Metric is a Canadian indie rock band founded in 1998 in Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Emily Haines (lead vocals, synthesizers, guitar, tambourine, harmonica, piano), James Shaw (guitar, synthesizers, theremin, backing vocals), Joshua Winstead (bass, synthesizers, backing vocals), and Joules Scott-Key (drums, percussion). The band started in 1998 as a duo formed by Haines and Shaw with the name "Mainstream". After releasing an EP titled Mainstream EP, they changed the band's name to Metric.
The band's first studio album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, was released in 2003. Live It Out, released in 2005, was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the "Canadian Album of the Year" and for the 2006 Juno Awards for "Best Alternative Album". Their third studio album, Grow Up and Blow Away, was recorded in 2001; it was initially planned as their debut album, but was delayed for many years and finally released, with some changes, in 2007.
Metric's fourth album Fantasies was released in 2009. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for "Canadian Album of the Year", and won the "Alternative Album of the Year" at the 2010 Juno Awards. Metric also won the 2010 "Group of the Year". The fifth Metric studio album, Synthetica, was released in 2012. The band won two awards at 2013 Juno Awards: "Alternative Album of the Year" for Synthetica and "Producer of the Year" for Shaw. The art director/designer/photographer Justin Broadbent also won an award for "Recording Package of the Year" for Synthetica. Metric's sixth album, Pagans in Vegas, was released in 2015, and their seventh album, Art of Doubt, was released in 2018. Their eighth and ninth full-length records, Formentera and Formentera II, were released in 2022 and 2023 respectively. This was followed by their tenth album, Romanticize the Dive, in 2026.
In 2023, Metric ranked 41st on Rolling Stones The 50 Greatest Canadian Artists of All Time.
History Formation and early years Emily Haines was born in New Delhi, India, to American-born parents, and was raised in Fenelon Falls, Ontario. She grew up as a dual citizen of both Canada and the United States. Her father, poet Paul Haines (best known for his lyrical collaboration with Carla Bley in the 1971 jazz opera Escalator over the Hill), often made cassettes of rare and eclectic music for his daughter to listen to, and her early influences included Carla Bley and Robert Wyatt.
Haines attended Etobicoke School of the Arts. There she met Amy Millan (future member of Stars and Broken Social Scene), and Kevin Drew (future member of Broken Social Scene). Haines and Millan briefly formed their first band around 1990 while at ESA. Haines attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 1992–1993, at Toronto in 1995, and at Concordia University in Montreal in 1995–1996. She distributed in 1996 an early album titled Cut in Half and Also Double with a limited number of copies.
James Shaw, who was born in England and raised in Ontario, was attending a Boston music school when he befriended singer Torquil Campbell and Chris Seligman, both future members of the band Stars. Campbell convinced Shaw to apply to Juilliard Music School and the two moved to New York City. Shaw initially studied as a classical trumpet player.
In mid-1996, Haines and Shaw met at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern. Bonding over a mutual distaste of the music scene, they began dating and writing songs together. In 1997, Shaw released the studio album Life on the Clock which featured Haines singing on some songs. Shaw also moved to Montreal where Haines was living. In 1998, calling themselves Mainstream, the pair self-released the five-song Mainstream EP with an overall downtempo and electronic feel.
At some point in 1998, the band changed its name to Metric, which was originally the name of a sound that Shaw had programmed into his keyboard while working on a song.
In the fall of 1998, Shaw, Haines, Campbell, and Seligman moved back to New York City, where they shared a loft in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Struggling financially during their two-year stay at the loft, Haines and Shaw were Erstwhile roommates with future members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, and TV on the Radio.
That same year, the band signed a development deal with Warner Bros. Records. A producer in London listened to the demos they recorded in this period and offered to bring Metric to the United Kingdom for a possible record deal. Eager to escape from the crowded conditions of the loft, Haines and Shaw set off to London in early 2000 and signed a publishing deal with Chrysalis Records.
With the help of the producer Stephen Hague, Metric recorded a set of new wave/synthpop drum machine paced songs. The pair tired of recording demos, and in November 2000 returned to their Brooklyn loft to put a band together; they recruited Joules Scott-Key (a native of Flint, Michigan) as their drummer and Jarrett Mason as their bassist.
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, they developed a more musically layered and mature sound than the earlier Mainstream EP. Haines and Shaw completed the album in April and by this time had found a new label for their release, the Los Angeles indie label Restless Records. However, the album, produced by Shaw, was delayed for years by the label. It was finally released in 2007 on Last Gang Records.
