It’s only been a year since Toronto based Punk band Metz released their compilation album Automat, and they’re back with their new album Atlas Vending, available through Sub Pop Records. Originally from Ottawa, the energy packed three piece consisting of Alex Edkins (guitar & vocals), Chris Slorach, (bass) and Hayden Menzies (drums) have delivered something to get you out of that end of summer slump. Menzies admits that it may feel like a weird time to be releasing an album, but METZ wanted to put some positivity out there. Atlas Vending is unapologetically fervid, rowdy, and just what we all needed.
What have you been listening to the most lately?
Admittedly, lately I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts, I feel like that’s a common response these days. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I hear that when I listen to podcasts and that’s what people say, but there’s been a bunch that I’ve recently gotten into like The Trap Set that Joe Wong does is really cool. I listened to one today with a friend’s recommendation called Washed Up Emo, it was Alex Dunham from HOOVER which is one of my favorite bands of all time. Um, some True Crimes stuff, there’s also one that Chris who plays bass in Metz, recommended called Reply All, which is all these sort of weird scenarios where technology plays a big part of it and how they get around that, and some of them are kind of funny, some of them are kind of creepy…anyways, it’s kind of interesting stuff!
Music wise, I’ve kind of been trapped in this weird kind of outlaw Country phase with a lot of WAYLON JENNINGS, and WILLIE NELSON and things like that. I don’t know why, I mean I’m a fan of that stuff, but it’s not what I regularly put on but it’s good cooking music.
What’s your favorite means of discovering new music? Is it live? On records? Through friends’ recommendations?
If I was being completely truthful, I would say it’s through friends’ recommendations. Especially Alex and Chris in the band they have their ears to the ground all the time. It’s kind of inspiring, makes me feel a little bit foolish sometimes because, it’s not that I’m against seeking it out but they seem to come across it much, much more quickly than I do. They recommend a lot of stuff, which is really, insightful and kind of fun because I get to check out new stuff without having to do a lot of the sifting through. It’s nice to hear word of mouth recommendations for a lot of that kind of stuff. It makes it feel like shows are still happening and you get someone’s ear while you’re talking in between bands and they say, “oh these guys opened for them, or this band opened for, or toured with this band you should check them out.” I like that sort of word of mouth feel that still exists to some capacity.
Which album have you listened to the most in your life?
Oh man, uhm…. holy shit, I don’t know. I mean I don’t know which album it would be that I’ve electively put on myself and chosen to listen to. I’m sure that’s anywhere from SABBATH Paranoid to fucking WEIRD AL Even Worse. If it was thrust upon me from my parents or something, it’s probably the best of ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER or some crap like that. I have fond memories but it is sort of this Stockholm syndrome when you’re on these family vacations and you’ve got one cassette to go through and they just keep playing it ad nauseam.
Would you say that your musical tastes evolved throughout the years, from the Andrew Lloyd Webber?
I would hope so! I mean, I sort of throw that one in as a joke because it is an actual family anecdote which is endearing, and weird at the same time but I did have the luxury of growing up in a musical household. In terms of taste, my parents always had something playing in the background, a lot of that was stuff like the BEATLES, and WARREN ZEVON, and ROLLING STONES, that kind of stuff. There was always something being played, and they were happy to share it.
I think I’m fortunate in that respect, and so I think being open or being exposed to a wide array of stuff at a young age, thankfully didn’t really close any doors and nothing was off limits, you know? I mean, I’m sure I went through a phase in high school like a lot of people do where they kind of get blinders on about you’re into one thing and you’re into that one thing really, really hard, and everything else you can find an excuse for why it doesn’t fit into that mold. You want that ownership, you want to feel like you belong somewhere, that this thing is special to you and it doesn’t belong to another generation, or another sort of clique at school and stuff like that, and so you’re protective of it. It’s innocent enough, but I think it can become alienating if you let it start to get traction and really close you off to other stuff. So in the long term, yes, I would say that musical taste has evolved or at least, reception of other stuff, not just shutting anything down after a couple of listens. Just to be open, and see how this can influence anything from movies I watch, to art that I like, or bringing parts into a band that you play in.
Do you remember the first time that music had an impact on you?
I’m sure there are a few foggy memories again of childhood where I could probably stitch together some sort of anecdote, or memory of the first time, but I remember I can say with certainty, the first time I had a massive impact was my first show I had ever been to, and that was the band HOOVER who is on Dischord Records. I lived in Ottawa at the time, and I was probably about fourteen, and it wasn’t even a club, it was a house that people lived in called 5 Arlington cause that was the address of the house. There was this revolving door of people that lived there, and they would put on shows and they would keep this sort of communal space open. There wasn’t a stage or anything per say, there was probably a PA and things like that but it was either five dollar shows or pay what you can. I remember the first time I went, I had to go with one of my older brothers because I was too young to go on my own, just for my parents sake, these were always all ages shows so it wasn’t about that, but I remember just seeing that band and it was mind altering in a variety of ways. The musicality, the intensity that these people were playing on either right on the floor or this makeshift little stage I can’t remember because it went through a couple different incarnations of the venue.
Clearly they were older than me but to see that they had put something together between the four of them, and bought a crappy van and taken this out and say, if you’re willing to have us we’re willing to play, and I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world Especially because things like AC/DC and KISS and stuff, I like those bands but that’s larger than life stuff that didn’t seem achievable, that didn’t seem like it was mine. This big theatrical sort of endeavor seemed like watching a movie, not making your own movie if that makes any sense. So that was probably the first time that I really, really was sort of jaw on the floor watching people just claim this space on a floor, or on a stage for half an hour and those were their songs that was the way they played their instruments and it was pretty life altering.
