Alex Metric |
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Alex Metric InterviewWith diverse interests, Alex Metric combines so many different styles and successfully digests and turns them into his own style. Although he's known to have been behind the scene by juggling a wide range of remixes and production work for the likes of Adam Freeland and INFADELS, and travelling tos and fros for his busy DJ dates, he assures us that his own work is an excellent showcase of his genuine talent. Let alone the last successful release of In Your Machine single, recently out long-awaited lyrical version of Deadly On a Mission is just to name a few. It's obvious his calibre and enthusiasm to music will realise an album that has significant depth and soul and meaning in it. His first album, which is currently in production, will definitely appeal to the larger scale of audience who has taste. Steadily building up his fan base, Alex Metric will be even more ubiquitous in no time. |
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- Can you give us a breakdown of who you are and what you do?
A: I'm Alex Metric. I'm a producer, singer, remixer and DJ. I produce my own records, write songs and sing on them.Some of it is electronic-based, but it's also got an indie rock end too. On some of the albums, I've collaborated with other writers such as the band called 'INFADELS'. We are good friends, so we've co-written a lot of the songs together, about half of the album, and the other half I've done on my own. All the vocals on my tracks are mine.
- How come you call yourself Metric?
A: I used to be called as just Metric and there's a band from Canada called 'Metric'. |
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There was a few confusing moments. One day I was in Russia doing a gig. From the song titles on their flyer, I found they took me as the Canadian band, so I changed it. It got confusing.
- You are very tall. How tall are you in metric?
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- Do you have any music activity before this? Have you always been doing solo?
A: I used to be in bands when I was a kid growing up, I used to sing in indie bands. I never really got into production or writing music then. It's purely singing and wiring songs. I just kind of got fed up with the band situation because you are always at the will of other. The more people you are with, the more you have to compromise and it gets harder to get the new one done. After singing in a band, I started to get into electronic music and hooked up with a producer in my hometown. But again, I used to find, when I turned up to the studio to do songs, he was not working. I didn't like that, that's why I started to do it by myself.
youtube : ALEX METRIC - EXIT 08 Festival |
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| - There are so many people who do electro music in pairs these days. How do you feel about doing music on your own?
A: I enjoy and prefer doing it on my own, although on some albums I've collaborated with other people sometimes, such as ''Bnann'', who is a friend of mine. However, I just like controlling because it's my vision. Things work out how I want them to. On the whole, I prefer to work on my own.
- You also produce and remix a lot for other people. Do you see much difference between working on remixes, producing and creating your own music?
youtube : Exit 08 Dance Arena (Alex Metric -Splittr Remix)
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A: I don't see much with remixes. I find doing remixes and working on my own material quite similar because when I do a remix, I just treat them as one and I have to bring my own sound to it. Doing a remix, I use parts and do my own sound with it in a way I do what I want to do. Whereas when I'm producing for other people, then it's a bit different because you are sharing a vision with someone. For example, Adam Freeland's album, he had a very thorough idea of how he wanted the album to sound. And it was my job to help realize what he wanted the album to sound.
- Can you tell us how you first took up your red keytar for which you are well known? What was the first encounter like? |
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A: I was in a junk store in LA and looking for a new keytar. I've always wanted a keytar ever since I saw Jacques Lu Conte play live 8-9 years ago. I saw an all right, brand new keytar, but the guy there said, ''You wanna keytar? Follow me.'' He took me to the back of the shop and showed me 25-year-old, 80's real old vintage keytar. I had to get it.
- What other equipment do you use to create your music?
A: I like to keep things out of the computer as much as I can. There are a lot of people these days who just do everything on computer because software is so ready and available to everyone but I think, to do that, it's hard to get your sound. |
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| So I have a lot of keyboard and synths and guitar pedals, more analogue types. I love 80's stuff and bought DX7 last week, which is classic 80's synths.
- What kind of stuff has inspired you so far?
A: Music wise... I guess British indie, the first wave of French
House music, such as Alex Gopher, Etienne de Crecy, Superdiscount,
Daft Punk and anything from 80's both visually, art-wise and musically,
and Big Beat as well from Skint Records, Fatboy Slim and people
like that. Those four things musically are what have inspired me.
youtube : EXIT 08 'gimme what you got' bomb |
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Rather than sticking to one of them, I loved all of them equally. I grew up in the 80's, so when I was younger, although at that time I didn't know it, I was listening to what I'm actually DJing. That's where my obsession came from subconsciously.
- Choose one word best describes your sound.
- I found that your songs had depth and dramatic aspects, which gives me positive feelings. Do your songs reflect your personality or lifestyle?
A: Yea. I think recently the album has definitely been taking more personal side.
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The songs I've been writing with Bnann can be quite
poppy and universal almost, whereas for the stuff I've been doing
on my own I've definitely been doing a bit of soul searching within,
so it's definitely emotional and I mean it. That's why I do music,
otherwise I just make electronic music. I think a lot of electronic
music producers often just make music for the club and their music
can be quite shallow, just can be music has not much depth, however,
coming from band background, it's important for me to write music
that has got some meanings to it and soul to it. Lyrics are also
important to me. I don't see myself any different from a band, I
just use a computer and synthesizer. |
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- What would you like to achieve from the activity as Alex Meric.
- I heard you're getting an album ready. Could you tell us a bit about it? |
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A: It's been really a good week for the album. I'm very excited by it because it's getting together now and 3/4 are done. I've got to finish by Christmas. I keep a few instrumental tracks in and it's got its own distinctive sound at the moment. This week, I finished off the few tracks I've been playing around for a while but suddenly it's all started to fall into place. You can hear all my influences in them. It's indie rock but electro and the 80's music, which doesn't sound like anything else. Although I've got 17 tracks at the moment, I wanna write 25 so I can choose the best 12. I wanna have as twice as many, so it's all killer. There's no filler track.
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- How fast do you write?
A: It depends. You always find the best tracks happen very quickly. A couple of days to get a track done, if I'm feeling right.
- You've been DJing a lot recently, but are you going to do a live set sometime?
A: Yea definitely. I want to take a live show out. That's where I want to move in to when the album is ready. I'm not sure what format of the band would be, but I wanna have one. I'd rather have an interesting angle on it, so it's not a full band. |
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Although I don't know what me and other people would be doing exactly, I want three people including a girl. I'll be singing and playing synths. As I haven't sung in front of people for about 10 years, the first one will be scary, but that's the background I came from so it's important to get back to it. I wanna be playing at big stages of festivals, not just a dance tent. That's why I want the band things to go. We'll see, fingers crossed.
- You are going to Japan later on in October. What's your impression of the country?
A: Tokyo has always been the one place I wanted to go more than anywhere else. From the things as a kid, Gundam robots and manga, I've been fascinated by the Japanese culture. I used to collect comic books as a kid, that's how I got into Japanese comic books, manga. I remember the first one I got, Akira was so amazing blew my mind when I was younger. So, from pop culture, I have always been fascinated by Japan. I just can't wait to go, so excited. I had a dream about being in Japan last night! It's gonna be amazing. |
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- What do you expect most when you're there, apart from your work?
myspace : http://www.myspace.com/alexmetric
Written by Chika Aoki Photos by Toshimi Takaishi |
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