Metric (band)
Encyclopedia
Metric is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 and New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 band founded in 1998 in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. The band has also at various times been based in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. Metric consists of vocalist Emily Haines
Emily Haines
Emily Haines is a Canadian indie rock singer-songwriter. She is the lead singer and keyboardist of the band Metric and a member of Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she performed with her own name and under the alias Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton...

 (who also plays the synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

 and guitar), guitarist James Shaw
James Shaw (musician)
James Shaw is the lead guitarist of the popular Canadian indie rock band Metric, and also a member of Broken Social Scene. He was born in London, England and raised in Bellevue, Ontario....

 (who also plays the synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

 and theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...

), bassist Josh Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key.

Their first full-length album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? is a 2003 album by Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album has gone gold in Canada.-Track listing:All songs written by Metric.#"IOU" – 4:22#"Hustle Rose" – 5:33#"Succexy" – 3:05#"Combat Baby" – 3:29...

, was released in 2003 and earned a Juno Award nomination for Best Alternative Album. Live It Out
Live It Out
Live It Out is the second album released by the Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005, the 38th best album of 2006 by NME, and it was shortlisted for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize...

was released on October 4, 2005 and was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize
2006 Polaris Music Prize
The inaugural edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize presented on September 18, 2006, at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre. The winning album was Final Fantasy's He Poos Clouds.-Nominees:...

 for the Canadian Album of The Year and once again the Juno Award nomination for Best Alternative Album
Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year
The Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year is presented annually at Canada's Juno Awards to honour the best album of the year in the alternative rock and/or indie rock genres...

.

The first album the band recorded, Grow Up and Blow Away
Grow up and Blow Away
Grow Up and Blow Away was the first recorded album by indie rock band Metric. The album was recorded in 2001, but delayed for years by their record label...

, was finally released on June 26, 2007 by Last Gang Records
Last Gang Records
Last Gang Records is a record label that was formed by Canadian music industry lawyer Chris Taylor and concert promoter Donald Tarlton in the Fall of 2003 at the Pop Montreal Music Festival....

. The album was originally recorded for Restless Records, but got neglected when the label was bought out by Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...

.

Haines and Shaw also perform with Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members currently play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly based around the city of Toronto...

, and Haines has been a guest on albums by Stars, KC Accidental
KC Accidental
K.C. Accidental was a Canadian post-rock band formed in 1998 from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This band was the original basis for Broken Social Scene.-History:...

, The Stills
The Stills
The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000. The band consists of Tim Fletcher , Dave Hamelin , Olivier Corbeil , and Liam O'Neil , Gregory Paquet .-History:The band members have known each other since the age of...

, Jason Collett
Jason Collett
Jason Collett is a Toronto based singer-songwriter. He has released four solo albums, and is a member of Broken Social Scene. His latest album, Rat a Tat Tat, was released in March, 2010.-Early life:...

 and Tiësto
Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest, , known as Tiësto , is a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto...

. Scott-Key and Winstead have their own side project, Bang Lime
Bang Lime
Bang Lime is an indie rock group created by Joules Scott-Key and Josh Winstead of the New Wave/Indie group Metric. The duo’s history, which spans several bands, encompasses several acquired musical styles that are reflected in Bang Lime’s music....

, and Haines has released a solo album and companion EP, Knives Don't Have Your Back
Knives Don't Have Your Back
Knives Don't Have Your Back is the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Emily Haines . The album was released in September 2006 on Last Gang Records. It debuted at 28 in Canada and has sold 20,000 copies there...

and What Is Free to a Good Home?
What Is Free to a Good Home?
What is Free to a Good Home? is the first extended play by Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton. The EP consists of five new songs and a remix, including previously unreleased tracks from the sessions of Knives Don't Have Your Back. It was released July 24, 2007 in Canada and the United States on Last...

, respectively, under the name Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton.

Their fourth studio album Fantasies
Fantasies (album)
- Singles :* "Help, I'm Alive" * "Front Row" * "Gimme Sympathy" * "Sick Muse" * "Gold Guns Girls"...

was released in Canada and the United States on April 7, 2009. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize
2009 Polaris Music Prize
The 2009 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 21, 2009 in Toronto at the Masonic Temple and broadcast live online for the first time in its short history...

 for Canadian Album of the Year, and won the Alternative Album of the Year
Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year
The Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year is presented annually at Canada's Juno Awards to honour the best album of the year in the alternative rock and/or indie rock genres...

 at the 2010 Juno Awards
Juno Awards of 2010
The Juno Awards of 2010 honoured music industry achievements in Canada for the latter part of 2008 and for most of 2009. These ceremonies were in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada during the weekend ending 18 April 2010...

. Metric won as well in 2010 Group of the Year
Juno Award for Group of the Year
The Juno Award for best Group of the Year has been awarded since 1970, as recognition each year for the best group or band in Canada. It has also been known as Best Group .-Best Group :*1970 - The Guess Who...

.

