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Review: Polyphia, SWX
As if to burnish their genre-fluid credentials, Polyphia have brought along a Grammy-nominated fella who calls himself Johan Lenox. His real name is Stephen Michael Feigenbaum and he operates at the intersection of classical, pop and hippity-hoppity music. That’s seriously outside this reviewer’s wheelhouse, but what it translates to on stage is a pair of violinists, a chap whose function appears to be to wave his arms in the air and press the occasional button on his laptop, and Mr Lenox himself on vocals and keyboards.
There’s little variation in the tempo of his short compositions and his affected, overwrought singing style wouldn’t have been out of place in a second-division early ’90s grunge band, in that he appears to be complaining about something but it’s never entirely clear what that might be as it’s a challenge to make out any of the lyrics. Mercifully, he doesn’t rap.
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The packed audience respond by talking loudly throughout the entire performance, but it’s a relief when Lenox stops singing and concludes with what he describes as a new classical composition. This has the violinists sawing away while he ‘conducts’ them with exaggerated arm movements from the opposite side of the stage while bashing his electric piano. The bloke standing in front of me is so moved that he appears to be ordering a takeaway on his phone.
“We’re shooting a video for this song. . . right fucking now! If you want to be in it, you have to go apeshit.”
Instrumental prog isn’t really a genre that lends itself to a great deal of audience participation and tends to be received in reverential silence. Nobody seems to have told Polyphia, who bring on board all the tricks and gambits of the big metal show, from crowd-surfing (“I can only see four bodies in the air. That’s not enough!”) to the wall of death. What’s more, everybody sings along to all the melody lines, no matter how complex – rather like we used to do when Rush played YYZ.
This is the Texan band’s third and largest headline show in Bristol (they previously played the Fleece and Trinity). It’s been sold out for months, as has the entire tour, and the venue is absolutely rammed with a mostly youthful audience. The prog greybeards don’t appear to have found their way here yet, but there’s nothing that they wouldn’t enjoy.
Polyphia hit the sweet spot triangulated by Animals As Leaders, The Aristocrats and occasional collaborator Steve Vai. This is fiendishly complex and challenging yet unfailingly melodic music driven by two virtuoso guitarists – Tim Henson and Scott LePage – who are proficient in a remarkable variety of styles, switching between them at dizzying speed.
Inevitably, the set is dominated by the recent US chart breakthrough album, cheerfully titled Remember That You Will Die, though older fans are rewarded with plenty of catalogue faves, such as Goose and 40oz.
Despite the serious musicianship on display, there’s nothing studious about the presentation. LePage, in particular, couldn’t be more rock’n’roll, dude, informing us that we’re expected to go crazy because it’s his birthday. He eventually gets a spontaneous crowd rendition of Happy Birthday To You.
“We’re a goddam American band!” he reminds us as we file out after the encore. Yep, just like Grand Funk Railroad, dude.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: May 2023
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