Polymath - refuse to be pigeonholed

As the Greek origins of their name suggest, Polymath are a band not restricted to one musical area. This is genre-spanning experimental, occasionally industrial, music made by a band which features former members of Dead City Presidents and the Hellset Orchestra. We spoke to guitar player Ali Harris to find out more…

What have Polymath been up to recently?
A bit of a summer hiatus. We were shattered after putting on our first live extravaganza at Nottingham Arts Theatre in May, so we took a step back to catch our breath. We've just recruited a new bassist, and now we're writing in a snug little chrysalis. I think we'll emerge a much harder Polymath. Only with delicate wings.

What kind of people do you think will be into your music?
We want to appeal to as many people as possible. We hope there's enough in our songs to titilate cerebral musos as well as the single-downloading public. Maybe like Patton goes Pop. Or James Blunt being molested by John Zorn. It's not wildly happy, but not incredibly miserable either...

Describe your style in ten words or less…
Music to have sex and then die to.

What are you listening to at the moment?
Dillinger Escape Plan, a bunch of old Radiohead videos on the YouTubes, an amazing Brummie band called Little Dipper and some other bits and bobs. I just put a load of Beatles on my Walkman too, Being for the benefit of Mr Kite goes a long way to alleviating the commuter blues.

Tell us about one of your songs and what inspired you to write it…
Weapons of Desire is about a celebrated Victorian psychic who captivates the London social scene, filling entire theatres every night. He gets carried away and predicts the end of the world is imminent and people believe him. But instead of being scared, everyone just acts out their wildest dreams: it's a massive party, everyone's sleeping with whoever they like, making incredible confessions and generally acting like it's their last day on earth. Then they wake up the next day...

Best gig you've ever played?
The best Polymath gig was our extravaganza at Nottingham Arts Theatre.  The Dust Collectors were ace and we had fun collaborating with the dancers and performers. We had a Buddhist guy come and play Jew's Harp and recorder on one song, and it was magical. The highlight was seeing Lateral Lines' video for Sonrisa projected 20ft high on the back of the stage, it was awesome.

If you had a super power what would it be?
The super power of shapeshifting. Or invisibility. Or flight. Or X-ray eyes The ability to control someone else for a while would be pretty cool too. I guess I'd try to be Jon Snow for the evening, although he'd probably resist me with his super-strong reflective force field.

What's your ideal night out in Nottingham?
Drinking? Start in the Trip To Jerusalem- the atmosphere cultivates good conversation, and I've never had a bad night after being there first. Tom (singer) and Amy (cello) love the Orange Tree so I guess we'd end up there for mojitos. Then we'd dance home over the spit-speckled, spew-splattered streets. I don't go out that much, I prefer to stay in and seethe quietly at the world.

Polymath website


 

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