Beginnings

Born in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and raised in Cache Bay, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Emily Haines
Emily Haines
Emily Haines is a Canadian indie rock singer-songwriter. She is the lead singer and keyboardist of the band Metric and a member of Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she performed with her own name and under the alias Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton...

 grew up as a dual citizen of Canada and India. The daughter of poet Paul Haines
Paul Haines (poet)
Paul Haines was a poet and jazz lyricist. Born in Vassar, Michigan, Haines eventually settled in Canada, after spending time in Europe, India, New York City, as well as a long stint as a French Teacher at Fenelon Falls Secondary School, in Ontario, Canada.Haines's best-known work is Escalator over...

 (best known for his lyrical collaboration with Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...

 in the 1971 jazz opera Escalator over the Hill
Escalator over the Hill
Escalator over the Hill is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction" with "words by Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Michael Mantler", performed by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra.-History:Escalator over the Hill...

), Haines left London at the age of 3. Paul would often make cassettes of rare and eclectic music for his daughter to listen to and her early influences included Carla Bley and Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...

.

By her teens she followed her parents' footsteps by attending the Etobicoke School of the Arts
Etobicoke School of the Arts
The Etobicoke School of the Arts is a specialized public arts-academic high school located in Etobicoke area of Toronto, Canada. Founded on September 8, 1981, the Etobicoke School of the Arts has the distinction of being the oldest, free standing arts focused high school in Canada...

. There she met Amy Millan
Amy Millan
Amy Millan is a Canadian indie rock singer and guitarist. She records and performs with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene as well as having a successful solo career. Her second solo album, Masters of the Burial, was released by Arts & Crafts Records in September 2009.- Early life :Amy Millan...

 and Kevin Drew
Kevin Drew
Kevin Drew is a Canadian musician and songwriter who, together with Brendan Canning, founded the expansive Toronto baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene...

, with whom she would later collaborate in hHead
HHead
hHead were a Canadian alternative rock band in the 1990s. The band consisted of Noah Mintz, Brendan Canning and a succession of drummers. They were originally known as Head, but added the second h after discovering that another band was already recording as Head.The band's first album, Fireman, was...

. Haines and Millan briefly formed their first band around 1990 while at ESA, and with songs later written and recorded while at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 in 1992–1993, at Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 in 1995, and at Concordia University in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 in 1995–1996, Haines distributed in 1996 an early effort called Cut in Half and Also Double
Cut In Half and Also Double
Cut In Half and Also Double is an extremely rare album by Canadian artist Emily Haines that she self-released in 1996. The song "Carpet" contains similar lyrics and vocal melodies to those in "Too Little Too Late," which she recorded a decade later with her band Metric...

with a limited number of copies.

Shortly before this, UK born James Shaw
James Shaw (musician)
James Shaw is the lead guitarist of the popular Canadian indie rock band Metric, and also a member of Broken Social Scene. He was born in London, England and raised in Bellevue, Ontario....

 was a student at a Boston music school and was friends with Torquil Campbell
Torquil Campbell
Torquil Campbell is the lead singer and songwriter for the Montreal-based indie rock band Stars. He also records and performs with Broken Social Scene. In addition to singing, he also plays the melodica and trumpet...

, a vocalist who would later form Stars, and Chris Seligman, the future synthesizer player of Stars. Torq had plans to move to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and on his suggestion Shaw applied to Juilliard
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

 Music School and moved to New York with him. After a three-year education at the institution, Shaw had acquired considerable classical training but did not enjoy his stay and knew that his musical interests lay elsewhere.

In 1998, Shaw and Torquil returned to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, where Haines met Shaw through mutual friends in the local music scene. Shaw moved to Montreal where Haines was still living and the two worked on filling out each other's projects. For example, Shaw had an instrumental song built around piano chords and Emily had a completely different song with a vocal line that fit perfectly around the chords. The result was the song "Butcher", and eventually the two of them had completed several other tracks in their home studio (including "The People", "The Battlecry", "The Mandate", "The Lifestyle"). This resulted in what they called Mainstream E.P., a collection of demos with an overall downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...

 and electronic feel.

In the fall of 1998, Shaw moved back to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, this time accompanied by Haines, Campbell, and Seligman. There they shared a loft in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. During their two-year stay at the loft, Haines and Shaw were erstwhile roommates with future members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...

, Liars
Liars (band)
Liars is a three-piece band formed in 2000 consisting of Angus Andrew , Aaron Hemphill , and Julian Gross...

 and TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....

. In an interview with Dave Owen of I Cant Breathe Media and AAA Shaw said that although this sounded like an amazing place to live often the roommates were simply struggling to eat.

In 1999, Shaw and Haines decided to call their partnership "Metric", after a synthesizer beat that Shaw used on his sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...

 and as a reference to the duo's musical precision. That same year, Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

 showed interest in the group and the band did a development deal with them. A producer in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 saw the potential of commercial success from the demos they recorded in this period and offered to bring Metric to the UK for a possible record deal. Eager to take a break from the somewhat miserable conditions of the loft, Haines and Shaw set off to London in early 2000 and signed a publishing deal with Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...

.

