Alex, what's happening?

Hey, Joe.

I'm at home in a snowstorm.

You're in Toronto, correct?

I'm actually in Ottawa now.

Is that where you live?

That's where I live now.

Fairly new development.

Moved in the summer, but I grew up here, so it's not that new.

It's kind of like returning home, right?

Yeah.

All right.

What do you think?

How you feeling?

I'm all for it.

It's.

It's a different vibe though.

It's not big city vibes.

It's pretty quiet.

Although I went to a show last night.

You know, there's growing up here, there was a wonderful punk scene that I think is still going pretty strong.

So yeah, it's a much chiller vibe than Toronto.

But you know, at my age, I'm into that.

Yeah, that's right.

And there's always a, there's a vibrancy to a small town punk show that is valuable at the very least.

Oh, for sure.

So you grew up there going to punk shows, rocking and rolling.

Is that where Matt's formed or not?

Well, yeah, it's where I met Hayden.

Okay.

He grew up here too.

And we were frequenting all the same shows.

Okay.

Basement shows.

And there was an art gallery called Club Saw where all the stuff happened and I'd see him there all the time and I'd see his band Three Penny Opera play and.

And he was always incredible.

We became friends through other friends, you know, and one day it was, it was kind of like, let's try to do something together.

And that's.

So Mets did start in Ottawa before he picked up and left for Toronto.

I just met Hayden for the first time in Toronto last summer and I sat in his garage in the alley and drank beer.

Yes, the best.

It's where he fixes up his bike

and it was so fun.

That's where we had all met's meetings.

Having a beer in the back alley.

Yeah, it was great.

Good garage.

Well, I mean most of us know Mets is on a hiatus if you will, but you are not one to sit still as I know that's very true with Noble Rod and Weird Nightmare and I'm sure a million other things that, that you do and thankfully you don't sit still and you've got this new Weird Nightmare record coming out on Sub pop in May.

May 1st I believe.

And it's called Hoopla.

And I'm noticing that the art is behind you.

Is that your painting?

It's my painting now, but it was by Jamie Morrison is the artist okay.

It's a beautiful cover.

I can't wait to see it on vinyl.

Thank you.

I'm so happy that he was down to make something for the album.

We kind of brainstormed a little bit.

I was just a fan of his work and he had made a long sleeve T shirt for Weird Nightmare a couple years ago.

And yeah, I just love what he made for it.

And it's cool when I gave myself a lot of time with the.

With the rollout of this album and I was able to have it finished and mastered and then, you know, send it to Jamie so he could listen to it and then make a painting based.

Like, I've never had the opportunity or the time to do it that way.

Yeah.

So it was cool.

And two, the.

The sound of this record, not just the look of it, you know, you have firmly, to say the least, placed your foot in power pop.

I'm sure you've heard it a million times, but it's true and it's glorious.

All the anthems, all the hooks, the whole shebang.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I wanted to make something super direct and fun because that's just what was coming to me naturally.

And the first record was really kind of do it yourself bedroom recording, sort of me engineering it.

So it turned out a certain way, which I love, but it's kind of purposefully muffley and things like that.

Whereas this one, I wanted to try to just do a hi fi.

Great sounding record.

And so that was the big difference.

And that was a hell of a lot of fun to do.

You know, it's still distorted music, but it's like hopefully a pretty pristine recording.

That was our goal with Seth and.

And Jim.

Yeah, it's this wide open, giant sounding record, but it's.

It still is concise in the delivery.

And one thing that's kind of interesting to me is I, you know, I know a lot of your music and you seem to come from a maybe art rock, noisy hardcore background.

Yeah.

And to throw this back on myself, I also kind of come from that and celebrate that music more than.

More than anything else I play or listen to.

But I have a fondness for power pop.

And it's not a secret, but it's.

It's just.

I don't have.

I don't share it with that many people.

And I'm actually like on a.

A sugar kick again right now for about the 500th time in my life.

And I also was listening to Overwhelming Color Fast.

I don't know if you heard that Band, but they oddly came into my orbit.

I'll send it to you.

Incredible band from the 90s, but.

But I'm interested.

Have you always been celebrating the.

The power pop?

I think it.

It comes from a love of like, all things British Invasion first and then.

Yes.

Like, I remember going around visiting my brothers in Montreal and hunting hard to find Red Cross CDs, you know, like, looking for Show World, which is like, probably their most power pop record.

So I've always had a love of that, but I've always had a love of a lot of things.