Grow Up and Blow Away included the uptempo songs "Grow Up and Blow Away", "Raw Sugar", and "Soft Rock Star", as well as downtempo songs "White Gold", "The Twist", and "Rock Me Now" (which included falsetto singing by Shaw and spoken-word vocals by Haines in a manner reminiscent of "The Mandate", and had an overall jazzy vibe). "Parkdale", featuring trumpeting by Shaw and a fanfare intro, concerned the Parkdale, Toronto neighborhood. When the track titled "Rock Me Now" was reworked, it had been stripped of its intro "bubble" sounds, as well as an additional vocal part was added to the bridge. The title track was also reworked during the chorus, in which, Haines vocalizes "If this is the life, why does it feel so good to die today?" and the synths get a more "heavier" feel.
In the same year, the band released Static Anonymity, a five-song EP which they sold only at Metric performances and on their official site. Three tracks from the EP were also included on Grow Up and Blow Away.
Metric up to this time had been for the most part a studio band; live shows could not reproduce the synthesizer-centered and drum machine-driven sound of the recordings. After recruiting a drummer to allow a stronger, more engaging live presence, Metric performed in New York in 2001. They handed out handmade copies of their unreleased music to fans at shows and by mail, and later gave away the music on the internet.
In August 2001, the television commercial "Be Afraid", advertising Polaroid's I-Zone Pocket Fortune film, used music from the song "Grow Up and Blow Away", with the line "Why does it feel so good to die today?" changed to "Why does it feel so good to fly today?".
In March 2002, Metric performed at Canadian Music Week. The band's performance was criticized in an article in University of Waterloo's newspaper Imprint, where the reviewer referred to the band's music as "derivative, pretentious, boring pap at its most mediocre".
By the end of 2002, Metric had gained another bandmate: the bassist Joshua Winstead (a native of Texas), who was in town performing with long-time friend Scott-Key in the local music scene.
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? (2003–2004)
In 2003, Metric released their first official studio album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? on Everloving Records and shortly thereafter it appeared on the !earshot National Top 50 radio chart. The album was produced by Michael Andrews and recorded at Elgonix Labs, Los Angeles. The band then moved to Los Angeles, where they performed locally, often playing at Silverlake Lounge and Spaceland. Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? received generally positive reviews. In December 2005, the album was certified gold in Canada.
The songs "Combat Baby" and "Dead Disco" were released as singles. "Combat Baby" was featured as a free single on iTunes in 2004. Six music videos were created to promote the album and accompany "Calculation Theme", "IOU", "Combat Baby", "Succexy", and "Dead Disco" respectively.
Metric was featured as themselves in the 2004 independent French film, Clean, directed by Olivier Assayas and starring Maggie Cheung. The band performed the song "Dead Disco" in the film and also acted in a short sequence. The film, which also featured songs by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Tricky, was nominated for the Palme D'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Live It Out and Grow Up and Blow Away (2005–2007)
On October 4, 2005, Metric released their second studio album, Live It Out, on Last Gang Records. The album, produced by Shaw, was well received by critics and fans, and eventually went twice platinum in Canada, selling over 200,000 units.
Three singles supported the album's sales: "Monster Hospital" (number 55 on UK singles charts), "Poster of a Girl", and "Empty". "Monster Hospital" was selected as NME Track of the Week and was number 12 on NME Tracks of 2006. Live It Out as well as number 38 on NME Recordings of 2006.
During this time, Metric opened for the Rolling Stones, whose tour coincided with theirs in New York City. The band did a UK-wide tour supporting Bloc Party as well as performing at Reading and Leeds Festival, The Great Escape in Brighton, Wireless Festival at Hyde Park in London and club dates throughout the UK. The band toured the world extensively for several years playing concerts in France, Germany, Iceland, Brazil, Greece, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, United States, Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, and Japan to promote Live it Out.
On June 26, 2007, Last Gang Records released Metric's 2001 album Grow Up and Blow Away, with an altered track listing compared to the unofficial version. There were added the songs "London Halflife" and "Soft Rock Star" (Jimmy vs. Joe mix) from the 2001 EP Static Anonymity and removed the songs "Torture Me", "Fanfare", and "Parkdale". The tracks were reordered and some songs (including the title track and "Rock Me Now") were slightly reworked.
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 that year Metric played a live webcast show on Myspace's "Hey Play This" programme, playing requests sent in by fans. 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 for a Metric DVD showcasing a live concert at the Metropolis Theatre in Montreal, as well as all three music videos from Live It Out. The DVD Live at Metropolis was released on February 12, 2008. A three-track EP was released on iTunes in December, featuring 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 (2008–2011)
The band performed in 2008 in Canada, Mexico and Brazil while continuing to record their upcoming fourth album. They performed at the 2008 Coachella Festival, and at the 2008 Ottawa Bluesfest; this was in addition to playing at the inaugural Pemberton Music Festival in Pemberton, British Columbia in July and All Points West Music & Arts Festival in New Jersey in August.