With the help of producer Stephen Hague
Stephen Hague
Stephen Hague is an American music producer most active with various British acts in the 1980s. He was an influential figure in the synthpop movement.-Early career:...

, an influential figure in the synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

/New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 genre(s) who had produced such '80s acts as Erasure
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...

, New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...

, and the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....

, Metric worked on a new batch of New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

/electropop drum-machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...

 paced songs that would form the nucleus of their debut album. This nucleus formed the basis for an eclectic style that would be prescient for bands in the years ahead with their musical mix. Although Metric already had a semi-mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....

 appeal, they felt restricted by the confines of recording demos and were eager to return to NYC and put a live band together. In November they moved back to their Brooklyn loft.

Grow Up and Blow Away (2001–2002)

Metric continued to work on their debut album in the first few months of 2001. Now dubbed Grow Up and Blow Away
Grow up and Blow Away
Grow Up and Blow Away was the first recorded album by indie rock band Metric. The album was recorded in 2001, but delayed for years by their record label...

, the effort revealed a more musically layered and mature sound than the earlier Mainstream EP
Mainstream EP
Mainstream is an early demo EP from Canadian indie rock band Metric. The album is currently not available in stores, although it is circulated widely on the internet...

. The album under construction included commercial-friendly uptempo songs such as the title track "Grow Up and Blow Away", "Raw Sugar", and "Soft Rock Star" (distinguished by a vaguely Beatlesque
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 melody, high-pitched singing in the chorus, and lyrics evoking middle school angst), downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...

 songs like "White Gold", "The Twist", and "Rock Me Now" (which included singing by Shaw, spoken-word vocals by Haines in a manner reminiscent of "The Mandate", and had an overall jazzy vibe). "Parkdale
Parkdale, Toronto
Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario...

", featuring trumpeting by Shaw and a fanfare intro, concerned the edgy and dynamic Toronto neighborhood. Haines and Shaw completed the album in April and by this time had found a new label for their release – Restless Records
Restless Records
Restless Records was started in El Segundo, California in 1981 by Enigma Records and primarly released alternative, metal and punk records. Restless also licensed and released records from Bar/None Records, Metal Blade Records and Mute Records...

 – the L.A. indie
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 record company that promoted such acts as They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...

, Agent Orange
Agent Orange (band)
Agent Orange is an American punk rock band formed in Orange County, California in 1979. The band is one of the first to mix punk rock with surf music. They first gained attention with their song "Bloodstains" which they released on their own 7" E.P. An early demo of the song was presented to...

, and The Dead Milkmen.

Metric had also gained a new bandmate in the winter of 2001 – Joules Scott-Key – a native of Flint, Michigan who was attending college in Texas and was in town with his friend Joshua Winstead (also from Texas) performing in the local music scene. Scott-Key (no relation to Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet, from Georgetown, who wrote the lyrics to the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".-Life:...

) and Winstead had known each other for about a decade and they met Haines and Shaw at the Brooklyn loft and at local performances. Metric at the time was for the most part a studio band and live shows approximated the Synthesizer-centered and drum-machine driven sound of the recordings. This made for somewhat restrained and less-than-dynamic performances. The recruitment of a drummer, particularly one of Scott-Key's talents, facilitated a stronger, more engaging live presence and Joules officially joined the band at a Unitard show at Black Betty's in Williamsburg. Metric performed in New York in early Spring and late Summer 2001, personally circulating handmade CD-R copies of their unreleased music to fans at shows and by mail, eventually giving the music away for free on the internet.

Metric received their first major public exposure in August 2001 with the television commercial "Be Afraid", advertising Polaroid
Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...

's I-Zone Pocket Fortune film. The music used for the ad was taken from the song "Grow Up and Blow Away", with the line "Why does it feel so good to die today?" changed to the more benign "Why does it feel so good to fly away?". The commercial drew curious music listeners to the Polaroid website to learn of the source of the synth-pop music used in the commercial.

Old World Underground (2003–2004)

In 2003, Metric released their first official album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? is a 2003 album by Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album has gone gold in Canada.-Track listing:All songs written by Metric.#"IOU" – 4:22#"Hustle Rose" – 5:33#"Succexy" – 3:05#"Combat Baby" – 3:29...

. The album was received with impressive, enthusiastic reviews. The group released six singles from the album, the most successful being "Combat Baby
Combat Baby
"Combat Baby" is a song by Canadian indie rock and New Wave band Metric from their album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?. The single was released on 6 December 2004, in the UK, it did not break into the music charts....

", which was featured as a free single on iTunes in 2004. As of 12 December 2005, the album has gone gold in Canada.

Metric was featured as themselves in the 2004 independent French film, Clean, directed by Olivier Assayas
Olivier Assayas
Olivier Assayas is a French film director and screenwriter.He made his debut in 1986, after directing some short films and writing for the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma.-Career:...

 and starring Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung Man yuk is a Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Raised in England and Hong Kong, she has over 70 films to her credit since starting her career in 1983...

