In an interview with Live105 in San Francisco, Metric’s Emily Haines opened up about the band’s early days, Lou Reed, and their upcoming album titled Synthetica.

With the Canadian band celebrating its 10th anniversary together, Haines says she has really appreciated the slow organic trajectory that their popularity has taken.

“It feels great because no one can take that away from you. We have those memories,” says Haines. “It’s not the easiest road. But weirdly, when I look back at when we were playing for 20 people – I have so many great memories from those times. Some of our best stories are from those days. A lot of those people are still with us.”

Haines also revealed that those early days in front of small crowds were an important part of shaping their sound both then and now.

“It is a matter of being able to stand up for yourself and represent your music and your views and give people a chance to come in and join you. I feel like we keep that in mind with every record we do, Especially on this record, I’m really pushing myself to be as honest and clear as possible. It’s getting more personal – my writing – I think.”

The upcoming Metric album also includes a guest appearance from music legend Lou Reed. Haines explained that they’d met a few years ago. During their first encounter Reed gave her one of her top rock n roll memories by quoting a line from Metric’s 2009 release, Gimme Sympathy.

“He said ‘Ah, Emily, who would you rather be the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?’ Lou Reed quoted my lyrics to me. Come on. This is a great moment.”

The latest single from Metric, “Youth Without Youth” is available now with the full length Synthetica due on June 12th.

Find tour dates and more at ilovemetric.com.

-Bradford Hornsby, Live105/San Francisco