METRA

Metra, along with friends Indigo Hall & Metacognate, came together to raise money for the July 4th Highland Park Community Foundation and help support the community Saturday, April 29th. Metra consists of Simon Hunt, Richard Heller, and Carlos Murillo.

Allie- What instruments do you all play? 

Richard- I play guitar 

Carlos- I play the drums 

Simon- I play the bass 

Allie- Okay awesome, how did Metra come to be? How did you form this band? 

Carlos- So we all did School of Rock, we hadn’t done it together but we’ve all done it at one point. So Richard and I had been friends for a while and we went to a gig that Simon was playing and we were like, damn, we have to get this guy as our bassist. Then from there played some open mics, we did some cool gigs at pizza places and we got our sound right. Now here we are. 

Allie- What first got you all into music?

Richard- I’ve always been sort of a music oriented kind of guy. One of my biggest inspirations was a family friend of mine, he plays guitar, and so I started listening to his music and I was like five years old playing air guitar and whatnot. My parents were like, all right, we have to get this guy a guitar. So I started taking guitar lessons and fell in love. 

Carlos- I was like around nine years old and I was like, I want to do something with my summer. So I ended up doing School of Rock camp and I started playing more drums from there. I’ve been loving it ever since. 

Simon- My dad has been playing guitar since he was about my age, so I just kind of grew up in a house with a ton of instruments. Around the age of ten or eleven I decided I’d give it a try. My dad had me doing piano lessons at a younger age, but I didn’t really grab that. I feel like I had to grab it myself. 

Allie- How did you guys get your band name? 

Simon- I used to go to this elementary school that wasn’t too far from my house, back when I met these guys, and I’d drive through this huge Metro station every morning. This massive rail yard and the logo Metro plastered there. When we were coming up with a band name I thought it would be good because it kind of represents not only Chicago, but the greater Chicago area. We’re up here in Highland Park today, so you know it's not really Chicago, so we like to get around. 

Allie- What’s your creative process like when you’re writing songs? 

Richard- We start out by just sitting in a room together and just come up with ideas. Coming up with riffs, you know. Our first song we are still playing to this day called ‘Hostage’, we wrote back in 2019, 2020 something like that. 

Carlos- Yeah and it’s {‘Hostage’} been evolving ever since 

Richard- Yeah, it just started out with three guys sitting in a room trying to write a song and that’s what came out. But now I think that we have kind of a different process. One of us has an inspiration and-

Carlos- We build around the others’ ideas. 

Richard- We build around that inspiration, so we have a few songs that are each stemmed off of one person. 

Simon- You know, we’d all agree on everything, so we’re all kind of writing the song. But it's efficient if one person has a really strong idea and brings it to the other two and says ‘can you guys add something to this?’. We’ve been more successful doing that. 

Allie- Can you tell us some of your pre-show rituals?

Richard- We like to do pre-show shenanigans everytime we have a gig. Just letting out all our weird emotions and then you have real emotions on stage. 

Carlos- I chug an energy drink first of all, but then I try to focus on what I’m doing and kind of visualize being on stage and connecting with the audience. 

Simon- I don’t eat before the show, when I’m signing. About 30-45 minutes before the show I will try to find a corner or go into the bathroom to find some quiet so I can think about the set. 

Allie- As such young artists, what are you most proud of so far?

Richard- There’s not one thing specifically, but having chemistry. Not just with the three of us but between everybody in the scene {Indigo Hall, Metacognate, etc.}. I’m very proud to be part of that group. 

Carlos- I’m proud of how much of an audience we get, it’s so cool to connect with the audience we have. Having the audience excited, excites us and it’s very powerful. So I’m super proud of that. 

Simon- I’d say seeing the same faces in the audience at gigs and seeing all the people that have wanted to come back to see us. Seeing new people and seeing how they react is also very positive and beneficial to us. 

Allie- Can you tell me a little bit about the show tonight? I know it’s for a good cause.  

Richard- We’re always looking for ways to give back to our community, so we partnered with Billy Corgan and his partner Chloe {with Madame ZuZu’s} to provide a safe space and raise money for the July 4th Highland Park Community Foundation. All the proceeds go to the victims and their families that were affected by the shooting. 

Allie- How can fans stay up to date with the band’s activities? 

Simon- You can follow our Instagram!

Click here to view Metra’s gallery!