‘Tonnes of really big bands and scenes have come from Sheffield’: An interview with Joe from Metronomy

Despite the downpour this weekend, Metronomy’s vibrant and energetic electro pop brought Tramlines Festival to a triumphant close. The band took to the main stage dressed head to toe in white, armed with an impressive light show and big hits such as ‘The Look’ and ‘The Bay’ to get the crowd moving.

Ahead of their Sunday headline slot, we had a chat with frontman Joe Mount for his advice on getting into the music industry, starting university, and his meal deal of choice, as well as a quick round of ‘Would You Rather’

How are you enjoying Tramlines so far? Have you only just arrived today or have you had a chance to look around?

So we woke up here, and it’s very nice. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it’s pretty different to what I was expecting.

Have you been to Sheffield much before?

Yeah yeah we’ve done like tonnes of gigs here, so I guess we’ve been tens of times.

How do you like the city?

It’s cool, when we first came here we were playing funny club nights, I can’t remember the names now. When we first came we were doing like what twenty-year-olds do, or were doing at the time – and it felt pretty cool. It felt like we saw the vibier side of Sheffield which was cool. I’ve always liked it.

Other people that we’ve interviewed have said that Sheffield is probably one of the only cities that could host a festival like this – do you agree?

Yeah, I guess. We were talking to Oscar’s wife who’s from America, and we were describing Sheffield to her like “yeah it’s the Detroit of England”. It’s one of those cities which is a proper musical city. Tonnes of really big bands and ‘scenes’ have come from Sheffield. And I guess the lineup is pretty diverse.

And of course you performed at Glastonbury. How do you think it compares to performing at a smaller festival like Tramlines? Do you prefer the bigger festivals?

Glastonbury is a bit too big. It’s a bit full on. And I think it knows that it’s become a lot of different festivals within a huge festival. You could even stick to one stage for the whole weekend.

How did you feel about being on at the same time as Ed Sheeran?

Yeah we were clashing which, I’m sure meant we lost a lot of our fans to Ed.

What does music mean to you as a band? We’re getting a bit more philosophical now.

For us right now, I guess you only ever get into music because you love it and feel passionate about it. But then it becomes like a job as well, which is kind of odd – how the thing you really love starts helping you support your family, which is really intense.

So it kind of means everything. I still think we really love listening to music, and then you have this added thing of realising how it can really be a job which is interesting.

You’ve been performing for years, for example as part of the 2012 NME Awards Tour with Two Door Cinema Club and Azealia Banks. Where would you say you’re at as a band now, a few years down the line?

I feel we’re at this point where we’re really comfortable with what we are and how successful we are. I think just by being around for a long time, you earn a place in the world of music. And I guess that makes me feel really happy.

I think there’s more exciting music to come, I don’t feel like we’re on the way out or anything. It’s really nice. I don’t think we really thought like ten years ago we would be – actually no, I kind of always thought that we would still be around, but you never really know. It’s as much up to the people that listen to your music whether you’ll still be doing it. But we’re in a good place – the only way is down.

You used to wear flashing lights on stage right? What happened to them?

Oh yeah! Well we used to wear them in the very early days. There used to be three of us on stage, and that was like we were a budget Daft Punk, or budget Kraftwerk.That visual stuff  and the stage show is still very important. Although we’ve ditched the little lights we had, about six years ago. It’s nice that people remember.

Speaking of Kraftwerk, I’ve actually been to their 3D show, and that was amazing. Are you influenced by their work?

Yeah sure, they’re really cool. But I’ve never seen them live.

So you went to Brighton University – what would your advice be for students starting in September?

Oh gosh. I think, in my experience, university is the last step where you’re going to make quite a few new friends. Like I made friends in primary school, secondary, sixth form, and then after university you’re not going to make any more friends.

You find very interesting people to become friends with. But depending on what you’re doing, like I did a very creative course, you get to a position where you help each other out with what you’re doing. Yeah I think you’re there to learn, but it’s also a very good place to meet people and by meeting people you find out more about yourself and what you want to do. Don’t take it too seriously I think.

So with you saying you were studying a creative course, what would be your advice to students and young people who want a career in music? Was it a big risk for you to go down this path?

I mean, to be honest, the course I did was a stupid course. It was like, music and visual art, so I have a degree but it doesn’t really bring anything of any use. I think if you want to get into music, or you want to be involved in music, studying is only half of it. The other half is vocational, getting out there and doing stuff for free, and offering yourself up.

But I guess the good thing about university is having something to fall back on. But even since I was there, university has changed. If someone said they weren’t going to go because it was too expensive, I would think “fair enough”. Different people and different things, I guess.

With Tramlines, you’ve not only got the stages where you need a wristband, but you’ve also got a fringe festival which happens in the city, with bands getting a bit of exposure. Would you say that makes Tramlines special?

A lot of these kinds of festivals and events happen in the south, and I think that to have an established thing, especially in Sheffield, and to have stuff going on around it, I guess you’ll get people coming and getting involved in the whole weekend which is cool.

This weekend, there’s been many chants of “Oooh Jeremy Corbyn”. Will you be starting one of these chants in your set?

I’ve never actually witnessed one of those chants first hand! But that’s kind of funny. I will not be starting a chant, but if people do then fine. We were trying to work out a Theresa May equivalent, like what song you could put her name to. Not that anyone should be chanting her name, but we trying to think of a suitably shit song.

If you could only take one of your songs on a desert island, you’re stranded miles away from anywhere with only this record, which song would it be and why?

God, that’s a terrifying thought really. There’s a song called “Summer Jam” off the new album which I’d take. It’s an instrumental, so I wouldn’t have to listen to myself.

And, what would be your meal deal of choice?

Good question. Well, at the moment, I don’t eat anything that you can get in a meal deal, so the thought of it is actually quite tantalising. I would definitely go for prawn cocktail crisps, a can of Coke and probably, depending on the shop, I’d go for a BLT, or a chicken and bacon sandwich.

Now, we’ve got a bit of time left to play ‘Would you rather’, so:

Tea or Coffee?

Coffee.

Adidas or Nike?

Adidas, I prefer their shoes.

Beer or wine?

Wine.

Vodka with coke or lemonade:

Neither really, lemonade I guess.

Cadbury or Nestle?

Cadbury.

Pudding or starter?

Starter.

Would you rather never wash your hair, or never play music again?

Never wash my hair. I never wash it anyway so that’s fine.

Would you rather only be able to sing everything, or whisper everything?

Oh whisper, yeah.

Would you rather sit in a bathtub or spiders or a bathtub of snakes?

Oh god, erm snakes? Yeah snakes.

Would you rather have hands for feet, or feet for hands?

Hmm that means you either have four hands or four feet then right? So I guess I’d go for four hands.