Rolling Stone recently caught up with Polyphia guitarist Tim Henson to discuss his work alongside legendary composer Hans Zimmer on the score for the Brad Pitt film ‘F1‘, his thoughts on being noticed by Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett and the upcoming fifth studio album from his own influential progressive metal outfit.
It’s been a relatively long gestation process for this new opus, which will likely feature guests spots from System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian and members of BABYMETAL. Work on that record is ongoing, with the band hoping to wrap it up by Halloween.
Regarding the record and the expected guest appearances by Rolling Stone, Henson offered:
“It’s an album that we are working on very diligently and we are very excited, and it’s pushing us in many ways to grow. I am not really doing the [guest singer] talk anymore because we don’t actually know which ones are gonna go on it. As I give too much information about it, it’s misleading to what it actually ends up becoming.”
He was then asked if it the album ‘might have a wide vareity of guests’, to which he responded:
“Yes. It also might even have none. Who knows? Now I’ve thrown that wrench in there. That comes from the further exploration of the record. Its final form may not be how it originally looked when we first started working on it. It is an ever-evolving process.”
Speaking further on the album, he stated:
“We wanna be finished by Halloween. We’ve actually put it in the calendar: ‘Album-finishing-party-slash-Halloween-party’ on the 31st, because we’re gonna get drunk that night. Ideally we finish it then, but who knows? This is one of those things where it just might make us both look stupid, because it might not end up being that way. But that’s the goal. Musically, it’s heavy. It’s heavier than anything we’ve ever done. Sonically, it is the most sound-design-heavy thing we’ve ever done.
At this stage, the concept is very much of creating something that interfaces between consciousness and reality. Music that almost induces out-of–body experiences, playing with frequencies that move your cells in a way that physically change the structure of your body by creating sound that affects you in a physical way. We’re playing with sound design in such a way that the frequencies are intended to evoke different states of consciousness.”
Whether or not the cameo from Tankian makes the cut, Polyphia will be sharing the stage with him and System Of A Down later this summer. Polyphia have the following shows booked with the Armenian-American nü-metal superstars.
With System Of A Down, Korn & Wisp:
08/27 New York City, NY – Metlife Stadium
08/28 New York City, NY – Metlife Stadium
With System Of A Down, Avenged Sevenfold & Wisp:
08/31 Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
09/01 Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
With System Of A Down, Deftones & Wisp:
09/03 Toronto, ON – Rogers Stadium
09/05 Toronto, ON – Rogers Stadium
