CANADIAN indie group Metric gained attention for their 2006 single, Monster Hospital.

The band, made up of lead singer Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw, Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott Key also have their fingers in various musical pies, with their own projects. Metric release their fourth album, Fantasies, on April 27 and head out on a UK tour in May. For more information visit www.myspace.com/metric or www.ilovemetric.com

When you’re out on tour do you see much of the cities? Usually it’s a lot of working, but even if I just have half an hour I try to take it to remember that the point of life is to enjoy it and soak it up a little bit.

Where do you like to hang out in the UK? We started this promo trip in Glasgow, which is a city I really love. I was pleased to see that the Doves were playing the first night we were there at the ABC, which is a venue I really like as well, so I keep my eyes open for things like that. I’ve spent a lot of time in London and I lived there in the past, so I always enjoy going to the K West and making fun of all the A & R guys.

How does Fantasies compare to your last album? We went for something very different with this, we really took our time in the writing process. I went out on a self-exiled soul searching mission to Buenos Aires because the band is very nomadic.Jimmy built a studio in Toronto and by the time I was ready with the songs, he was ready with the studio. Jimmy wanted it to be really big and dreamy as opposed to Live It Out, which was really in your face and scrappy. I think it was right for the year that we put it out which was 2005, as it was a different time. It feels like now everyone is looking forward and we’re no exception, so we just made a record, which had more imagination in it.

As well as Metric, you all have other projects going on. Do you find it hard to fit everything in? Weirdly, it just all works, I don’t know how. It’s one of the principles of the band that we allow for other things to happen because, other than just trying to drive forward into infinity, you need a goal other than just trying to get really, really big. We just have a different definition of success. We do things more on our own terms and at a pace that works for us, so that we end up together at the right time. So far it’s been good.

How does the solo material differ from the band stuff? The material is much more personal than the content I usually bring to Metric. I really like that Metric is a rock ’n’ roll band and people come to our shows, dance their asses off and sweat. But, shortly after my father died, as a writer and human being I really needed to write a record and it really didn’t make sense to try and turn Metric into a band that’s there to get me through that time. It seemed that the right way to express it is the way I did. With Metric we’re all in a room and it’s very intense and high energy. It just made me more excited to come back to Metric having been able to do that.