Unruly rock

>> Metric offshoot Bang Lime get animalistic

SOUR PUNCH KIDS: Bang Lime

by JACK OATMON

Isolate the rhythm section of a prominent pop group—noted for being emotive almost to the point of melodrama—and allow them free reign to create whatever melodious concoction they want, outside the artistic confines of said group. You might expect something soft and introspective, delicate even. Such was not the case when decade-long collaborators Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott-Key of Toronto group Metric launched their side project, Bang Lime.

Rather, the careening clamour and headlong riffs of these two boys-with-toys hit more like a shot of sour mash whiskey than the calculated cocktail of their parent group. While they retain a certain, detectable element of the groovy pop for which they are known, the new project is clearly a separate entity.

“It’s like starting all over again,” explains Winstead. “It’s hard work, but it’s good. More loading your own stuff, being around in small clubs. It’s more hands-on just like right in the beginning. It can be really invigorating and exciting, but a little daunting at times too. I remember how long it took for us to bring Metric up to a speed where it was livable on a really enjoyable level. So it’s exciting in both ways, because when you’re putting hard work into what you’re doing, you begin to appreciate the things that you have coming at you.”

The band’s first album, Best Friends in Love, was released last week on Last Gang Records. Win-stead calls the album a return to something more primal.

“I think it’s because I’ve been listening to a lot of underground music lately, more than I have in a long time, and going to crazy shows in New York and Texas. The spirit of the music that we were doing before was a little wilder, a little more rock, a little dirtier. So this is almost a homage to the music that really inspired me, and hopefully it will do the same to others. When I first started playing music, that’s what I really liked. It’s a little bit more animalistic, a bit more unruly.”

With Percy Farm at Club Lambi
on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 9 p.m., $10