What are some of the other memorable shows you’ve seen?
Well, it’s hard to top that one now that I’ve got pretty long winded but we’ve been lucky enough to share the stage with bands like MUDHONEY, who are heroes of ours and still totally thrash. We’ve seen bands on festival tours, like ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT is still an all-time favorite band of mine, they’re still fantastic. Bands like…I always draw a blank when these questions come up and as soon as I hang up the phone, I’ll think of like a thousand other responses.
Is there something about those shows that stood out? Do you like the festival environment?
I think the festival one standing out is kind of….I’m surprised I even led with those because it’s usually somewhat lackluster…I mean RAMMSTEIN was… just… larger than life, it was this whole thing, it was impressive the scale to which is was half show, half songs and stuff. I’m not really a fan or anything but just to see to what degree this band put together this show like pyrotechnics, and this huge thing that the guy would ride on in the front of the stage, and the keyboard player being on a treadmill the entire time while he was playing, these are things like this is…you can’t take your eyes off of it., You can appreciate it for the spectacle that it is but it wasn’t exactly inspiring musically. I take that back, I don’t want shit talk anyone, I have zero interest in speaking ill of any band, it’s just the impression that that leaves you, I remember that to this day, that was several years ago now so clearly it stuck out for a reason. I’d say the shows that really stand out are the ones where you can just see and feel the band on stage leaving it all up there and where there is really quite intricate stuff, or it’s really heavy, and very physical. It’s hard to not be inspired by that when you’re watching it happen, that’s what you want to be able to bring yourself when it comes your time to play. If you’re fortunate to get to tour and stuff, those are the types of things that say like, I can step it up. When you’re feeling tired or you’re having a bad day, those are the ones I want to remember and compare myself to because being privileged enough to be able to play live, you want to do it justice.
Is there any band that you’ve wanted to see live but never had the chance to catch them? Maybe a classic show you wish you would have experienced? It could one that you saw videos of, heard stories or saw flyers?
At that same Ottawa Punk house at 5 Arlington, I was away for one weekend I think, and DRIVE LIKE JEHU played there, and I regret missing that one. My brothers went and I regret missing it because now we’ve become quite friendly with some of the guys from DRIVE LIKE JEHU and stuff. I want to be able to tell that story like, “hey I was at that show, you know years and years ago” but I can’t quite say it truthfully! It’s like I have to give this little caveat that I know about the show, and I’ve brothers that went but I wasn’t physically there. I can’t remember the reason I was even out of town, but I don’t know. I think I go back to that era quite a bit because of the impact it had in getting started even wanting to play in a band, saving up money to buy a set of drums so I think that’s why I go back to that time.
Who would you say is the most impressive band you’ve toured with? One that you had to watch every night. Did you learn anything from them?
There’s a band from Chicago called FACS who are phenomenal, just amazing people, really well crafted, really endearing intense songs, the utmost respect. Seeing that sort of delivery, and intensity, and just being super nice people is very inspiring. Touring with bands like IDLES who have sort of skyrocketed now and I couldn’t be happier cause they’re phenomenal people with a great message to put forward. They fucking slay. They kill it every night, they take it very seriously, and they’re super nice guys. YOUNG WIDOWS, we toured with back in the day quite a bit and I still put on their records and thoroughly enjoy listening to them. I’m sure there’s a bunch of others that I’m totally pooching right now and I’m going to regret it later because I don’t want to leave anyone out who deserves to be mentioned but yeah, those ones come to mind.
Do you have any unpopular music opinions that you’d like to defend, something you truly love but can’t find anyone to agree with you?
I love the band CAKE. I know that some people don’t really get down with that band, but I’ve liked that band for a long time. I don’t know, I guess I’d like to think the people I call friends, they influence me just as much as I influence them, hopefully in some sort of healthy way. So, I don’t think we disagree on too much, I don’t find myself having to defend anything in particular, I think it’s healthy to have people challenge you on that kind of stuff.
What are some up and coming artists that you recommend?
Well there’s a very good friend of mine that I went to university with named Robert Reese. He lives in Montreal, he’s a filmmaker and artist from Montreal, and he’s a very talented dude, one of the most thoughtful, friendly people that I know, he’s incredible. Scott Cudmore, who we’ve had the privilege of working on a bunch of different videos he’s directed with us, he’s fantastic, still does great work. I’m trying to think of some other people that we’ve been lucky enough to work with, I mean, we’ve kind of…I must say again that we’re in a really privileged state that we’ve gotten to work with a lot of great people whether it’s merch for a tour, or directing a video, or someone doing the album art, stuff like that we’ve had a bunch of different people that we’ve collaborated with, which has been really fun and successful.
Actually there’s a design company in Toronto called Doublenaut. It’s basically two twin brothers that, Matt McCracken, is now the main artist, but he did this sort of inspired by old Italian cinema type movie posters, did a poster and couple shirts which turned out really, really cool and we’re really, really excited about those. There’s a bunch of people, I just bought a book by Kadir Nelson who is an amazing painter. A good friend of Alex’s who we’ve sort of become friends with the rest of the band, is this guy named Ian Reed. He is an incredible writer who wrote a book called I’m Thinking of Ending Things which is now coming out as a movie in the fall that was directed by Charlie Kaufman, that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
Is there anything that you’d like to promote, new album?
Yeah! The new record comes out on October 9th, it’s called Atlas Vending and we’re super psyched. It seems like a weird time to be releasing music or doing anything right now but it is uh…we’re trying to proceed with some sort of labored levity to try and stay the course for something positive, it’s a pretty bleak world right now. But yeah, we’re pretty psyched about this album right now so hopefully people will dig it.
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