With a sound that looks to follow in the harsh and energetic footsteps of acts like IDLES and Fontaines DC, Bristolian outfit Polemics now look to make their mark on the scene with the release of their debut single ‘CONFLICT’.
Lifted from their forthcoming debut EP of the same name, ‘CONFLICT’ makes for an incredibly impactful initial offering. With its blistering hooks, snarling vocals, and thunderous production, the band’s first outing is sure to make them a one to watch over the coming months.
So with their new single doing the rounds right now, we sat down with them to find out more about their latest track and what we can expect from them in the future.
Words by Chris Bound
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Hi guys, how are you today?
I’m great, it’s 29 degrees and I’m listening to music outside with my dog, a Greek Kokoni rescue, for anyone who’s wondering.
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
Our sound is best described as a blend of hardcore and punk, but there’s also grunge and extreme metal influences too. Really it’s just a melting pot of a load of things that we listen to with our own unique spin on it. Bands like The Mars Volta and Smashing Pumpkins have been big influences on our sound. We’ve been getting comparisons to Fugazi, IDLES and bands like Primus too which is pretty awesome to hear.
You have just released your debut single ‘Conflict’. Can you tell us how that track came about?
It was all mapped out in the chords first, and that half time riff. Then Jeff wrote those drums to it, which added a lot of dynamics and steered the way to write sprawling vocals. Lyrically it’s not that deep, the main character is conflicted and politically incoherent, which is sort of how I feel a lot of the time.
And was there a particular style you were looking for when you wrote it?
It was like a surf rock meets black metal thing in the verses, but the chords have these jazzy extensions and alterations.
It is also taken from your debut EP of the same name. What kind of sound were you going for on this new collection?
We wanted something that sounded like us. The song Conflict is quite bludgeoning and unforgiving as we’re both heavy hitters and always have been, but then we have songs like Plup which has these lush little melodies and synth parts and then Halibut whch is just this freaky little number. There’s lots of our personality in every little part of these songs and that’s really what we wanted to give the listener.
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
We were both self isolating for a long period during the lockdown, during which time we were able to record a live session in the studio that we rehearse at so we will be releasing that shortly. We will also be releasing a few more singles before the year is out which we were really glad to get finished before everything went horribly wrong. Mostly, though, our focus is going to be on writing and rehearsing. We’ve got a bunch of numbers that we’re working on at the moment and hopefully a couple more to start on soon and we want to make sure that as soon as the venues open again we’re ready to tear it up.
And finally, where are you hoping to see yourself in five years time?
We’d like to be on the main rosters for the major festivals in the UK and maybe Europe, and hopefully we’ll be at least close to playing Glastonbury by then. We’d also like to be working with some of the top producers by that point as well so fingers crossed.