Get to Know: Polygamy - On Releasing their Debut Single 'My House'
- A Lucid Dream
- Nov 17, 2022
- 8 min read
Introducing 'Polygamy' - a new alternative rock band emerging from the streets of Manchester...
Review and Interview by Emma Bowen & Miyuki Wang
Polygamy by Lydia Blackburn
This new addition to the youth music scene originated back in early 2021, when front-man Adam Grealish would spend his time behind the closed door of his bedroom working on developing original material. Grealish and bassist Max Richie started working together in their secondary school days where they would constantly be involved with new projects, keeping line-ups and sounds fresh. Inspired by his love for industrial music, hip-hop, modern psychedelia and indie-rock, Grealish built up a solid collection of music before the band finally formed in July 2022 with assist from Jake Thornley (multi-instrumentalist); Nataniel Coop (drummer); and Emily Bartholomew (guitarist).
Since then, Polygamy have taken their sound to the stage, with two impressive sold-out sets at The Jacaranda in Liverpool and Retro in Manchester. Their most recent endeavour is the release of their debut single 'My House' which is now available on a variety of streaming platforms, and definitely worth taking two minutes of your day to have a listen to. Despite none of the band members being over the age of 17, it's clear they certainly know their stuff.
'My House' Cover artwork by Mary Close
Grealish describes 'My House' to be about his struggles with mental health; about anxiety and insecurities weighing heavily on his life and his relationships with people. However, 'My House' is not entirely a "dark" track - a jagged guitar melody brings a somewhat uplifting tone to the song like the bass line in 'Disorder' by Joy Division. While Grealish's mumble-like vocals also remind of Ian Curtis' in 'Disorder,' it is furthermore reminscent of the tracks in the debut album of The Strokes (Is This It), a band that Grealish speaks of as the overall biggest inspiration of Polygamy in the way that the rather indifferent tone of his vocals accompany the strikingly melodious and playful guitar sound; but his voice is deeper and almost blending into the instruments.
Noise-pop elements are fascinatingly colliding with post-punk in 'My House.' An interesting part of the song is that it doesn't follow the conventional structure of pop music; it doesn't have an intro and a clear climax; it starts and ends rather abruptly. You just have to let go of yourself in the floating, zigzagging rhythm and let it take you wherever.
It is obvious that 'My House' was made with the intention to produce energetic mosh pits at their gigs - it is easy to imagine how explosive it can get when being played live and it will certainly get the crowd's bodies moving and heads banging.
Upon first listening to this song, I pictured it soundtracking a montage in a coming-of-age film. I listened to it once, and then found myself revisiting the link over and over again throughout the day.
'My House' is an incendiary self-produced debut single, so impactful that it deserves attention from all indie music enjoyers and gig-goers.
We talked to Adam upon the release of 'My House'. Here is an interview where he talks about Polygamy's music making, the single, gigs, inspirations and his home city of Manchester.
Adam Grealish on stage in Manchester
―So you have been making music together with Max since secondary-school days and Polygamy Music has been in production for over a year now. How does it feel to finally be able to release a single as a band?
"It's really exciting. I've been looking forward to this for a while. We're really hoping people like it. My biggest hope is that people will sing it back to us at our gigs, I think that's the most fulfilling part of having our music out for me at least. If a crowd can shout your words back to you, you know you're doing something right."
―How has your sound changed in the course of forming the band compared to the music you used to make in the early days? How do you describe the journey to 'My House?'
"Max and I started playing in bands together covering things like Green Day and The Killers and it was all quite cringeworthy. We kind of started properly writing our own music in about 2018/19 but it was absolutely terrible – think any landfill indie band ever, that was us. I think listening to new music has expanded the palette. I think having such a long history behind us with writing has really helped; songs like 'My House' just pour out of us naturally. The song was made in a day at Nat's house and that was it really. So no, it's not actually about MY house."
―What creative processes do you go through when writing songs? Do your lyrics come to you first?
" I tend to write the music first myself, record a quick demo of all the parts, then play it live in a practise and just work it out from there. There are a lot of times where lyrics come to me first, but the majority of my lyrics focus on a narrative, so I feel they have to come out all together rather than just a collection of random thoughts that I've written down over time. I've tried to be pretty fluid with the styles of music I write in. I started off writing a lot of high energy, punkier sort of songs, but I feel my writing style has mellowed out a little recently. I've been trying to write a lot of stuff exclusively using keyboards too. I don't know how to play keyboard at all too, so it's an interesting process. I like putting myself outside of what I'm comfortable when it comes to writing."
―As you mentioned, your new track explores the idea of struggling with mental health – a topic very relevant to our generation. Would you say that being able to create art and music is a good way for you to express these parts of your life? Do you find comfort in making music?
