soon you'll find the answer: a polyphonic spree interview

supercult: Do you mind if I download all your songs, brah?

mark pirro: Well, you are always welcomed to send us money. Make checks payable to
The Polyphonic Spree.

sc: While on tour, are you responsible for cleaning your own robe, or do you have someone who washes all 23 of them?

mp: General maintenance of your robe is a personal responsibility. However, when we have special events, we usually arrange to get them cleaned. It would be nice to have a Tide
endorsement.

sc: There's a pretty vast difference musically between The Polyphonic Spree and your previous band, Tripping Daisy. What made you get all weird? Drinking? You drink a lot?

mp: I would have to say the untimely death of Tripping Daisy guitarist, Wes Berggren
and the resulting break up of Tripping Daisy. If Tripping Daisy had not
come to a tragic end, there might not be the Polyphonic Spree as we know it.
I believe the loss of our good friend really had a profound impact on Tim
as a song writer. Tim already had a yearning to incorporate certain
instruments from the symphonic world into the sound of Tripping Daisy.
When it all came to an end, I think it was natural for Tim to further explore those desires. However, he was going to need a new band and a new vision to bring it to reality.
I think having the life changing experience of losing a friend helped set the stage
for capturing the spirited sound of the Polyphonic Spree.

sc: But then your sound kind of changed between your first and second albums. Did you get over it? Did drinking a lot help?

mp: I would have to say the second album, "Together We're Heavy" was a better
representation of where the band was at the moment. When we did our
first record, "The Beginning Stages of..." we had only been a band for
about 3 months and only had 13 members. That was years ago and
since then a lot has changed with the band sonically. We now have
almost twice as many members delivering a much larger pallet of sounds;
classical harp, pedal steel, and more voices just to name a few. Tim's
song writing also has evolved with more detail and deeper feeling than
ever before. Rich Costey, who mixed the new record, described it as
sounding like, "the earth giving birth and more epic than death
valley." I'd say we should be pretty satisfied if we have even come
close to fulfilling a fraction of that statement.

sc: There was recently an invention called "technology," and it can give you an expansive sound without demanding 23 paychecks. It's difficult to explain, but there's a lot of algebra and it has wires (green, blue, etc.).

mp: Sure, but that is what makes the Polyphonic Spree special; having real
people do everything. It helps make it a spectacle in the best way.

sc: Does the band's cheerful optimistic sound ever leave you unfulfilled? Do you sometimes want to be in a nu metal band?

mp: Me personally? No. I think like most people my age, you learn to
grow out of and disconnect with angry feelings. I think that is why
the Polyphonic Spree is being so embraced. In the last decade or so,
general music fans have been fed a steady diet of grunge, punk and the
like. It seems like times are changing. Don't get me wrong, there is a
time and place for all that. For me, it was when I was in my late
teens and early twenties.

sc: What record are you listening to today?

mp: For some reason, I have been rediscovering music from the past. Most
recently I have been enjoying Queen's Greatest Hits vol. 1,2,3 quite a
bit. For things more current, I have been into a record by a really
obscure band called Tree Wave. It is just a guy and his girlfriend.
He makes all his music with antiquated computer equipment (commadore
64, atari 2600 and an epson printer) and his girlfriend sings. It
sounds like the best things I love about Stereolab and My Bloody
Valentine.

sc: How come you got big in the UK a lot faster? Because drinking is very popular there?

mp: It was really about the demand. Early on, we got an opportunity to
play at David Bowie's Meltdown Festival in London. From that point on,
we were continually engaged with events and tours in the UK due to the
gaining popularity of the band there. We more or less spent two years
touring in the UK and in Europe, which obviously didn't leave much
opportunity in the US to develop the band.
Ironically, things went sort of full circle, and we toured with David
Bowie as his opening act in North America. Incredible how things work
out sometimes.

sc: You did an episode of Scrubs a long time ago. What was that like?

mp: We had a great time filming Scrubs. Being on set was a little nerve
racking as we had to lip sync and play along with one of our songs.
You got cameras all up in your face and you are trying to play and get
into it like you really are playing live. All in all though, we had a
great time.

sc: If one of you is sick, do you cancel the whole show? Or do you just hope no one will notice there's only 22 people on stage?

mp: We haven't had to cancel a show due to that yet (keeping fingers
crossed). I have been sick before and just went on with the show.
Surprisingly, I felt better afterward. All that sweating and breathing
seems to have a therapeutic effect. When I have a hangover the best
way for me to kick it is to play a show.

sc: What do you want the world to take from you?

mp: Gosh, I don't think I could say with any degree of certainty. The
world is a big place and I feel it would be up to the individual to
draw their own conclusions on what we are doing. It is like poetry -
you creatively express yourself without force feeding the literal
meaning to everybody. Some things have to retain an ounce of mystery in
order for people to find real meaning in things.

interviewed by: annie