rehearsing. The others are in the room so might disagree, but we’re having a really nice time. We haven’t done it in so long, it’s kind of like "oh yeah, this is what we do".

In terms of the decision to take a break, how did that come about? 

There were a number of things really. The last show we did was headlining Festival No.6, in September 2015 I think. In a way, we’d kind of been touring without any real stop for ten years. Obviously, you have months off here and there, but it always felt like this rolling thing. In that time, well, Oscar’s married, Benga’s married and has a baby. I have two children. At a point, you have to think maybe it’s worth just having some time with the family. 

It seemed like the opportune moment to do it, for the sake of having a break, but then also, there’s so much changing rapidly. Certainly, when previous albums had been released there was this idea that the album was this saleable item in between touring, press, and things like that. It’s drilled into you, you never really question it.

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I guess I was thinking like, well, it’s a shame. All that time when you’re in that circle of release dates, you’re spending two or three years at a time when you’re not being creative in the way you perhaps enjoy. 

Performing live can be a very creative thing, but it’s basically repetition. So I thought it would be great if in that time I could release an album and record another one. So recording for two years. Really there were all kinds of reasons, and I’m aware we are lucky to be able to do that - it’s a luxurious decision to take in the world of touring musicians, but only after a long time of doing this did I think we’d give a break a try.

Obviously, you are very well established, but even then with the nature of the music industry, there must have been concerns about dropping out of the public eye? 

It was a calculated risk. I figured the worst case scenario was we’d come back touring and play smaller venues with nobody giving a shit but then the best and most likely outcome is that we could go straight back into the venues we were playing when we stopped. If anything we’d get better festival opportunities because we’d been away for a while. 

Two years isn’t a huge amount of time, and it’s like the LCD Soundsystem thing - pretending you’re retired and then coming back, but at no point did I ever say that we were finished. So I was confident that it would be fine, but then I wasn’t really sure it would be fine until we got an offer for Primavera and then I thought "oh, it’s going to be good".

A calculated risk, but without pretending that we were retiring, which is the smart move I guess - "It’s over", then "we’re getting back together, what are you going to offer us?"

When Metronomy was an up and coming band, things were different - now there’s so much pressure on new bands to constantly be on the road given there’s less money in selling records. Do you think those expectations are fair? 

The thing is, it probably depends on which world they are operating in. If it’s still in the 90s world of record labels and singles, albums, if you’re using a record label then that’s the tried and tested way of doing stuff. Whatever way you cut it, though, you have to work very hard. 

I guess the endless touring comes from the idea of building up a fan base from the streets or whatever. In a way now you have this whole other thing. Without a record label, if you’re savvy enough to get your music streaming and create a social media thing then, in theory, you could be the king of the world, and get to number one. 

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Again, there’s a huge amount of work involved in that, however, in my opinion, it’s incredibly liberating for musicians. You can do whatever you like. You don’t have to have a record label, and you don’t have to fit into the schedule of record labels, you can be a real free spirit, and make money from that. 

So I think for bands - guitar bands - it’s very difficult to fit into that new world. For rappers and singer-songwriters, it’s easier to be adaptable. It’s certainly transitional at the moment, though, between the two, and whatever happens, you have to work hard - even if you’re on X Factor or whatever. There’s absolutely no getting around that.

For yourselves, then, why is now the time to get involved again and tour? 

Everyone has run out of money...

Seriously, though, it was always the time frame, but everyone needs to start working again. Not playing has been a real treat, but unless we were retiring then any longer would be too long and it would be risking people forgetting about us. 

During the break did you miss touring more than you enjoyed the time off? 

The nicest thing about it was because I always knew we would be doing it again I didn’t really miss it. Last summer when it was good weather, I thought, strangely, for the first time in years, "Ah, it might be nice to play a festival". When you think that you know you’ve been away for too long. And because there’s a huge social element to the four - now five of us when we're touring - it’s missing hanging out with friends really too, missing the company of people.

Looking back, then, do you have any regrets at how much you’ve given to your career? Many people forget that dream jobs come with a lot of sacrifices- missing personal moments, generally not having a normal life per se. 

Professionally, I don’t have any regrets. I think in a way there’s an English way of being - it’s not polite to gloat or be proud of yourself. But for all of us when we’re out performing - literally, for me, from the age of about eleven it’s been my dream. So to do it and have been doing it for a long time it’s like, "wow, 11-year-old me was pretty clued up on future me". 

In hindsight, I guess there are tours we have done, support tours, which were unnecessary. I could have spent that time at home, with a girlfriend or family, and that’s when you think about it, but that’s how it is really. 

I don’t know. Once, when it was three of us playing, we supported Kate Nash on a tour of England, and I genuinely don’t know what good came of that. Apart from the car on the cover of the Metronomy album Nights Out - the way we got the guy who owned that car, we gave his daughter a ticket to see Kate Nash and in return he let us take some pictures of his car. So something good did come from it, but lots of shows we were just playing and nobody cared. I mean, we had a nice time.

There are the three live dates in the UK, and overseas shows. But have you got much else coming up other than gigs? 

Well I’ve been true to my word by recording. So I’m looking to get another album finished up as soon as I can really- I guess just working.

There was talk of some more music with Robyn? 

Yeah, I’m working with her at the moment. I guess that’s the thing - when you take a little step out of playing live music you realise there are plenty of other things you can do that involve music - you don’t have to be touring. So doing stuff with Robyn, stuff for me, and other people has been refreshing.

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Finally, perhaps a bit of a curveball- everyone is talking about the general election. Would you care to give a prediction? 

Well, I mean, it’s going to be a Conservative victory I should think. That’s why they are doing it now. For myself, I’ve been brought up a Labour supporter and for a while thought Jeremy Corbyn seemed interesting, but they’re in a mess, you know? So that’s my prediction. I think it’s probably going to be everyone else's as well.

I was saying to the guys this morning, at least one of the options isn’t a fascist. Which is the way it is in a lot of places. Everyone thinks the Tories are fascist, but now in the world there are genuine fascists again. That's more worrying.

You can catch Metronomy headlining at this year's Liverpool Sound City 

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