. The film was nominated for the Palme D'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...

 award at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

. The songs that Maggie Cheung performs in the film were written and produced by David Roback
David Roback
David Roback is a guitarist and songwriter best known as a member of the duo Mazzy Star.Roback grew up in Los Angeles and attended Palisades High School, graduating in 1975. He was a classmate and neighbor of John Hoffs, the brother of Susanna Hoffs, who would eventually become the lead singer of...

 of Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California, in 1989 from the group Opal, a collaboration of guitarist David Roback and bassist Kendra Smith...

. The soundtrack also features songs by Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...

, Emily Haines
Emily Haines
Emily Haines is a Canadian indie rock singer-songwriter. She is the lead singer and keyboardist of the band Metric and a member of Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she performed with her own name and under the alias Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton...

, Metric and Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...

.

Live It Out and Grow Up and Blow Away (2005–2007)

Two years later, Metric released their second studio album, Live It Out
Live It Out
Live It Out is the second album released by the Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005, the 38th best album of 2006 by NME, and it was shortlisted for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize...

, on October 4, 2005. This album, like its predecessor, was well received. During this time, Metric was approached by and agreed to open for the Rolling Stones whose tour coincided with theirs in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Live It Out was a success in Canada, already selling twice as many copies as Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? and scoring them three top 20 singles for "Monster Hospital", "Poster of a Girl" and "Handshakes". The album has since gone twice platinum in Canada, selling over 200,000 units. In the UK, all three of the singles were used in the soundtrack to the TV series Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...

. The band did a UK-wide tour supporting Bloc Party
Bloc Party
Bloc Party are a British Indie rock band, composed of Kele Okereke , Russell Lissack , Gordon Moakes , and Matt Tong...

 as well as performing at Reading and Leeds Festival, The Great Escape
The Great Escape (festival)
The Great Escape was a music festival held at Newington Armory, located within Sydney Olympic Park that took place in 2006 and 2007. Initially held over the Easter long weekend for the first two events, in 2008 it was announced the festival would take place on the Labour Day weekend, however the...

 in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, Wireless Festival
Wireless Festival
The Wireless Festival is a music festival in England that takes place every year in Hyde Park, London, and took place at Harewood House, Leeds in 2006 and 2007. It is owned and managed by Live Nation....

 at Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

 in London and numerous club dates throughout the UK. The band has toured the world extensively for several years playing concerts in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 to promote Live it Out.

On June 26, 2007, Last Gang Records
Last Gang Records
Last Gang Records is a record label that was formed by Canadian music industry lawyer Chris Taylor and concert promoter Donald Tarlton in the Fall of 2003 at the Pop Montreal Music Festival....

 released Metric's 2001
2001 in music
See also:* 2001 in music Record labels established in 2001-Events:*January 1**Comeback of Guns N' Roses in House of Blues**Hum disbands.*January 17 – Bass player Jason Newsted leaves Metallica after 14 years with the band....

 album Grow Up and Blow Away
Grow up and Blow Away
Grow Up and Blow Away was the first recorded album by indie rock band Metric. The album was recorded in 2001, but delayed for years by their record label...

.

Throughout the summer of 2007, four new songs were road-tested by the band, tentatively named "Black Sheep", "The Hooks", "Stadium Love", and "Up in Flames". On October 4, 2007, Metric played a live webcast show on MySpace.com's "Hey Play This" programme. Fans sent in requests and the band played a selected few. Along with old material, they performed several new songs, including "Freddie" (aka: "Black Sheep"), "Standing in Line", "Gimme Sympathy" (aka: "The Hooks"), "Twilight", "Joyride" and "Stadium Love".

On November 13, 2007, Last Gang Records released a trailer on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 for a Metric DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 showcasing a live concert at the Metropolis Theatre in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, as well as all three music videos from Live It Out
Live It Out
Live It Out is the second album released by the Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005, the 38th best album of 2006 by NME, and it was shortlisted for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize...

. The DVD was released on February 12, 2008. A three-track audio EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 was released on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 in December. The EP features the live tracks "The Police and the Private", "Too Little Too Late" and "Patriarch on a Vespa" from the DVD, as well as the DVD trailer.

Fantasies (2008–present)

The band performed select dates in 2008 in Canada, Mexico and Brazil while continuing to record their upcoming fourth album. They performed at the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...

 in Indio, California
Indio, California
Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...

 on April 27, 2008, and at the 2008 Ottawa Bluesfest
Ottawa Bluesfest
The Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place each July in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While ostensibly focused on blues, the festival has increasingly showcased mainstream pop and rock acts in recent years...

 in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 on July 11, 2008 in addition to playing at the 2008 Pemberton Festival
Pemberton Festival
The Pemberton Festival was a three-day summer music festival inaugurated in 2008. It was held in Pemberton, British Columbia, a village just north of popular ski resort Whistler. Produced by Live Nation Canada, the festival featured primarily rock and indie rock musicians, with a small proportion...

 in Pemberton, British Columbia
Pemberton, British Columbia
Pemberton is a village north of Whistler in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia in Canada, with a population of 2,192. Until the 1960s the village could be accessed only by train but that changed when Highway 99 was built through Whistler and Pemberton.-Climate:The climate of Pemberton is...

 on July 25, 2008 and All Points West Festival in New Jersey on August 9, 2008.