So it's kind of always been everywhere my.

My tastes, but certainly now I find stuff like the Buzzcocks and Robin Hitchcock and Cleaners from Venus, like all of that stuff where it's a songwriter, but it's still sort of a band vibe and it's got some Birds influence and it's got like.

I love that.

That's gets me the most excited, you know, Undertones, stuff like.

Yeah, undertones.

Yeah, yeah.

What a band.

Like, it's like smart songwriting, but it's not convoluted, you know.

Exactly.

I.

There's nothing I want more.

And I still.

I see all of that as connected to punk rock in a very real way, you know?

Yeah.

Because it was all like.

I think for all of those, or at least for undertones and things, like, it's like the Ramones changed everything and.

And, you know, what can you say, right?

I feel like for some reason there is a need amongst most music listeners for some rock and roll right now.

I don't.

I asked someone this the other day.

Someone said, it's Oasis.

And I was like, I don't think.

I don't know.

I did see Oasis this summer and it was fucking good.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah.

I was with.

Went with some friends and my brothers and it was pouring down rain and Live Forever was on and it was, you know, unforgettable.

I've always.

I. I mean, I saw Oasis back when they were like a functioning band too.

So.

Yeah, I have a.

A good melody and a distorted guitar.

It's.

It's going to be hard for me not to like it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And a lot of your words and.

And imagery, especially from.

Might see their video.

You're looking back and maybe.

Maybe you hinted at this at the beginning here.

You're not only looking back, you went back.

Is this new for you to look back?

Maybe you're.

I'm guessing you're in teenage years.

Certainly.

I think it's hap.

It happened A little bit on the last two Mets records where my writing was starting to be a little bit more internal as opposed to shouting out at the world.

I started to look more inward.

I kind of think things.

This might be cliche or very common, but when after having a kid, kind of my outlook and what.

How I saw the world changed.

So I think the songwriting changed.

But, yeah, I guess I'm in a sentimental place, like.

And lots of changes happening in my life, like the band being one, moving being another.

That.

That being said, these songs, this record was done and in the bag before that last Mets tour finished.

So.

Yeah, I don't know.

Sometimes songwriting has a way of, like, not foretelling or anything like that, but, like, I find that sometimes, maybe deep down, I'm already onto things.

Like, certainly on Met songs, I find I look back and they mean.

It's very clear what they mean now.

But I don't think it was clear at the time.

So this hoopla record really sort of makes sense now.

Yeah.

You know, it was made a long.

It was made a year and a half ago, at least, so.

Wow.

Yeah.

I love the imagery on might see you there.

It's like, were you in my bedroom?

Were you burning.

Were you burning your fingers with matches or.

I don't know if that's exactly, but it's just so funny.

It's just.

I love the picture you paint with those words.

I'd like to play a little bit of might see you there.

Is that cool?

Yeah, of course.

All right, here we go.

I put my finger holding onto me Love in the back cherry bar.

It's been a long time still trying I might see them I might see you there I might see.

I found a picture in my parents yard A baby bandit for this track and hockey car I chain like fences and love some brother in our house down in the basement.

Wonderful words to be cliche.

It takes me back.

We must be roughly the same age because that's all those sentiments are.

That's it.

Incredible.

So you mentioned you recorded with Jim Eno.

His production and his vibe.

I've only recorded a couple songs with him for some weird south by Southwest thing.

I think, man, I would love to record with that guy.

I'm so jealous of your experience.

I'm still shocked that I had such an opportunity because, I mean, Spoon, forget about it.

Right, right.

It's just such an inspiration on so many levels.

So that was one of those.

There's been a lot of serendipitous things happening and I've been Embracing that just with like, who plays on the record, who, you know, worked on it, artwork.

Like, even people who were writing like press releases and stuff for me were like old friends and just coming into my world after many years.

But, like, with Jim being a part of the record, it was just pure fluke.

He had picked up his life and moved from Austin back home to Providence.

Right.

And Seth Manchester, who I had recorded the last two Mets records with, and I love dearly mentioned it, he's like, hey, Jim's gonna be in town when you're here.

You should give him a call.

And I had the audacity to do it and just kind of cold call this guy who has made some of my favorite records or being a part of some of my favorite records.

And he was game.

So, you know, before I knew it, he was bringing over all these spoon vintage guitars and tape echoes and it was so cool.

