Polytechnic (Band)
Encyclopedia
Polytechnic are an indie-rock band based in Chorlton-cum-Hardy
in Manchester
, England.
in Devon, vocalist and guitarist Dylan Giles and bassist Yuri Caul, the band was known as The Conversation (named after the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola
movie) and had been playing fairly low-key gigs in Manchester for a couple of years until Eastbourne
native and drummer Tim "The Lord Stuchbury" Warren joined the band in late 2004.
Moving slightly away from the krautrock-inflected, acoustic style of music Warren had described as "heroin music", The Conversation played for a few months as a three-piece (this time for under the name Audition - again taken from a Miike Takashi movie) in early 2005, recording demos in Yuri's bedroom. These early demos featured versions of future favourites such as "Running Out of Ideas" and "Pep".
In March 2005, again playing as The Conversation, a second guitarist was added to the line-up, debuting at the Sexy Rest acoustic band night at Fuel in Withington
, Manchester. Denny Hilton, originally from Stoke-on-Trent
, had returned to Manchester after a few months living in Berlin, taking part in an improvised backing band for the former Can
vocalist, Damo Suzuki
.
More gigs followed across Manchester until a dispute over the name The Conversation with a Warrington-based group lead to a name change once more in June, this time to Polytechnic, rumoured to be the suggestion of local author and performer Edward Barton
. The band narrowly decided against being known as Pep, the title of their most popular tune at the time.
Soon after, two influential gigs did a great deal to bring Polytechnic to a wider audience. Firstly, in July, a weekend festival organised by local promoters Blowout at the Southern Pub in Chorlton raised their profile in the city and pricked the attention of various record labels, and then in October 2005, another Blowout gig as part of Manchester's In The City
seminar brought them to the attention of Radio 1's Steve Lamacq
, who began to play their bedroom-recorded "Pep" demo on his Radio 1
and 6 Music
shows and mentioned them as one of his favourite bands of the moment in the NME
.
A last minute gig supporting The Subways
at Manchester Academy
meant the first official appearance of the fifth member of the group, keyboardist Peet Earnshaw, who also provides backing vocals. Peet (from Durham
) had been rehearsing with Polytechnic for a few months after leaving Withington based post-punk band, The Generalissimos. He had become friends with Dylan and Yuri two years earlier at an open mic night in Withington after they bonded over a shared love of film director Wes Anderson
.
National tours with The Longcut
and Doves followed before the end of the year and a support slot for The Breeders
with the band beginning to appear in national music press.
and a live session with Steve LeMacq's 6 Music show.
A singles record deal with Transgressive Records
was signed early in 2006, which resulted in the first single being released in April 2006, a "double b-side" of "Won't You Come Around?"/"Let Me Down". This coincided with the band's first national headline tour and a handful of appearances at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, where they were described by Tony Wilson
as "the second best band in Manchester (after The Longcut)" at the XFM Manchester showcase. The limited edition single sold out within days.
After the inclusion of "Let Me Down" on an Artrocker
magazine cover-mount, Polytechnic's second single for Transgressive
was released in July 2006, the live favourite "Pep". This was coupled with another live tour and several appearances at festivals across the country, including the Leeds Carling festival and Manchester's own D-Percussion, where the band signed their first album deal with Shatterproof, a local independent label.
In the Autumn, the band repaired to Bryn Derwen studios, near Bethesda
in north Wales to begin work on their debut long-player. A tour with Transgressive label-mates The Young Knives
followed, after which Polytechnic toured Ireland for the first time, before the release of their third single, and the first for Shatterproof, "Man Overboard" in December.
This single saw them build their fanbase with Single of the Week in both NME and The Sun newspaper.
A fourth single, "Cold-Hearted Business", was released in February 2007, and their debut album, Down Til Dawn
, hit the shelves in April. In addition to the previous singles, "Bible Stories" was frequently picked out as the stand-out track on the collection. A b-side of The Shins
' "Australia" single, also released in April on Transgressive, featured Polytechnic covering "Caring Is Creepy", taken from the "Oh, Inverted World!" album. They then went on to support The Shins
, as well as going on an Arena tour supporting Keane and a joint headline tour with their friend and landlord Cherry Ghost
.
On November 14, 2007, Polytechnic played their first Los Angeles show at Spaceland in Silver Lake, and then their first New York show two days later at The Mercury Lounge, as they slowly build up fans and support state-side.
At the end of 2007, they parted company with their guitarist Denny Hilton, and finally disbanded entirely in the summer of 2008. Dylan, Yuri and Peet have since gone on to form a new band called Driver Drive Faster
which released their debut single 'They May Talk' through Lex Records
on 23/02/10. An album is set to be released in the summer of 2010.
Singles:
Other releases
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a suburban area of the city of Manchester, England. It is known locally as Chorlton. It is situated about four miles southwest of Manchester city centre. Pronunciation varies: and are both common....
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England.
