Gig life

METZ takes short break to record LP number two

Colin Medley

It’s almost been three years, but new METZ material is coming.

The Toronto noise rock trio - guitarist/vocalist Alex Edkins, bassist Chris Slorach and drummer Hayden Menzies - released its self-titled debut full-length record in October 2012 through Sub-Pop.

Since then, METZ has been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize and has toured across the world. Major publications like Pitchfork gave the band critical acclaim for writing heavy tunes that draw comparisons to Jesus Lizard and Big Black.

“It’s been kind of a blur because since that record we’ve been going nonstop. Lots of traveling and lots of gigs,” Edkins reports from his home in Toronto. “It’s exceeded any of our expectations and it’s been really surreal. We’re just a noisy punk band that made a record and all of a sudden we had people react really positively to it.”

METZ is still proud of that record, but the trio is also ready to move on and start focusing on other material.

“I think like with anything, you just kind of want to move forward and improve on it,” Edkins says. “All we can do is make the music we like as we’ve always done and as long as we’re proud of it that’s all we can really do.”

After working away at recording in between a hectic touring schedule, METZ finished recording its second full-length record a couple of weeks ago. The LP is scheduled to drop in spring 2015, though Edkins remains tight lipped about a concrete release date or album title.

Like the debut, this record was made with Crystal Castles producer Alex Bonenfant and Holy Fuck member Graham Walsh, who ended up mixing the entire thing. The new album will also be released via Sub-Pop.

“In some ways I think the new one is a little more melodic and has even more of a raw sensibility,” Edkins explains. “We also learned to be less nitpicky. We wouldn’t re-track and re-track multiple times. We left a lot of the happy accidents in.”

While the trio doesn’t plan to hit the road quite as hard as it has in the past, it’s still booked plenty of shows and will play Mexico for the first time this year.

Fans can expect to hear brand new songs from the next record on Jan. 27 when METZ supports Death From Above 1979 at the Garrick Theatre. The guys are sticking around for a second night and headlining a show at the Good Will Social Club on Jan. 28.

“There’s no real reason for playing Winnipeg twice other than we’re a fan of doing club shows,” Edkins says. “There’s something that happens in a small club in terms of energy that’s harder to get in a larger venue. Lots of sweat, lots of jumping around and lots of loud music.”

Published in Volume 69, Number 17 of The Uniter (January 21, 2015)

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