Neon Tommy sat down with Metronomy frontman Joseph Mount at the Belasco Theater to talk about living in Paris, driving around LA and why Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off" is his new favorite song.

NT: How do you feel about your performance tonight?

Mount: Very excited, LA is one of our favorite cities so we get very excited. I think it’s going to be fantastic. 

NT: Being part of the wave of Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs, how did you feel after everyone went their own direction?

Mount: When we started playing there were a few bands that were around that are maybe still around now like Fouls and Wild Beats. It’s always nice when you start your part in a kind of gang of people and it’s nice when people are successful and stuff like that. I guess I never really imagined we were in the same world as the Kaiser Chiefs but you know I guess people do their own thing and it’s nice that we’re still able to make music.

Frontman Joseph Mount at the Belasco Theater on Tuesday, Oct.21 2014. (Amanda Shinn/ Neon Tommy)

NT: Where would you say the band has evolved as opposed to when it began?

Mount: I write the music so I try to kind of fulfill, it’s kind of a real selfish thing. I really like trying new things out and I’m learning about writing songs and learning about how music works so I just kind of followed my interests really so that each record has kind of a different feel to it and that’s because I’ve wanted to learn something new.

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And since this is the fourth album, when you’re allowed to release that many records when you’ve got a record label that wants to put them out, it’s nice to use that amount of time to go and develop and change a bit.

NT: One of the things that’s changing now as opposed to before is the use of more online sources to be able to publish your music. Would have done anything different when you started Metronomy? 

Mount: If it was now, I don’t know. When I started I guess the only thing that was really quite kind of different at that time was MySpace. It seems like it’s ancient history now. The big deal with that was that you could just reach people around the world and get people from like Brazil saying "Oh I love your music."

Now it’s probably harder to do that kind of thing because there’s more people taking advantage of it and I think I would find it harder now to sail through the world of the internet. It kind of freaks me out.

NT: What’s your current favorite song that you’re listening to right now?

Mount: I keep hearing a Taylor Swift song, "Shake It Off." I don’t know why I kind of do these music binges on television when I get the chance and I hadn’t heard it and I was like, "Who’s this person, she’s very famous."

NT: What have been your favorite things to do in LA while you’ve been out here?

Mount: We’ve been here before so I’ve enjoyed the Getty Museum. I really like that place and I had a holiday staying in Sherman Oaks, which I kind of really loved. The nicest thing to do here is just to drive around and take it in. I think that’s what Europeans dream of when they’re here.

NT: How would compare living in Paris to Los Angeles?

Mount: Paris is a very historic old, old city and LA is this kind of modern creation. I always think LA is the most pure American city, it only exists here. You can’t go to other cities in Europe and be reminded of Los Angeles because it’s so unique. But obviously Paris is this very ornate, beautiful city kind of full of tourists like me.

NT: While on tour, what place have you enjoyed visiting the most?

Mount: Well coming up in like a month this is like future that I’m talking about what we should enjoy maybe. We’re going to South America and spending like a few days in Brazil and Argentina and Chile and stuff. We’ve been there before but we had like five days with no time. It was five days and five shows so I haven’t enjoyed it yet but I’m staking a lot in that I think that’s going to be a nice trip. But we just really like driving around in America looking out the window.

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