By Andrew Lee
dB MAGAZINE Senior Staff
alee@media.ucla.edu
When singer/songwriter Tim DeLaughter was a teenager, he played
in his obligatory rock bands, groups not too sonically distanced
from Tripping Daisy ““ his act of eight years that made some
noise during the height of 90s alternative. But the music that
really inspired him was the stuff of Disney movies and Top 40
radio, the stuff that won’t score many points with the
bespectacled hipster crowd.
But the fact that it shouldn’t appeal to those crowds in a
traditional way is the very reason why DeLaughter makes music
today. His latest group, which performs at the El Rey on Wednesday,
is a 24-member ensemble of robed, starry-eyed Texans who sing
acid-gospel at the symphonic level. It has novelty written all over
it, but if novelty is a label given to anything unique, the
Polyphonic Spree is fine with it.
“What we’re doing ““ it’s different, man.
There’s nothing like it, and that’s the whole point of
putting something like this together,” DeLaughter said from
his Dallas home. “It’s openly spirited and hopeful.
It’s always open and so it’s susceptible to
people’s doubts. But I’m totally ready for it because
what we have is so solid to the core.”
DeLaughter’s Tripping Daisy didn’t just hop off the
alt-rock bandwagon on whim, it was cut short in 1999 after friend
and bandmate Wes Berggren’s sudden death from a drug
overdose. After the group’s tragic end, DeLaughter bounced
around to different jobs to support his family ““ until that
is, his friend Chris Penn ““ now the manager of the Polyphonic
Spree ““ booked a gig for the musician at the behest of
DeLaughter’s wife. DeLaughter had just two weeks to scrap
together a group to play the music he’s heard in his head
since childhood.
“I’ve always played music,” he said.
“But it seems I’ve always been working my way to get to
this point. I didn’t start to hear it all until Tripping
Daisy, but that started to become a wish list band ““ I
started to say to myself, “˜I wish I had this
instrument,’ or “˜I wish I had a choir singing
that.'”
He wanted things like a French horn, a theremin, a digital
harpischord and a timpani. He didn’t know where to find them
(let alone how to play them), but after the idea of the project was
out there, the rest happened on its own.
“(After the first show) people came up to me and just
offered to be in the group,” DeLaughter said. “It came
together, and I didn’t really have to do anything but play a
show.”
The group’s first record, “The Beginning Stages
Of…” was recorded in just two days, intended as a demo to
score gigs around Texas. It got so much attention from papers and
radio stations that the group has now released the record on a
major label. For many acts, optimism is an easy selling point that
rarely forces bands out of the standard rock ‘n’ roll
formula. For the Polyphonic Spree, the optimism makes way for a
completely different approach to music. It swells and calms at an
almost languid pace, and “The Beginning Stages Of…”
sounds more like a piece of several movements than an actual album
of songs. Not that it’s hard to get into, especially in a
live setting.
“There’s something about 24 individuals exhausting
themselves that tends to be overwhelming and contagious,”
DeLaughter said. “I wasn’t thinking about creating this
wonderful spirited vibe, I was just more into the group’s
sound. But something beautiful happened, and songs became a kind of
spirited and unorthodox musical. I just watch it happen from the
stage, and it’s like the audience is a part of the
band.”
The Polyphonic Spree is taking advantage of the attention placed
upon them. A new album is awaiting release in early 2004, and
according to DeLaughter, it sounds bigger, bolder and more
dramatic.
It’s hard to believe that any positive thinking just
emanates from the ether, but that’s not the kind of stuff
that bothers DeLaughter, nor the couple hundred fans who see the
group perform night after night. Novelty or not, this approach to
the every day is something to admire.
“I’m not sure what the whole package is what’s
making this thing work,” he said. “I just know
it’s extremely special. And I hope I’ll never figure it
out because I don’t want to fuck it up.”
The Polyphonic Spree play at the El Rey on July 30. Call the
box office at (323) 936-6400 or go to www.theelrey.com for ticket
information.