Among a crowd of about two dozen people Sunday, Indie Pop band Metric rocked the minimal, but enthusiastic bunch at T.T. the Bear’s Place in Cambridge.
Taking the stage just shy of 11 p.m., lead singer Emily Haines enticed (or bribed) patrons to the front with several drink tickets. She said she wanted to see all the “young bodies” up front and dancing.
As their first headlining show in Boston, the band — with connections to the band, Broken Social Scene, a revolving line-up collective of Canadian Indie rockers — played songs off their album, “Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?”
The album was released on Sept. 30 on Enjoy “Everloving” Records.
Metric, who used to share a loft in Williamsburg, N.Y. with the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, have been together for a decade.
“We knew each other from Texas for 10 years, then Toronto,” Haines said. “We just were working hard and moved around a lot.”
At Sunday’s show, the band played every song off their album, minus track five, “Calculation Theme.” Haines said the guitarist, Julliard-trained James Shaw, has to learn his parts before that track is ready for live performances.
Haines, Shaw, drummer Joules Scott-Key and bassist, but not a permanent member of the band, Joshua Winstead have been touring with former roommates the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, another three name band, Hot, Hot Heat, Throwing Muses and Broken Social Scene.
Playing with Broken Social Scene, Haines said it has been really good because they’ve been so busy with Metric that they haven’t had the chance to play with them.
She says the song she is featured on, “Anthems for a 17-year-old girl,” is “really beautiful.” She gets a thrill when she sees people in the crowd singing along, she said.
Winstead plays guitar and trumpet on the album, and Shaw plays on the album as well.
Broken Social Scene is one of the commitments bassist Winstead has, a reason why his image doesn’t appear on Metric’s album cover. He said in an October article in Nylon, “It’s because I’m confused. No, actually, I made a lot of [musical] promises right before I started playing with [Metric].”
Haines said they approached Winstead to tour with Metric once they found out they’d be opening for Hot, Hot Heat.
“It was his choice [to not be pictured on the album]. James and Joules and I were together two summers ago in Los Angeles, [Joshua] hated L.A. and it was a hard time for the band. He had his own thing going on and said, ‘look I can’t do this.’ We were really disappointed, but now we got the tour with Hot, Hot Heat, and he came along.”
Haines said in a telephone interview that touring is “way more fun and challenging.”
“I mean now, especially earlier on, James and I, we were really focused on recording,” Haines said. “It ends up meaning that you wait for people to accept your recordings, to treat things in the studio with this new incarnation and the whole emphasis on playing.”
The band plans to continue touring with Broken Social Scene. This week they’re in New York City for two dates, then Chicago and Denver before Los Angeles. Haines said the band will be playing with Interpol and Ludacris at a Napster party.
After touring, Haines said they’ll be subletting the loft in Williamsburg, N.Y. once again to build a recording studio and work on new material.
For more information on the band, visit ilovemetric.com.