Members
Dylan Giles (vocal, guitar); Yuri Caul (bass); Tim Warren (drums); Peet Earnshaw (keyboards, backing vocals)History
Originally a two-piece composed of two schoolfriends from TotnesTotnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
in Devon, vocalist and guitarist Dylan Giles and bassist Yuri Caul, the band was known as The Conversation (named after the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
movie) and had been playing fairly low-key gigs in Manchester for a couple of years until Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
native and drummer Tim "The Lord Stuchbury" Warren joined the band in late 2004.
Moving slightly away from the krautrock-inflected, acoustic style of music Warren had described as "heroin music", The Conversation played for a few months as a three-piece (this time for under the name Audition - again taken from a Miike Takashi movie) in early 2005, recording demos in Yuri's bedroom. These early demos featured versions of future favourites such as "Running Out of Ideas" and "Pep".
In March 2005, again playing as The Conversation, a second guitarist was added to the line-up, debuting at the Sexy Rest acoustic band night at Fuel in Withington
Withington
Withington is a suburban area of the City of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury, and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, near the centre-to-south edges of the Greater Manchester Urban Area; in the...
, Manchester. Denny Hilton, originally from Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
, had returned to Manchester after a few months living in Berlin, taking part in an improvised backing band for the former Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
vocalist, Damo Suzuki
Damo Suzuki
, universally known as Damo Suzuki , is a singer best known for his membership in the German krautrock group Can.-Biography:As a teenager, Suzuki spent the late 1960s wandering around Europe, often busking....
.
More gigs followed across Manchester until a dispute over the name The Conversation with a Warrington-based group lead to a name change once more in June, this time to Polytechnic, rumoured to be the suggestion of local author and performer Edward Barton
Edward Barton
Edward Barton is a Manchester, England, poet, artist and musician, known for his eccentric stage performances and use of home-made instruments...
. The band narrowly decided against being known as Pep, the title of their most popular tune at the time.
Soon after, two influential gigs did a great deal to bring Polytechnic to a wider audience. Firstly, in July, a weekend festival organised by local promoters Blowout at the Southern Pub in Chorlton raised their profile in the city and pricked the attention of various record labels, and then in October 2005, another Blowout gig as part of Manchester's In The City
In The City (festival)
In The City is an annual music industry conference and festival founded by the late Tony Wilson, formerly of Factory Records and Granada Television, and his partner Yvette Livesey....
seminar brought them to the attention of Radio 1's Steve Lamacq
Steve Lamacq
Steve Lamacq , sometimes known by his nicknames Lammo or "The Cat" is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio stations BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2.-Early career:He was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire...
, who began to play their bedroom-recorded "Pep" demo on his Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
and 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
shows and mentioned them as one of his favourite bands of the moment in the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
.
A last minute gig supporting The Subways
The Subways
The Subways are an English alternative rock / indie rock band. Their debut album, Young For Eternity, was released on 4 July 2005 in the UK and February 14, 2006 in the U.S. Their second album, All or Nothing, was released on 30 June 2008 and their third album Money and Celebrity debuted on the...
at Manchester Academy
Manchester Academy
Manchester Academy is a brand name used by the University of Manchester Students' Union for its four concert venues in Manchester, England, which reside on Oxford Road both within and adjacent to the main Students' Union building....
meant the first official appearance of the fifth member of the group, keyboardist Peet Earnshaw, who also provides backing vocals. Peet (from Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
) had been rehearsing with Polytechnic for a few months after leaving Withington based post-punk band, The Generalissimos. He had become friends with Dylan and Yuri two years earlier at an open mic night in Withington after they bonded over a shared love of film director Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....
.
National tours with The Longcut
The Longcut
-Members:* Stuart Ogilvie - vocals, keyboard, drums* Lee Gale - guitar* Jon Fearon - bass-Career:The Longcut formed in Manchester in 2002, while attending the University of Manchester. Originally a four-piece, their vocalist left soon after the band started and the remaining members intended to...
and Doves followed before the end of the year and a support slot for The Breeders
The Breeders
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 by Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses. The band has experienced a number of line-up changes; the current line-up consists of Kim Deal , her twin sister Kelley Deal , Jose Medeles , Mando Lopez Todd the Fox...
with the band beginning to appear in national music press.
Growing reputation
Polytechnic saw in the new year with a support slot for The Strokes at Manchester Apollo, which further heightened expectation around the band, followed by tours with Morning Runner and Nine Black AlpsNine Black Alps
Nine Black Alps are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester, named after a line in The Couriers by Sylvia Plath and fronted by Sam Forrest.-Career:...
and a live session with Steve LeMacq's 6 Music show.
A singles record deal with Transgressive Records
Transgressive Records
Transgressive Records is an independent record label based in London, England formed in 2004. Founders Tim Dellow, and Toby L first met at a Bloc Party gig organised by Toby's rockfeedback website. The first release on the label was 1am by The Subways, released in September 2004...
was signed early in 2006, which resulted in the first single being released in April 2006, a "double b-side" of "Won't You Come Around?"/"Let Me Down". This coincided with the band's first national headline tour and a handful of appearances at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, where they were described by Tony Wilson
Tony Wilson
Anthony Howard Wilson, commonly known as Tony Wilson , was an English record label owner, radio presenter, TV show host, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist for Granada Television and the BBC....
as "the second best band in Manchester (after The Longcut)" at the XFM Manchester showcase. The limited edition single sold out within days.