On September 7, under the premises of an Emily Haines solo show, Haines and Shaw played the full ten-track album acoustically at Union Pool in Brooklyn.

During December 13–23, 2008, Metric toured across Canada with Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It consists of vocalist and bassist David Monks , keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook , and drummer Greg Alsop ....

, The Dears
The Dears
-History:The band formed in 1995 and released their first album, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000. Their orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows cemented The Dears at the foundation of the then-emerging Canadian indie renaissance...

, and Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains, to raise money for various charities under the name "Jingle Bell Rock" tour. "Help, I'm Alive
Help, I'm Alive
"Help I'm Alive" is the lead single from Canadian rock group Metric's fourth studio album Fantasies. The song was released digitally on December 23, 2008.- Song information :The song was written by Emily Haines and produced by John O'Mahony...

" was officially released as the lead single from the upcoming album on iTunes on December 23, 2008 in Canada and January 1, 2009 around the rest of the world.

Their fourth record, "Fantasies" was released on Last Gang Records in Canada, Arts & Crafts in Mexico, and independently around the rest of the world. Fantasies features ten tracks. The song "Black Sheep", which was played often by the band on tours, was not included. However, the song was featured in the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a 2010 comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, based on the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The film is about Scott Pilgrim , a young Canadian musician, meeting the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers , an American delivery girl...

. The music video for "Gimme Sympathy" was released on MySpace on March 16, 2009. Emily and Jimmy completed a mini tour of exclusive acoustic shows across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, with stops in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria in late April with cooperation from local radio stations. The only way to get tickets were from the band website or listen-to-win on the local radio stations. The band finished a Europe tour in May 2009 and toured the US (with Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains and Smile Smile), UK, and Canada at certain music festivals during the Summer. They then headed to Australia for their first ever Australian tour in early October, as well as one show in Tokyo.
On August 30, 2009, Mike Shinoda
Mike Shinoda
Michael "Mike" Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park, along with his co-frontman and lead singer Chester Bennington, and as a solo rapper in...

 of Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...

 fame made his remix of the track "Gold Guns Girls" available for streaming on his website. He used the remix as the theme for his art exhibition Glorious Excess (Dies), and later became part of a compilation album set up by Linkin Park's Music for Relief
Music for Relief
Music For Relief is a charity founded by the band Linkin Park. The goal is to provide relief to victims of natural disasters and to bring awareness to global warming.-About:...

 for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

On October 27, 2009, Metric released a 5-track EP called Plug In Plug Out
Plug In Plug Out
Plug In, Plug Out is an acoustic EP released by Canadian indie rock band Metric on October 27, 2009. It was first released exclusively on Amazon.com, and was released on iTunes on December 1, 2009 for residents of the US and UK. It became available worldwide on the band's website in early 2010...

containing acoustic versions of songs from Fantasies. The EP was available exclusively on Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

 for 30 days.

Emily and Jimmy performed an acoustic version of "Help I'm Alive" on January 22, 2010 for the Canada for Haiti telethon.

During the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

, Metric, along with several other Canadian music acts, came together in Vancouver to re-record K'Naan
K'naan
K'naan , born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978, is a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Somalia, K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there during the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia's most...

's song "Wavin' Flag
Wavin' Flag
"Wavin' Flag" is a song by Somali-Canadian artist K'naan from his album Troubadour. The song was a global hit, reaching the top ten in 19 charts around the world and was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, hosted by South Africa. The English version was released as...

" to benefit Haiti in a movement called Young Artists for Haiti
Young Artists for Haiti
Young Artists for Haiti is a movement to engage Canada's young musicians to continue to inspire an ongoing effort and contribution to Canadian charities for their work to help the people of Haiti overcome the devastation from the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked the country on January 12, 2010...

.

On February 28, 2010, Metric released the track "Black Sheep" through their Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 page. The song is on the soundtrack for the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a 2010 comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, based on the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The film is about Scott Pilgrim , a young Canadian musician, meeting the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers , an American delivery girl...

. In the movie this song is sung by Brie Larson
Brie Larson
Brie Larson is an American actress and pop rock singer/songwriter. She is best known for her roles in United States of Tara, Sleepover, Remember The Daze and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...

 who played Envy Adams in the film. Scott Pilgrim
Scott Pilgrim
Scott Pilgrim is a graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley. It consists of six digest size black-and-white volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by Portland-based independent comic book publisher Oni Press. It was later republished by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins...

author Bryan Lee O'Malley
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Bryan Lee O'Malley is a Canadian cartoonist. He is best known for the Scott Pilgrim series, but is also a musician using the alias Kupek.-Career:...

 said he was inspired by concert photos of Emily Haines
Emily Haines
Emily Haines is a Canadian indie rock singer-songwriter. She is the lead singer and keyboardist of the band Metric and a member of Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she performed with her own name and under the alias Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton...

 while originally drawing Envy's singing poses. The band toured in western USA, before playing shows in the Canadian Maritimes and Eastern Ontario for most of March 2010. Metric also toured with Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

 for part of her 2010 Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...

