The Isle of MTV - Metro Station
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If ever a band defined the term 'internet phenomenon' it's Metro Station.
The newest names to hit the MySpace generation, the LA band who formed as 17 year olds, just two years ago, have witnessed an incredible 28 million plays across four tracks on MySpace alone. Then there's the 35 million plays across three videos on YouTube (including 23.5 million views of 'Shake It' alone) plus 29k page views on Bebo and 16.7k fans. You get the picture.
"When we saw how the internet thing was going off, it was 'Oh my God, what's going on - everyone's gone crazy for us," laughs Metro Station singer and guitarist Trace Cyrus. The quartet were voted one of America's Alternative Press Magazine's '22 Best Underground Bands', and with their tour in January, have now brought their energetic dance pop to their legion of UK fans.
And it's no surprise that for a band whose music is all about youthful exuberance, they're loving every minute of it. Trace says: "Every night we play a show we see craziness. Glasgow, Birmingham, all these places we've travelled to we see kids dancing and having a good time. It makes us think we've accomplished something."
Even their name Metro Station relates to the youthful yearning to escape, through music, to a place where they belong. Driving through Hollywood, Mason Musso, the band's singer and rhythm guitarist, saw a Metro Station sign and immediately phoned Trace knowing it was the perfect name for them.
The story begins two years ago on the set of Disney teens favourite Hannah Montana, where Trace and Mason were set up on a 'rock'n'roll blind date by their respective mums who knew they had so much in common. With Trace being the older half-brother of Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus (and son of Billy Ray Cyrus) and Mason the brother of the show's Oliver Oken, actor Mitchel Musso, you'd expect pop music to be part of the Metro Station make-up. And it is. But not how you'd imagine.
"We're pop but electronic pop. Our music is all about dancing and having a good time. The band we all love which influenced all of us is The Postal Service. We love that style of music," says Trace.
"When people meet me and they find out who my sister and my dad are, they are shocked. The type of music that Metro Station make is different to theirs, it's different to anything out there. And that's why so many people respect us."
Trace and Mason started writing songs as music-loving, best friends do - hanging out together at every available moment. "We got on well together through our musical tastes and spent every day playing music back and forth. But it was only something we did as friends for fun and the way it has exploded via the internet has been a huge surprise," explains Mason.
It was when they met synths whiz Blake Healy, poached from another band, Synthetic Joy via a MySpace message, that Metro Station started to find their sound.
Blake's love of 80s bands such as Joy Division, The Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode was channeled into Trace and Mason's youthful and exuberant guitar-pop. Says Trace: "He's the brains behind the band, the guy who makes all the beats. He is basically our producer." Drummer Anthony Improgo makes the quartet.
Metro Station, managed by Ozone Entertainment (Boys Like Girls, We The Kings, Hey Monday and Stereo Skyline), headed to New York to record their self-titled debut album with Motion City Soundtrack founders Josh Cain and Justin Pierre and fêted producers S*A*M & Sluggo (Gym Class Heroes, Boys Like Girls).
And the results are infectious dance pop hooks aplenty and lyrics which speak directly to today's youth. "Shake It is a song strictly about having fun. The point of that song is to get kids to dance and have a good time," explains Trace while Seventeen Forever, a song written as 17 year olds, is all about being a kid not ever wanting to grow up. Mason says: "That song means a lot to us, it was the first song we wrote that we knew was special." Then there's 'Kelsey', 'Comin' Around' and 'Wish We Were Older' all songs the band love to play live and go all out.
Despite meeting on a Hollywood set, Metro Station have always been more interested in fun than fame. "I've never had any desire to be famous," says Trace. "My desire has always been to play music. If it wasn't for the fans telling us how much they loved the music, we would probably have just made a few songs for ourselves."
The first thing you notice about Trace is his impressive display of tattoos and piercings, something he couldn't wait to get started with as soon as he turned 18. But there's one tattoo that stands out, the words 'stay gold' on his knuckles, a quote from S E Hinton's classic youth novel, The Outsiders. The phrase urges you to hold on to the vitality, freedom and innocence of youth.
Just like the music of Metro Station
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