After the inclusion of "Let Me Down" on an Artrocker
ArtRocker
Artrocker is a UK-based collective involved in music promotion and publishing. It was started by Paul Cox and Tom Fawcett who had been co-promoters of a London night called The Sausage Factory...
magazine cover-mount, Polytechnic's second single for Transgressive
Transgressive
Transgressive may mean:*Transgressive art, a name given art forms that violate perceived boundaries.*Transgressive fiction, a modern style in literature.*Transgressive Records, a United Kingdom-based independent record label....
was released in July 2006, the live favourite "Pep". This was coupled with another live tour and several appearances at festivals across the country, including the Leeds Carling festival and Manchester's own D-Percussion, where the band signed their first album deal with Shatterproof, a local independent label.
In the Autumn, the band repaired to Bryn Derwen studios, near Bethesda
Bethesda, Wales
Bethesda is a town lying on the River Ogwen and the A5 road on the edge of Snowdonia, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, colloquially called Pesda by the locals.- History :...
in north Wales to begin work on their debut long-player. A tour with Transgressive label-mates The Young Knives
The Young Knives
Young Knives are an English indie rock band from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. The name is based on a misunderstanding of "young knaves", which was found by the band when rummaging through a book....
followed, after which Polytechnic toured Ireland for the first time, before the release of their third single, and the first for Shatterproof, "Man Overboard" in December.
This single saw them build their fanbase with Single of the Week in both NME and The Sun newspaper.
A fourth single, "Cold-Hearted Business", was released in February 2007, and their debut album, Down Til Dawn
Down til Dawn
Down til Dawn is the debut studio album by Polytechnic, released on April 30, 2007 in the UK. A US release date has not been announced. Much of the songs are re-recorded from previously released EPs and singles, including "Won't You Come Around?," "Pep," "Man Overboard," "Cold Hearted Business" and...
, hit the shelves in April. In addition to the previous singles, "Bible Stories" was frequently picked out as the stand-out track on the collection. A b-side of The Shins
The Shins
The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
' "Australia" single, also released in April on Transgressive, featured Polytechnic covering "Caring Is Creepy", taken from the "Oh, Inverted World!" album. They then went on to support The Shins
The Shins
The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
, as well as going on an Arena tour supporting Keane and a joint headline tour with their friend and landlord Cherry Ghost
Cherry Ghost
Cherry Ghost is an indie rock band from Bolton, England. Their debut album, Thirst for Romance, was released in July 2007 and entered the UK Album Charts at #7...
.
On November 14, 2007, Polytechnic played their first Los Angeles show at Spaceland in Silver Lake, and then their first New York show two days later at The Mercury Lounge, as they slowly build up fans and support state-side.
At the end of 2007, they parted company with their guitarist Denny Hilton, and finally disbanded entirely in the summer of 2008. Dylan, Yuri and Peet have since gone on to form a new band called Driver Drive Faster
Driver Drive Faster
Driver Drive Faster are a rock/indie band from Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester, England.- Members :*Dylan Giles *Yuri Caul *Peet Earnshaw *David Schlechtriemen - Info :...
which released their debut single 'They May Talk' through Lex Records
Lex Records
Lex Records is an independent record label founded by Tom Brown in 2001. The label was an imprint of Warp Records and run from their North London offices, until September 2005.Lex has a low volume of releases, rarely releasing more than three albums annually...
on 23/02/10. An album is set to be released in the summer of 2010.
Discography
Albums:- Down Til DawnDown til DawnDown til Dawn is the debut studio album by Polytechnic, released on April 30, 2007 in the UK. A US release date has not been announced. Much of the songs are re-recorded from previously released EPs and singles, including "Won't You Come Around?," "Pep," "Man Overboard," "Cold Hearted Business" and...
- Shatterproof - April 2007
Singles:
- "Loose Tongues" (EP) (as Audition) - demo - February 2005
- Tracks: Loose Tongues, Let Me Down, Someone To Interfere, Fingertips
- "Running Out Of Ideas" (EP) (as The Conversation) - demo - June 2005
- Tracks: Let Me Down, Running Out Of Ideas, Still Spinning, Bargepole
- "Pep" (EP) - demo - October 2005
- Tracks: Pep, Penguin, Running Out Of Ideas
- "Won't You Come Around?" / "Let Me Down" (double a-side 7" and 3" CD) - Transgressive - April 2006
- "Pep" (two 7" singles) - Transgressive - July 2006
- b/w "Headshaker" / "Still Spinning"
- "Man Overboard" (7" single) - Shatterproof - December 2006
- b/w "Fingertips"
- "Cold Hearted Business" (7" single) - Shatterproof - February 2007
- b/w "Penguin" / "Let Me Down" (Acoustic)
Other releases
- "Pep" (CD Compilation) - Transgressive - December 2006
- NME Compilation
- "Caring Is Creepy" (7" b-side) - Transgressive - April 2007
- Cover version for The ShinsThe ShinsThe Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
single "Australia"
- Cover version for The Shins