.

Metric won multiple awards at the 2010 Juno Awards, winning Group of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year.

Metric have a song, "Eclipse (All Yours)" on the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (soundtrack)
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is the soundtrack album to the film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. It is the third soundtrack in the film's chronology, and was released on June 8, 2010. The soundtrack was once again co-produced by Alexandra Patsavas, the music supervisor for the previous two films...

,released on June 8, 2010. The song was written with composer Howard Shore
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg,...

. The deluxe version of the album also has an acoustic version of the song. Metric performed "Eclipse (All Yours) on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...

on July 21, 2010.

During October and November 2010, Metric opened for Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...

 for seven shows of The Resistance Tour
The Resistance Tour
The Resistance Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English alternative rock band Muse in support of their fifth studio album The Resistance. The opening European leg began on 22 October 2009 and ended on 4 December 2009, comprising 30 shows. The second leg, which began on 7 January 2010, included...

. They were part of the lineup for Voodoo Experience
Voodoo Experience
Voodoo Experience, also commonly referred to as Voodoo or Voodoo Fest, is a multi-day music and arts festival held in City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana. It was first held on Halloween weekend in 1999. It has since moved between the weekend before Halloween and Halloween weekend throughout the years...

 2010 which took place over Halloween weekend in New Orleans, LA.

Metric announced that they will be returning to the studio in late 2010 to write and record for their fifth studio album.

On January 4, 2011, Metric released an iTunes Session EP exclusively on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

, consisting of 8 live tracks, including "Hustle Rose", "Empty" and a cover of the Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...

 song "Expecting to Fly ", and a 30 minute interview.

Emily and Jimmy were presenters together at the Juno Awards of 2011
Juno Awards of 2011
The Juno Awards of 2011, honours Canadian music industry achievements in the latter part of 2009 and in most of 2010. The awards presented in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the weekend of 26 and 27 March 2011. A week of related events on 21 March 2011...

 on March 27, 2011.

On April 3, 2011 it was announced that Metric will headline "Live At Squamish" on August 20, a music festival put on by local radio station 100.5 The Peak. Due to a scheduling change, Emily and Jimmy ended up playing a smaller acoustic set on August 20th, and played a full band show the following night, August 21st.

In early October 2011, Haines announced that the band was nearing completion of their as-yet untitled fifth studio album. She also added that they are looking forward to a Spring 2012 release date.

Media usage

  • "Gold Guns Girls" has been used on 90210
    90210 (TV series)
    90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...

    , Zombieland
    Zombieland
    Zombieland is a 2009 American zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a zombie apocalypse...

    , Entourage
    Entourage (TV series)
    Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

    , Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

    , Rookie Blue, Totally Spies! The Movie
    Totally Spies! The Movie
    Totally Spies! The Movie is a 2009 French animated action comedy film produced by Marathon Media and Studio 37...

    , One Tree Hill
    One Tree Hill (TV series)
    One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...

    , EA Sports
    EA Sports
    EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...

     soccer game FIFA 10
    FIFA 10
    carlos leivaFIFA 10 is the 17th title in Electronic Arts' FIFA series of football video games. Developed by EA Canada, it was published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on 2 October 2009 in Europe, 30 September in Australia and 20 October 2009 in North America...

    , as well as Eden Games
    Eden Games
    Eden Games is a game development studio. In May 2002, the company was sold to the Infogrames Group. It is most well known for the V-Rally series of games, as well as the 2006 release Test Drive Unlimited. They have most recently developed Test Drive Unlimited 2, which was released in February 2011...

    ' open-world racing game Test Drive Unlimited 2
    Test Drive Unlimited 2
    Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a racing video game developed by Eden Games and published by Atari. It is the sequel to Test Drive Unlimited and the tenth game in the series. The game was released on 8 February 2011 in North America and on 11 February in Europe.The game suffered from many bugs during...

    .
  • "Police and the Private", "Front Row", and "Blindness" have been used in Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

    .
  • "Monster Hospital" has been used in CSI: Miami
    CSI: Miami
    CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....

    and in Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

    .
  • "Stadium Love" has been used on CSI: NY
    CSI: NY
    CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...

    , 2011 NHL All-Star Game as well as on House
    House (TV series)
    House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

    .
  • "Gimme Sympathy" has been featured in 90210
    90210 (TV series)
    90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...

    , the opening montage to CBC's
    Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
    The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

     coverage of the 2010 NHL Winter Classic
    2010 NHL Winter Classic
    The 2010 NHL Winter Classic, known as the 2010 NHL Winter Classic presented by Bridgestone via corporate sponsorship, was the third edition of the NHL Winter Classic, an annual outdoor ice hockey game held by the National Hockey League , played on January 1, 2010, as a regular season game at...

     and in the Ontario Media Development Corporation's 2011 "We've Got it Going on" campaign
  • "Help I'm Alive" has been featured in the second episode of 90210
    90210 (TV series)
    90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...

    's third season, The Vampire Diaries
    The Vampire Diaries
    The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire horror series of novels written by L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991, but pressure from readers led Smith to write a fourth...