"Yeah, for me I think it's good to get it out. The idea of 'My House' was to create the narrative of a person being shot and everything just kind of flashing before them and those thoughts being carried across in a rant-like state, but I ended up realising the way I had described that lined up with how I'd feel a lot of the time. I had been quite nervous to open up about things like that in my lyrics, but recently I've been able to jump that hurdle and be more honest about things. Sam Fender's second album (Seventeen Going Under) had a massive effect on me when I first listened to it all. It's quite funny really, I was really unwilling to give it a chance, but when I eventually did, it resonated with me so much. I think he's an incredible songwriter."
―With none of you being over the age of 17 –Do you think it's important these days for young people to get involved in the creative industries? If yes, in what ways?
"Yeah, I think it's great. The music industry is HARSH and it can be so degrading, but I've learnt to try and keep a distance from it and just take criticisms as ways to make things better. I try to remain as nonchalant as I can about negativity. I think starting out from an early age has been a great help to getting a better grip on things like that and improving writing and overall confidence in what I make. However, it is a challenge with a lot of the grassroots venues being 18+. Manchester is notable for being loaded with music venues and bands everywhere, but a lot of venues below a 200 cap tend to be 18+, which is hard to get around."
"Also, balancing college, work, and the band, is a challenge. Trying to find times that match up for us all so we can get into our rehearsal studio can be a challenge, but we manage!"
―You've already played live in Liverpool and Manchester; how do you describe those experiences? How does it feel to finally take your music in front of a live audience after working on it for so long?
"It's great! Our gig at The Jac in Liverpool was really fun, but our hometown show at Retro was incredible. It's really cool to see which songs people like. People have been really willing to let us know what has been good and what needed working on at both shows and I really appreciate that. I get quite anxious and stressed out with gigs, but both went smoothly."
Polygamy in Manchester (by Lydia Blackburn)
―What are you most looking forward to at the shows you're playing in Birkenhead next month, and in Leeds and Manchester next year?
"Playing new songs! Loads of stuff has been written in the past couple months. It will be nice to experiment a bit more with the setlist. Our headline show at AATMA will be everything we've worked on so far and we're really excited to show some of that off. There are a couple tracks that just don't feel appropriate for support shows and I'm excited to give them the chance to be played."
"Seeing loads of social circles crammed into one room is also really fun to see, especially in Manchester. That's always my favourite part of hometown gigs; all our friends interacting with each other."
―What do you guys think of the music scene in Manchester right now, has it inspired your work? Would you consider your brand/music to be distinctive because of your home city?
"I think Manchester has always inspired the music I've made. Influence from bands like Oasis, Stone Roses, The Smiths will just always be apparent in my music. They were some of the first bands I took an interest in and that massively shaped my interest in writing and music in general, being so close to home. There are loads of really good shoegaze / dream-pop acts rising at the moment with bands like White Flowers and even newer acts like St Cloud. St Cloud played at Retro with us and we really admire them.
―What artists are you inspired and influenced by - any particular musicians you're loving at the moment? What would be your dream band to support on a tour?
"It varies from track to track really. I get most of my influence from newer artists. Sorry and Yard Act were probably the biggest influence on this track. I'd say the biggest influence overall on us is probably The Strokes. It always goes back to them somehow."
"We're really loving Wunderhorse at the moment. My girlfriend was following Jacob (Slater)'s soundcloud when a demo of 'Teal' and 'Oprah Winfrey' (unreleased) were put on there and introduced me to it. I have been obsessed since. The album (Cub) has been on repeat since it came out. It'd be a real dream come true to support them."
―Are you planning to release anymore songs soon? What does the future look like for Polygamy; are there any projects that you're working on that you can let us know about?
"We'll be putting out some more music before we play in Leeds and Manchester. The track we're going to release is our most recently written, but it just feels right for that to be the next release. It captures a more sombre side to us. We're hoping once our exams are done to just do as many shows as possible and get some more music recorded."
―How would you summarise your band/music in three words to introduce yourselves to our audience?
"'Hard To Explain'. I don't want to be the guy that goes 'yeah all of our songs sound so different,' but I think we change it up pretty often, and that can be pretty tough to sum up to people. It's also the title to the best strokes song!"
Listen to Polygamy's Debut Single 'My House' on Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon Music / Tidal.
Find & listen to Polygamy on their website / SoundCloud (Their cover of 'Teal' is up) / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / TikTok.
Polygamy will be playing live shows in:
This article is the second band interview and the first song review ever on our page. We loved working with Polygamy and would love to do more - please do not hesitate to contact us via instagram dm / email (notaluciddream@gmail.com) / contact form on our website if you make music and want to be featured on our page.
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