Everyone's favorite cult band!

June 6, 2022 7:48 PM

The Polyphonic Spree - Austin City Underground [1h37m]. Filmed in 2014. At a church. Which is amazing. Some sunshine music for sunshine days!

I did make this same post 8 years ago, which surprised me when it popped up because I didn't remember seeing this before. Maybe others will have forgotten it too, and be happy to be reminded, or be seeing it for the first time!

posted by hippybear (11 comments total)

I saw them play the Park West in 2004 and they were fantastic. There's a documentary to be made about them at some point, and I am here for it!
posted by higginba at 8:03 PM on June 6, 2022

Saw Grouper perform at Central Presbyterian with Jessica Pratt opening, that place has amazing acoustics and while I've seen both acts two or three times since, I don't think they've ever sounded better than they did in that space. Quite a few notable acts have performed there, it's been a regular SXSW venue for like fifteen years at this point I think?
posted by lefty lucky cat at 8:51 PM on June 6, 2022

The website is now defunct, but the band had a cute little point-and-click graphical adventure puzzle Flash game called "Quest for the Rest". The puzzles were simple and you could get through the game in under 10 minutes, but I always think of it as something we've lost as Flash became obsolete.

A 4-minute run through of the game is on YouTube.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:16 AM on June 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Quest for the Rest is alive and well if you have the ruffle plugin.
posted by scruss at 6:55 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thank you! I saw them live outdoors somewhere, I believe for free, in Brooklyn in 2003 or 2004 - Annie Clark (St. Vincent) was a member at the time. I sat in some bleachers, lots of families and people wandering in and out. It was glorious and fun. I'm also here for a documentary if one ever happens!
posted by twelve cent archie at 8:43 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I saw them open for Bowie almost 20 years ago. I had an instantaneously negative reaction to them. No real reason why but sometimes you just know you hate something... I feel like I should give them a second chance...
posted by cirhosis at 8:53 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

They have like 75 members on stage, but somehow their cover of Live and Let Die at 1:00hr or so was less bombastic than Guns N Roses. Which is odd, because I think the Spree band goal is 'more more more' in the name of joy.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:05 AM on June 7, 2022

I saw them at David Bowie's Meltdown at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002. From what I could glean, they must have been supporting The Divine Comedy, which is interesting.

The audience in their seats, the side door opened and an apparently infinite number of people in flowing robes walked in to the auditorium. I think drums were being banged as they made their way to the stage. About half-way through the PA failed, so they continued acoustic, which was an extraordinary, spine-tingling thing (it's a big room, the RFH). It's only over the last few years I've begun to suspect that might have been a bit of stagecraft rather than faulty amplification. The PA certainly kicked in again at the perfect moment for it.

They also did a free show in the foyer downstairs, the following Saturday. Tremendousness.
posted by Grangousier at 10:47 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Something never quite sat right with me about how they keep getting called a cult (including on the cover of the Rolling Stone issue they featured in). They wear the same colored robes... but so do church gospel choirs. They have a charismatic male leader... but so does almost every church.

It was even discussed on mefi in 2005.

I get that it's tongue-in-cheek, but it seems like people are inclined to call them a cult specifically because they are not a church or religion. Which says a lot about churches and religions.
posted by AlSweigart at 12:46 PM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've had conversations with Tim about the robes and he told me that he wanted there to be a unified presence on stage and also for the audience to feel like they were in a special place similar to a church service. I do note that for their The Fragile Army tour they had matching black military-esque uniforms for many of their shows instead of robes.

I know they're not a cult, but they are sort of assumed to be cult-ish. I think they're just wonderful.
posted by hippybear at 3:05 PM on June 7, 2022

but it seems like people are inclined to call them a cult specifically because they are not a church or religion. Which says a lot about churches and religions.

In my experience, fundamentalist Christians call every other Christian church but theirs a cult.
posted by xedrik at 7:14 AM on June 8, 2022