Coup De Main: The Questions We Ask Mason Musso of METRO STATION

Being the first to catch onto a band, earns you first-class bragging rights in the teenage world. My Summer catch-band have blazed on from their first EP ‘The Questions We Ask At Night‘, to burn their way up worldwide charts claiming bona fide it-band status. Despite METRO STATION‘s much-gossiped ‘Hannah Montana’ beginnings; Mason Musso, Trace Cyrus, Anthony Improgo and Blake Healy, are a force to be reckoned with. While you might have to be of fake ID age to fully appreciate the whimsical attraction of superficial synth-pop, no band does it better to date than Metro Station on their self-titled debut album. If you can look past the giddy highs of teenage vocabulary, practice your dance moves and score some scene points to Metro Station’s (U.S.) gold-certified single ‘Shake It‘.

COUP DE MAIN: You and Trace met first, how’d that come about?
METRO STATION-MASON MUSSO: Me and Trace met on the set of Hannah Montana because my little brother works with his sister. So, we went up to the set of Hannah Montana one day basically because of our families. Our moms really wanted us to meet. Our families had been talking about each other. So one day I went up there to meet Trace and we started showing each other music, back and forth. Playing each other music, stuff we’d worked on. We really liked where each other was going. We’d never been in a serious band before so we were like; you know what? Let’s just start making music together. So we did!

CDM: Tell me one thing about yourself and each of your band-mates that no-one else knows…
MS: I love the beach at night.
Blake, Blake is always missing. He’s always on his own roaming around somewhere and we never know where he is and he won’t answer his phone. But he always seems to make the shows on time and is always on the bus on time. He’s a cool dude. He’s always getting coffee or something.
Anthony’s a workaholic. The drummer. He’s always on his computer making stuff.
Trace loves milk. He likes cereal in the morning. He likes ketchup.

CDM: What did you use to record Metro Station’s early demos?
MS: The first couple recordings we did were actually in my bedroom in Valencia, California. These were the first couple of songs that we put up on our Myspace, before Blake came about. I did them on Garageband with just input for a guitar and a mic that had come in a package deal. It wasn’t a bad mic, it was pretty good. So we spent time making songs in my bedroom. Then we met Blake who had better recording equipment, so we recorded in his apartment in Hollywood, California. He had better mics. He was using Cubase, so we were using that when we came up with the first demo for ‘Seventeen Forever’.

CDM: What was it like working with Justin and Josh from Motion City Soundtrack, on your album?
MS: It was a really great experience. That was my first proper time ever, recording for a record. It was like; your making a record now! They couldn’t have been two better guys. They were really cool.

CDM: Are the songs on the Mason Musso music myspace, a sneak peek at the next Metro Station album?
MS: I’m always writing music and some stuff I definitely do save for myself. But a lot of the stuff you’ll hear, we are definitely going to use on our next record. Probably going to make some adjustments and stuff to them. I’m always writing. Always making sure we have a lot of songs so if someone says; make another record. We can do it. Cuz we’re just constantly writing music.

CDM: I really liked ‘Eternity In An Hour’.
MS: Thank you very much. Thank you. That was actually one of the first songs I’d recorded. That was before Metro Station, a little bit ago. That was when I was living in Texas.

CDM: What do you think being a teenager is really all about?
MS: It’s about confusion. It’s about never knowing what’s ahead. Being a teenager is I guess, finding your destination. Or finding something. You crave something definitely. You want it all, but you don’t know what the hell it is.

CDM: Have you discovered what it is, that you want?
MS: We just want to make music. I just want to do my own thing and do what I love and have freedom.

CDM: Did you feel the effects of the Generation Gap while growing up?
MS: I definitely did and I know we definitely as a band, talk about that and how things change. Two of the guys in the band are a little bit older than me and Trace, so there is a generation gap there in the band as well.

CDM: Have your parents always been supportive of Metro Station?
MS: Absolutely. They’ve always been really supportive. They’ve helped us from day one. Trace’s parents are really busy with Miley and my parents are really busy with my brother Mitchel, but they’ve helped us a lot. They always come to shows and everything. Both of our families have been really supportive.

CDM: Who has the better sibling? Yourself, or Trace?
MS: *laughs* I think me and Trace both love our siblings equally.

