Polvo: Bringing it all back home

In the early ’90s, there must have been something in the water in Chapel Hill. As bands such as Superchunk and Archers of Loaf emerged, critics and fans alike took notice of the Triangle’s talent, and local legend Polvo was at the front of this pack.

Polvo doesn’t just have the distinction of being local rock royalty — it was Merge’s first signee after Superchunk, and now, after a 12-year hiatus, the band is back with a new record and an upcoming show at Cat’s Cradle.

Diversions Assistant Editor Linnie Greene spoke with guitarist and vocalist Dave Brylawski, a UNC alumnus, to hear about the ins and outs of rocking in Chapel Hill and around the world.

Diversions: How has your sound changed since you started playing in the area in the early ’90s?

Dave Brylawski: I think the changes in the sound are that the technology’s gotten a little better, our instruments have gotten a little better, and we used this guy Brian Paulson, a legendary producer. He did Spiderland (by Slint). He’s pretty hot stuff, and he lives in Carrboro, but he’s very well known.

Dive: When you first started playing in Chapel Hill, how did people react to your sound? Was the reception positive?

DB: I would say I don’t think people reacted that strongly to it. We were a little more chaotic and noisy and hadn’t really matured into our sound yet, so I think some people were into it, but I’d say the majority shrugged it off a little bit. It took us a few months to get up and running in Chapel Hill.

Dive: Looking back, what effect do you think signing with Merge had on your career?

DB: Well, they gave us our first break in 1991. They sort of broke us, so they had a huge impact on our career. And we’re very fortunate to be back with them now, because they’ve gotten a lot bigger. They were and still are very homegrown, so they gave us our first break and our last break, so we’re very fortunate.

Dive: When did you first encounter Superchunk? Was there collaboration going on before you signed to Merge?

DB: Mac went to Jordan (High School) and Steve (Popson), the bass player and I went to Jordan, and Mac was a year ahead of us, so he was sort of like the big music guy in our high school. Steve and I were younger and inexperienced, and we looked up to him in a way. He was in a bunch of bands, Waxx and Bricks and Superchunk, so Steve and I didn’t really know him in high school. We met him through Polvo. There wasn’t really any musical collaboration, but everyone was inspiring each other.

Dive: How did your experiences as a student at Carolina influence Polvo?

DB: So I did the Spanish placement test and I’d taken three years of Spanish at Jordan. I didn’t understand some recording they played in Spanish, so I sort of made up every answer and just winged it, and for some reason I got placed into a mid-level Spanish.

Ash was in my Spanish class at Carolina, like Spanish two. We sort of met and bonded over R.E.M. He lived in Winston and I lived in Mangum.

Dive: Obviously the Triangle is a really fertile environment for producing musicians, especially when Polvo and Superchunk were forming. Why do you think that is? Is there anything in particular about this place that makes such great musicians?

DB: I think it’s the same thing that makes everywhere that’s a good music scene so good. It’s relatively inexpensive, the university’s there, so there’s culture, there’s cheap beer and cheap rent. You get a bunch of young people together in a young place, and music gets made.

Dive: After Polvo’s long hiatus, what was the impetus for coming together again to record In Prism?

DB: We got asked to play this festival in England called All Tomorrow’s Parties. It’s this pretty big festival where they have gotten bands back together in the past. It’s curated by bands, and Explosions in the Sky curated ATP. When you curate you ask the bands you like to play. They asked if there was any band that had broken up that they wanted to play, and I was sitting at work and got this e-mail from their manager.

I got the e-mail, and at the time we had no plans to get back together, but we decided to try it. Once we made that decision, we hadn’t played together in 10 years, so we decided if we were going to do it we were going to write new material, so that led to the record.

Dive: What do you hope to achieve on from the current tour? Do you have any specific goals?

DB: I don’t think we have any goals; I’m way too old for that. We’re not trying to make it big or anything like. It’s actually a lot lower key than that.

Dive: What changes have you noticed since your last tour several years ago? How has the tour been going so far?

DB: We’ve been playing off and on for the last two months, so we’ve actually played most of the American shows we’re going to play and then we’re going to Europe for a little while. You know, it’s like when you’re up on stage playing, it’s funny how little things changed.

It’s not that different though, still the same crowds and mix of ages. There’s definitely some people our age who saw us the first time around and this time, there’s also young people, too, that come out. The crowd’s sort of mixed, young and old, which is nice.

Dive: How do you think the scene in Chapel Hill has changed since Polvo emerged in the early ’90s?

DB: There were great bands in the ’90s, but there are great bands coming out of there now.



Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.