Trace Cyrus reveals why Metro Station needed to break up
For years, Metro Station dominated scene music with their breakout track “Shake It” and became icons of the genre. When the project started, the pair were 17 years old and made the decision to tour versus finishing high school. Despite the immediacy of their success, the world was seemingly stacked against them, which ultimately led to the group’s official breakup in August 2017.
Since their breakup, Trace Cyrus and Mason Musso have worked on their solo projects, as well as gained wisdom that they didn’t possess when they started in music. In a recent interview with AltPress, Cyrus exclusively announced that Metro Station would be returning in 2020 and releasing new music. But this time, the duo are doing things the right way.
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What about 2020 makes this the right time for Metro Station to return?
TRACE CYRUS: When we were young, we didn’t care. We were just so wild and reckless, and we literally lived it up to the fullest. It was a downfall. It was the downfall to Metro Station at the end of it because it all came crashing down on us. But during the first three years, we had so much fun. We really did. And we look back, and we just laugh at these stories and how crazy we were because we had no guidance. We didn’t know what we were doing. We were, you know, 17, 18 years old, given all this money from a record label and literally just given the opportunity to drop out of high school and go party. It was weird. It was really weird. I really didn’t finish my last year of high school because it was like go on tour or finish high school. And my choice was to go on tour with Metro Station.
You’ve obviously gained a lot of wisdom over the years. Do you ever think back and have any regrets to doing things the way that you did?
I think my only regret [is that] I wish me and Mason could have put out a second record, you know, closely following the first one. Things just came crashing down on us, and egos and different things got in the way of what should have never happened, you know? But I really have no regrets. All I know is it’s like 12 years later or something, and somehow I’ve still had no other job than Metro Station, which blows my mind.
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My first job when I was 15 years old was like cleaning toilets and washing dishes at restaurants. What I think a lot of people don’t know about me is I’ve worked since I was really young. And even though Metro Station got a lot of success really quickly, I really do appreciate it so much. Even though I’m not nearly as wealthy as I want to be or nearly as successful as I hope to be one day, every single day of my life [I get to] wake up, smoke weed, go in my studio [and] make music, and 90% of the songs I make, people are never even going to hear. I don’t put out most of my music to the world. And it’s just something that I like to do for me.
I enjoy making music. And that’s what I think a lot of people don’t realize is how much of a passion making music is for me. It’s the obsession of my life. I’ve been in L.A. for a week. I haven’t left the house to go hang out with any friends or go to a bar or anything like that. I stay locked up in the studio and just obsess over music 24/7.
It’s a lifestyle, it’s not a hobby.
It changed my life forever. I’m just eternally grateful for Metro Station. I’m eternally grateful for the fans. Everybody that’s still streaming the music, just everybody who still follows me on Instagram and keeping up with my life and stuff. It blows my mind.
So now that you are returning, how do you think this is going to change you as a person and your solo career and what you love to do?
I think this time around I’m realizing that Metro Station don’t have to consume my life. Like so many times before, I felt like the band came to a downfall because there’d be other things we wanted to go off and do. It would get to the point where we could hurt other people’s feelings involved in Metro Station if we go off and do something else. And now it’s to the point where I just feel like I have freedom to do whatever I want and still do Metro Station. But it doesn’t have to consume my life.
I still have a fiance, and I still have solo songs that I love creating and releasing, whether they’re ever as successful as Metro Station or not. They mean something to me. And it’s all of those types of things I want to continue doing because it’s what makes me happy. I feel like I’m at a really good place with Metro Station, and I’m excited to just focus more on the music and the songs and realize I don’t have to go out and tour eight to nine months out of the year and kill myself to make the band successful anymore.
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You’ve got more freedom after all of these years.
When I was younger, that’s how it was. It was just 24/7 on the road. Play these shows. Go, go, go. I just really didn’t have a moment to breathe. And now it’s just like I want to relax. I want to be with my girl, [and] my dogs. I want to have a life of my own and do Metro Station when it makes sense.
And as long as it continues to make you happy, then it does make sense. So obviously, it’s been a few years. Where do Metro Station fit in the musical climate of 2020?
I don’t know. I don’t think we’ve ever fit in. Honestly, even though we get categorized in the emo scene, I feel like we’re the most hated band, to be honest. I feel like we’re the band that a lot of people don’t want to fuck with or, you know, go on tour with at times. A lot of people think we’ve been given a lot of handouts. And at times, I just feel like we’re all alone. I don’t feel like we fit into a specific group or anything like that. Even with our image, with the way we sound, I feel like it’s just so diverse from anything else, you know? I don’t think there’s anyone who even looks like me creating the type of music that I create.
