{"id":72661,"date":"2018-11-14T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=72661"},"modified":"2024-10-13T02:58:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T01:58:20","slug":"guitar-interview-polyphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/guitar-interview-polyphia\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitar Talk with Polyphia’s Scott LePage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Polyphia
Photo Credit: Travis Poston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you have ever listened to Polyphia<\/strong>, then you’ll be aware of the guitar wizardry that founding members Scott LePage and Tim Henson have been producing for the best part of eight years. Their latest album, ‘New Levels New Devils’<\/em> is a colourful exhibition of genre-fusing, technical guitar playing. Alongside bassist Clay Gober and drummer Clay Aeschliman, the Texas quartet display an effortless blend of djent, prog, hip-hop, funk, trap, and EDM. Ultimately, it sees LePage and Henson explore their guitar virtuoso skills, resulting in a dynamic and compelling sound.<\/p>\n

For Scott, his love for music was firmly embedded from an early age. \u201cMy dad has been playing the guitar since he was a teenager, and when I was around ten years old I started showing an interest in it so he taught me how to play,\u201d<\/em> explains LePage. \u201cWhen I was a kid I always used to think it would be badass to be good at guitar, and I kind of just stuck with it and worked my ass off trying to get good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

“I knew I wasn\u2019t going to keep skateboarding because I sucked, and the guitar was kind of my thing that I was good at for my age so I wanted to stick with it.”<\/em><\/h2>\n

It’s easy to see why his father became an early guitar hero for Scott as they bounded from the very time he picked up a guitar. Scott tell us, \u201cone day I just walked into the room where my dad kept all of his musical equipment and he was playing this sick Charvel he had, and I remember saying the words ‘I want to be able to play like that,’ and he then taught me the pentatonic scale and the rest was history.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As Scott grew up, he would find an admiration for influential metal guitarists such as Pantera’s Darrell \u201cDimebag\u201d Abbott and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield (\u201cI loved Metallica so much\u201d<\/em>). Like many teenagers, LePage found himself at a crossroads. With his hobbies alongside the guitar consisting of skateboarding and playing video games, he realised he’d have to give the former up if he were to pursue a music career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wasn\u2019t going to keep skateboarding because I sucked, and the guitar was kind of my thing that I was good at for my age so I wanted to stick with it. One thing I think I always knew was that I\u2019d be doing something with music, and I remember thinking ‘what if I break my fingers skateboarding and can\u2019t play anymore,’ so I just kinda stopped one day. That was the same day I decided it was time to actually take the guitar seriously.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Under the tutelage of his father and a nearby neighbour (\u201cShoutout Earl Bailey, RIP\u201d<\/em>), Scott expanded his range as a guitarist, learning modes and arpeggios. The latter would eventually become a signature technique in Polyphia<\/strong>‘s sound.<\/p>\n