METRIC
The indie rock and post-punk sounds of Canadian band Metric have become a fixture on pop radio, but the band's road to notoriety was riddled with hard work and a few lucky breaks along the way. The group was formed in 1998 when vocalist/keyboardist Emily Haines met guitarist James Shaw in Toronto, Canada, and the two found that they had an instant musical rapport. After Haines spent time at the Etobicoke School of the Arts and Shaw at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, the two crossed paths again in Montreal and began recording demos with one another. After the release of their first EP, Mainstream, the duo moved to Brooklyn, New York, and would also spend a short time in Los Angeles, where the band would add bassist Joshua Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key to round out the group's lineup.
After cutting their teeth with EPs and playing small venues all over the country, Metric released their first album in 2003, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, which earned a Juno Award nomination for Best Alternative Album. The group followed up their successful first release in 2005 with Live It Out, which would prove to be a critically-acclaimed album that sold well throughout Canada and would earn a nomination for the Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian Album of the Year. The singles, "Monster Hospital," "Handshakes" and "Poster of a Girl" saw significant airtime in Canada and helped the album go dual platinum. In 2007, Metric would release their 2001 album, Grow Up And Blow Away, which was originally sold through a small record label in the early 2000s, but didn't have the proper promotion to get off the ground.
In the late 2000s, Metric began to steadily gain traction in the U.S. and around the world, with notable appearances at the 2008 Coachella Festival, as well as the All Points West Festival in New Jersey. The major concert appearances coincided with the release of their fourth album, Fantasies, which would result in multiple Juno Awards and a growing legion of fans.
In 2012, Metric released Synthetica, which has proven to be the highest-ranked album on the charts yet. The record would reach No. 2 on the Canadian pop charts and climb all the way to No. 12 in the U.S. With their eclectic mix of electronica, new wave, dance, rock and countless other genres, Metric has carved a unique niche in the music industry and aren't going away anytime soon.