    , the films Defendor
    Defendor
    Defendor is a 2009 Canadian superhero comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Stebbings, and starring Woody Harrelson, Kat Dennings, Elias Koteas and Sandra Oh. The story tells of a mentally ill man who adopts the persona of a superhero named Defendor on a quest to find his arch enemy,...

    and Zombieland
    Zombieland
    Zombieland is a 2009 American zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a zombie apocalypse...

    , and the video game NBA 2K10
    NBA 2K10
    NBA 2K10 is a basketball video game based on the National Basketball Association developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It was released on October 6, 2009 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PSP and on October 12, 2009 on PC. It was released on Wii on November 9, 2009 in...

    .
  • "Combat Baby
    Combat Baby
    "Combat Baby" is a song by Canadian indie rock and New Wave band Metric from their album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?. The single was released on 6 December 2004, in the UK, it did not break into the music charts....

    " is a playable song in the music video game Rock Band 3
    Rock Band 3
    Rock Band 3 is a music video game, developed by Harmonix Music Systems. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, with Mad Catz taking over both roles a year later. It is the third main game in the Rock Band series...

    .
  • "Eclipse (All Yours)" was included in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack
    The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (soundtrack)
    The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is the soundtrack album to the film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. It is the third soundtrack in the film's chronology, and was released on June 8, 2010. The soundtrack was once again co-produced by Alexandra Patsavas, the music supervisor for the previous two films...

    .
  • "Handshakes" was featured in Inside Paris and in Test Drive Unlimited
    Test Drive Unlimited
    Test Drive Unlimited is an arcade-style racing game, the 9th game of the Test Drive series, it features over 125 licensed sports cars and motorcycles and a terrain modeled after the Hawaiian island of Oahu that features some 1000 miles of roads and highways. Test Drive Unlimited is the ninth main...

    , a racing game published by Atari.
  • "Monster Hospital" was featured in Tormented
    Tormented (2009 film)
    Tormented is a 2009 horror-comedy film starring Alex Pettyfer, April Pearson, Dimitri Leonidas, Calvin Dean and newcomer Tuppence Middleton. Directed by Jon Wright and written by newcomer Stephen Prentice, the film was released on 22 May 2009 in the UK...

    .
  • "Black Sheep" was featured in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
    Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
    Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a 2010 comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, based on the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The film is about Scott Pilgrim , a young Canadian musician, meeting the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers , an American delivery girl...

    , and also performed in the film by fictional band The Clash at Demonhead.
  • "Dead Disco" was featured on Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

    in Season 7 episode "Something's Gotta Give".

Albums

Year Details Peak chart positions Certifications
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...


(sales thresholds)
CAN
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...


AUS
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...


FRA
UK
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...


US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...


2003 Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? is a 2003 album by Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album has gone gold in Canada.-Track listing:All songs written by Metric.#"IOU" – 4:22#"Hustle Rose" – 5:33#"Succexy" – 3:05#"Combat Baby" – 3:29...


  • Released: 2 September 2003
  • Label: Last Gang Records
188
  • CAN
    Cria
    A cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically...

    : Gold
  • 2005 Live It Out
    Live It Out
    Live It Out is the second album released by the Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005, the 38th best album of 2006 by NME, and it was shortlisted for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize...


    • Released: 27 September 2005
    • Label: Last Gang Records
  • CAN: Platinum
  • 2007 Grow Up and Blow Away
    Grow up and Blow Away
    Grow Up and Blow Away was the first recorded album by indie rock band Metric. The album was recorded in 2001, but delayed for years by their record label...


    • Released: 26 June 2007
    • Label: Last Gang Records
      Last Gang Records
      Last Gang Records is a record label that was formed by Canadian music industry lawyer Chris Taylor and concert promoter Donald Tarlton in the Fall of 2003 at the Pop Montreal Music Festival....

    2009 Fantasies
    Fantasies (album)
    - Singles :* "Help, I'm Alive" * "Front Row" * "Gimme Sympathy" * "Sick Muse" * "Gold Guns Girls"...


    • Released: 7 April 2009
    • Label: Metric Music International
    6 48 110 164 76
  • CAN: Platinum



  • EPs

    • Mainstream EP
      Mainstream EP
      Mainstream is an early demo EP from Canadian indie rock band Metric. The album is currently not available in stores, although it is circulated widely on the internet...

      (1998)
    • Static Anonymity
      Static Anonymity
      Static Anonymity is an EP released by the Canadian band Metric in 2001. The back cover of the album states that "This handmade collection of rare songs is only available at Metric performances or at www.ilovemetric.com and is not intended for retail sale". Though it states that one can buy the...

      (2001)
    • Live at Metropolis (2007)
    • Plug In Plug Out
      Plug In Plug Out
      Plug In, Plug Out is an acoustic EP released by Canadian indie rock band Metric on October 27, 2009. It was first released exclusively on Amazon.com, and was released on iTunes on December 1, 2009 for residents of the US and UK. It became available worldwide on the band's website in early 2010...

