09/11/08
Text: Bryan Hood
As countless reunion shows have proven, some bands should stay broken up. Regardless it is hard not to be excited when one of the integral bands of one's youth announces they are getting back to together. Nostalgia is a pretty powerful feeling after all. What is even better than that though, is when that band comes back with renewed passion, which is exactly what Polvo has done since reforming for this year's Explosions in the Sky curated All Tomorrow's Parties in the U.K. Anthem recently had a chance to sit down with Ash Bowie, Dave Brylawski, Steven Popson, and Brian Quast as they prepared for their set at Los Angeles' Fuck Yeah Fest 5.
Polvo formed in North Carolina in 1989, and would become one of the most beloved bands of the Chapel Hill indie rock scene. Across albums like "Today's Active Lifestyles" and "Exploded Drawings," the band produced a guitar heavy rock sound that, while intricate and complex, wasn't the math rock so many people associated them with. "We had a couple songs that were kind of noodle-y and had some weird timings," say Bowie. "I just think a lot of people heard those one or two songs and ignored the other 95% of our music."
The band has no problem with math rock, they just do not feel that it is a term that describes their music. "We're just a rock band with some psychedelic overtones," said Brylawski. It is a sentiment that the rest of the band echoes. It was not the technical aspects of their sound that the band cared about, they were more concerned with making melodic rock no matter how messy it might have ended up sounding.
Since getting back together in May things have gone fairly smoothly for Polvo. This is mainly because the band was able to split up amicably. During the eight years in which they were active, the same thing that happens to any group of friends happened: their lives moved in separate directions. "We were at a point in our lives where we just wanted to do different things," said Popson.
Because things ended on good terms Polvo never ruled out the idea of reforming, they were just waiting for the right time. And that time came when Explosions in the Sky asked them to play All Tomorrow's Parties. According the Brylawski, "We had been apart enough to feel like we wanted to reconnect."
Although the band wanted to reform, it did not mean that a Polvo reunion was going to be any good. Luckily for music fans the band's performances at festivals and shows since May have proven that the group had the right idea. The band plays fast and tight, pounding their way through energetic and multi-layered sonic landscapes. Polvo might be a decade older, but their music sounds as lively as ever.