CDM: How have you handled the inevitable backlash from original fans, as Metro Station has moved into the mainstream?
MS: I’m just doing my thing. If people call me a sell-out, I don’t really care honestly. I just want to play music for the people that want to hear me. That’s all. I want to play music to people that want to hear music. Cuz that’s all I wanna do. Just hear music. And a sell-out? I guess that’s just a matter of opinion. We’re making music for the attention of the kids. The kids love it so much, that’s why they get so involved and I understand that. I feel them. I’ve loved many bands in my life as well. It’s music, it should be love.

CDM: What’s the best thing about being in Metro Station?
MS: The freedom. The freedom of having our own bus. We’re on tour and we’re just living day by day with our friends playing music together.

CDM: Is it hard to stay in touch with your friends back home?
MS: It definitely is. It’s coming now to one of those things where I’m in L.A. or I’m in Texas, and my friends are there and they come out to a show and I see them but then I have to immediately get back out onto the road. So it’s definitely hard but I try to do it. I have great friends so I definitely try and keep in touch with them.

CDM: Favourite tour so far?
MS: I’m really enjoying the one right now with Good Charlotte and Boys Like Girls.

CDM: Any amusing tour anecdotes?
MS: There’s definitely been some times where we’ve been stuck in the snow in Canada and some people got lost and we had to find them. Just crazy things. People walk around the bus that we don’t know and then we have to kick them off.
We love touring. So we’re definitely staying on tour for a while. But I love being at home too. I definitely miss home when I’m on tour

CDM: When will New Zealand be seeing a Metro Station show?!
MS: Definitely soon. We definitely want to come over there. We’re definitely excited. We’ve always wanted to see ALL of the world. We definitely feel like you guys want to hear us and we definitely want to play for you.

CDM: What goes into a Metro Station live set?
MS: A lot of energy for sure. We try to keep our shows very energetic. Me and Trace always warm up our voices thirty minutes before we play, little things like that. Getting the crowd hyped. We put a little more guitar stuff in there, than what’s on the record. We make the songs more about the kids so that the kids can sing parts if they want to. So we don’t sing, we let them sing. It’s a party!

CDM: Describe your very first show.
MS: Our first show was at a church actually in Anaheim, California. It was for fifteen kids. It was crazy. But they all knew our songs. It was really cool.

CDM: How’d you hook up Beck, as an opening act for one of Metro Station’s early shows?
MS: We’d gotten booked on the show and then we heard Beck was going to play before all the bands. So the club was packed and it was crazy. We were like; oh my god this is going to be insane. So Beck and his band actually went up there and just used all of our equipment. Like our drums and our amps and played a show. It sounded awesome. Then Beck left and a lot of the crowd left too… but it was cool. Half of the crowd left when we started playing but it was cool. He was really good live.

CDM: What’s it like being managed by Crush Management alongside the likes of Fall Out Boy and Panic At The Disco?
MS: It’s really cool. Our manager, he’s got his own company called Ozone and he’s with Crush. They’re awesome. It’s just a really cool environment. It just feels like family.

CDM: You know your famous when…?
MS: Fame is a strange thing. I felt like I really achieved a goal by being on TRL, being at the MTV studios. That was really cool. Especially traveling too. I feel like I’ve definitely achieved my goal of always wanting to get out of the U.S. and see everything else.

CDM: What’s the best piece of advice ever given to you and by whom?
MS: I guess it would have to be from my Dad. Just all the advice he’s given me over the years on relationships with people and business and everything else. He’s a really smart dude and I look up to him.

CDM: If you were a gangster, what would your gangster name be?
MS: The Godfather? I guess cuz I’m Italian. So I’d be the Godfather.

CDM: If you could have super-hero powers, what would they be and why?
MS: I would want to be able to fly and I would be… you know what would be really cool? If I could start fire with my fingers like a match. That’d be sick. I could light people. I could light cigarettes. I’d be like a lighter.

CDM: What are your thoughts on the current music scene?
MS: It’s definitely crazy. There’s a lot of music out there. A lot of good music. A lot of bad music. There’s a lot, but it’s great. I think that a lot of kids now, just really want to have a good time and listen to music.

CDM: What’s frequenting your current playlist?
MS: Simon & Garfunkel. Biggie. Fleetwood Mac. Little Wayne. The-Dream.

CDM: Future plans for Metro Station?
MS: I guess, just to stay on tour and to continue doing this as long as possible. We definitely want to reach a lot of ears.

Source- Coup De Main Magazine