... and reach for the sun! ☀
© Polyphonic Spree
2002
Every time I'm hearing The Polyphonic Spree lately, the more I'm starting to like them. I will still call them a hippy cult band, but their music is actually catchy.
I had seen them live in 2004, when David Bowie took them on as an opening act during the Reality tour. Their full act is not on the Reality Tour DVD, but Youtube has some clips of them performing with db. I remember when they first came on stage, the people who knew who they were, were totally enthused. The people who didn't (like me), were like "what the hell....?". There were two guys in their 20s that were a couple rows in front of me, who were there specifically for Polyphonic Spree. How do I know? Because I was watching them jump up and down, wave banners, yell and scream for the group, to the point Tim DeLaughter even acknowledged them. They were that loud and full of energy. I just couldn't get over the confusion of this "choral rock group" and who / what / why they 'were'. There must have been 20 people, if not more, all donned in various color robes, playing various instruments, and jumping around the stage. Their long curly haired leader was as exuberant, if not more ADD than the rest of the group. Leading them in various songs from their Beginnings and Together We're Heavy albums, DeLaughter kept the FleetCenter on point. The questioners started bopping along and finally when the group introduced Bowie, people were really enjoying themselves.
Since then, I've still questioned their music. It seems weird to me, that they consider themselves a sort of rock group, but because of their size, they're a choral rock group. Based out of Texas (Shout out to Brady & Darian... have you guys seen this group... primarily at SXSW?), they have surpassed group member numbers and various albums exponentially. What went from a dozen members to over 30, they've seen their fair share of people join and leave the group. It doesn't stop them from recording (or creating a Kick Starter campaign, as of recent), nor does it stop them from touring. Allegedly, one of the band members recently opened a restaurant in East Dallas, where the group is based.
A lot of people might recognize the songs from a 2004 Volkswagen commercial or doing clinical rounds on the TV show Scrubs. They've also added a few songs to various movie soundtracks and old members have branched out into new groups (DeLaughter was originally part of Tripping Daisy. I think I still have their 1995 album somewhere. I never put two and two together because I wasn't a fan of Tripping Daisy and had never heard of the Spree until I saw them live).
What else can I say about this group? It's great to blast on the speaker system at work, to make sure everything is hooked up properly, as there are just so many voices, you want to make sure your audio system works. I did that the other day, actually. I had to set up a room with a projector, screen, stereo speakers, a couple microphones... so I plugged in a laptop, searched the video website, and turned the speakers up to a reasonable amount, and voila! A live video was coming out of the projector, the audio semi blaring out of the speakers... life was good at that moment. Especially since it was the aforementioned Light & Day and the sun was trying to come out at that point. Maybe it was all a sign??
Until next time...
Cheers;
See Also:
Polyphonic Spree via Amazon
Tripping Daisy via Amazon
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Thanks for sharing!