And the vibe was just one of those things where like, Seth was a friend, the guys in the band were friends, but then Jim just immediately fit in and we were all having the best time, like very quickly, like zero stress or any of that.

So kind of a dreamy scenario for me, like to be able to bring in these demos and then know or be really confident that these people are gonna crush this.

Yeah, they're gonna just bring so much to it.

And of course they did.

And so.

Right.

And is that sort of.

Was that your process?

You.

You came in with demos in the band and.

And just started working through them?

Yep.

Yeah.

And it was crazy fast.

You know, I don't know if you.

Being a drummer, I don't know if you know Lowell Campbell or his work.

I do, yeah.

Yeah, he's pretty special, gotta say, his musicality and all of that.

So he just.

It only took him two or three takes.

I remember Jim even being like, who's this guy?

Being like super impressed with Lowell and.

Yeah, so it was smooth.

And same goes with Rod, who played bass.

Just like super talented musician all around.

And so I let them do their thing as much as I can.

I'm a bit of.

A lot of live takes or all live takes?

A lot of live takes, yeah.

I mean, guitar based drums, live every song and then lots of bells and whistles on top.

Of course.

Yeah, I like hearing piano on this record too.

Yeah, I'm, you know, getting.

Getting more audacious,

typically, or at least for this batch of songs.

Do you typically sit down with an acoustic guitar and start plucking away?

Pretty much.

And that's some of the joy to this type of songwriting too, right?

Yeah, you can do that.

Yeah.

It's like usually an electric unplugged and you're just fluking over some chord progression and.

Yeah, yeah, that's really nice.

I think I.

You know, we've talked about this, but when you're working with dissonance like Matt's, that doesn't really happen.

It's.

It's a much different songwriting process.

Totally.

Yeah.

Trying to make a punishing riff or like, you know, it's like you're not chilling, having a good time.

Really.

It's kind of like a very hands on, conscious thing.

So I liked how most of these things just came very naturally.

That's nice.

Yeah.

And I think this is a twofer because you could just go out there and play these songs on acoustic guitar and sing.

Well, I'm.

I don't know if I'm that brave yet, but really it's, you know, it's.

In theory that's.

It's possible.

Yeah.

I think some of them would translate pretty well to that, but I've never attempted to do.

Do that.

Those radio stations are going to want you to do it.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

Start.

Start practicing and then you're going to hit the road with the band this summer, right?

That's right.

And have you started rehearsing how they feeling or.

We haven't because my rhythm section are busy.

They're out with Juliana Riolino, who sang actually on two songs on this record.

I saw them last night in Ottawa.

Amazing live show.

So, no, we are not practicing yet.

We're.

We're.

We're gonna have to hit it hard though.

But we did do a smattering of shows over the last six months and yeah, we just got to play with sharp pins like in Toronto a couple like a month ago or something.

Yeah.

Super fun.

Yeah.

So I'm looking forward to it, actually, bringing these songs on the road because it's.

It's a good group of guys and, you know, I feel fortunate that they're available and willing to go do it with me.

Are you doing a.

A power trio?

It's a four piece.

Okay.

Yeah.

Because there's a bit of guitar intertwining guitar stuff and some harmony singing.

So.

Yeah.

Is my last thing on that.

Does everyone sing?

This seems like a fun.

Everyone sings.

Some of the.

Almost everyone.

Three of the four.

Yeah.

Please tell me the drummer is one of them.

Yep.

Yes.

Coming from a drummer who never sings.

But I love when a drummer sings and then when's the tour starting.

Let's see here.

Actually, we're going to be out on the west coast states before the record comes out in April, so late April.

That's when we're gonna be starting this whole thing.

And then it's gonna be, yeah, West Coast, east coast, us, some Canadian dates, and then at the end of the summer, we go overseas for some European festivals.

Awesome.

I'm sure you're gonna come to Seattle, where I am, so.

Oh, yeah, I'll bother you.

It's booked.

I'll try to sneak in on your Sub Pop lunch.

Get a free lunch.

Or please do both.

Maybe.

Maybe both.

All right, man.

Well, congrats on this record.

As you said, it seems like things serendipitously came together, and you took advantage of that beautifully.

Thank you so much.

It's a killer record, and I can't wait to see you when you're out here or elsewhere.

Okay.

All right.

Take care of yourself when you're out.

Travel safe, all right?

When it's all been broken Then your hope is when the God still smoking.

Sun but just staring at the ceiling Getting darker every single night it will come.

It will come.

When your doubts feel so killed.

Ra.