Polyphia mastermind Tim Henson has some choice words about what it's like to be in a metal band. After beginning with a deathcore-based sound, the guitarist-songwriter has taken his instrumental powerhouse in a significantly more melodic, rock-based direction in recent years, and in a new interview with Guitar.com, he offers a reason why: money and girls.
"It's not really cool to be in a metal band because they don't make any money," Henson said, while also chastising many of his guitar-driven musical contemporaries for their lack of sticky hooks. "Literally every guitar-centered thing is just solos on solos on solos We've certainly done records that were solos on solos on solos but between them we actually had hooks."
Elsewhere in the interview, Henson talked about the reasoning behind his band's unique fashion sense, which puts a ritzy spin on the types of haircuts, tattoos and graphics that're typically associated with metal subculture.
"I remember seeing [2004 video game] Tony Hawk's Underground 2 have a Metallica promo," Henson recalled. "It was during the St. Anger shit, and they all rolled up to their rehearsal space in Mercedes. I thought that was so fucking cool! That's when we came up with the meme of calling ourselves not only the biggest but the best metal band in the world."
"Also, around the time that we wanted to get bigger, One Direction were still a thing," he continued, referring to the chart-topping boy-band. "We were like, 'Okay, let's do what they're doing – obviously girls like that.'"