      (2009)
    • Spotify Acoustic EP (2010)
    • Spotify Covers EP (2010)
    • iTunes Session EP (2011)

    Singles

    Year Title Peak chart positions Album
    CAN
    Canadian Singles Chart
    The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....

    UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...


    US
    Alt.

    US Rock
    Rock Songs
    Rock Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the airplay of songs on alternative, mainstream rock and triple A radio stations. The first chart was published in the issue dated June 20, 2009. "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day was the first number-one song. The Rock Songs...


    2001 "Grow Up and Blow Away" (UK promo) Grow Up and Blow Away
    Grow up and Blow Away
    Grow Up and Blow Away was the first recorded album by indie rock band Metric. The album was recorded in 2001, but delayed for years by their record label...

    "Raw Sugar" (promo)
    2004 "Combat Baby
    Combat Baby
    "Combat Baby" is a song by Canadian indie rock and New Wave band Metric from their album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?. The single was released on 6 December 2004, in the UK, it did not break into the music charts....

    "
    Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
    Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
    Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? is a 2003 album by Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album has gone gold in Canada.-Track listing:All songs written by Metric.#"IOU" – 4:22#"Hustle Rose" – 5:33#"Succexy" – 3:05#"Combat Baby" – 3:29...

    "Succexy" (promo)
    "Dead Disco" (promo)
    2006 "Monster Hospital
    Monster Hospital
    "Monster Hospital" is a song by Canadian rock band Metric from their third album, Live It Out. It is the album's first single, followed by "Poster of a Girl"....

    "
    55 Live It Out
    Live It Out
    Live It Out is the second album released by the Canadian indie rock band Metric. This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005, the 38th best album of 2006 by NME, and it was shortlisted for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize...

    "Poster of a Girl
    Poster of a Girl
    Poster of a Girl is the second North American single from the album Live It Out from Canadian indie rock band Metric following Monster Hospital. In Europe it was the first single to be released from the album....

    "
    "Handshakes" (promo)
    2007 "Empty
    Empty (Metric song)
    Empty is the third commercial single from the album Live It Out by Canadian indie rock band Metric following Poster of a Girl . It was released as a single on February 19, 2007, after the band completed a tour supporting Bloc Party. In Europe it is the second single released...

    "
    2008 "Help, I'm Alive
    Help, I'm Alive
    "Help I'm Alive" is the lead single from Canadian rock group Metric's fourth studio album Fantasies. The song was released digitally on December 23, 2008.- Song information :The song was written by Emily Haines and produced by John O'Mahony...

    "
    21 17 30 Fantasies
    Fantasies (album)
    - Singles :* "Help, I'm Alive" * "Front Row" * "Gimme Sympathy" * "Sick Muse" * "Gold Guns Girls"...

    2009 "Front Row" (promo) 65
    "Gimme Sympathy
    Gimme Sympathy
    "Gimme Sympathy" is the third single from Canadian rock group Metric's fourth studio album Fantasies. The song was released for radio airplay in March 2009.- Song information :...

    " (promo)
    52
    "Sick Muse
    Sick Muse
    "Sick Muse" is the third single from Canadian rock group Metric's fourth studio album Fantasies. The song was released in the UK for radio airplay on May 18, 2009, and in Canada on June 1, 2009.-Song information:...

    "
    "Gold Guns Girls
    Gold Guns Girls
    "Gold Guns Girls" is the fourth single from Canadian rock group Metric's fourth studio album Fantasies. The lyrics were inspired by the 1983 movie, Scarface. The song was released in the UK and US for radio airplay in December 2009 and as a download single in the UK on April 25, 2010. The song...

    " (promo)
    85 16 28
    2010 "Stadium Love" (promo)

    Music videos

    Year Title Director
    2003 "Calculation Theme" Ramon Bloomberg
    Ramon Bloomberg
    Ramon Bloomberg is an artist and film director currently based in Brooklyn and working in the UK, US, and France.- Filmography :*The Raconteurs - "Hands"...

    "IOU" Unknown
    "Combat Baby" Michael Schiller
    "Succexy" Ashley Cahill
    2004 "The List" Chris Grismer
    "Dead Disco"
    2005 "Monster Hospital" Micah Meisner
    Micah Meisner
    Micah Meisner is an award winning music video director and filmmaker. His unique voice has been applied to an array of revered Canadian musical artists such as K-os, Metric, Buck 65, and The Dears. His videos with K-os and The Love Movement swept honors at the 2005 MuchMusic Video Awards as well...

    2006 "Poster of a Girl"
    2007 "Empty" Jaron Albertin
    2009 "Help, I'm Alive" Deco Dawson
    "Gimme Sympathy" Frank Borin
    "Sick Muse" Justin Broadbent
    2010 "Gold Guns Girls" Eady Bros. / METRIC
    "Stadium Love" Robby Starbuck & Frank Borin
    "Eclipse (All Yours)" Brantley Gutierrez


    Director Christopher Mills directed a short film with the song "Collect Call" from Fantasies. He also created a sequel using the band's iTunes Sessions cover of "Expecting to Fly".

    External links

    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
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