Polar States

Name, where are you from?
Polar States (Paul, Jack, Niall, Josh), based in Liverpool.

Describe your style in three words?
Loud Soft Rock.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
P: I saw Ray Davies play an acoustic set at Hop Farm. He came on stage
around 2pm and it was raining and then mid-set the sun started to come out. God, it was unreal. Like you couldn’t write that. Then Bob Dylan came on at 9pm and played a headline set, and we sat on a hill, drank warm beer, and sang our hearts out. What a day.
Ja: The Rolling Stones at Old Trafford! They covered 'Like a Rolling Stone' by Bob Dylan and the sound of a stadium full of people singing that chorus was euphoric. Plus Richard Ashcroft opened up for them!

If you could be on the lineup with any two artists in history?
N: David Bowie. He wrote and released some of the best songs whilst being
authentic to himself and his art. The Glastonbury live album is just incredible. He makes the biggest stage in the world feel like an intimate gig and you can sense his humility and hear his confidence growing through the set, which is so personal from someone who had been one of the biggest stars in the world for around thirty years at that point.
Ja: The Clash. There’s a sense of chaos on their live albums that would be so exciting to be a part of.

Which subcultures have influenced you?
P: I guess the biggest one that springs to mind is the Beatnik era. The influence it’s had on writing and what it even means to be a writer is just unreal. Ginsberg and Kerouac are absolute legends.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
P: Probably Neil Armstrong! I’m a massive space nerd and obsessed with the idea of travelling to other planets. I guess I’d want to know if we really landed on the moon… ooh the conspiracy. Also, Nostradamus. He predicted loads of stuff from way back in the 16th Century and my mum is obsessed with him. I always wind her up when she mentions him, but secretly, I'm still a bit curious. I’d guess I'd like to suss him out haha.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?
Jo: Not so much a venue, but we once played in the back garden of a tiny terraced house in London. We were on this rickety stage made of pallets at the end of the garden with about two-hundred people crammed into the garden. People were looking down into the garden from the flats surrounding the house, people hanging out of the window to watch us, on the roof. The police turned up just after our set to confiscate our gear, but we got away with it. Someone from the council definitely got sacked the next morning.
Ja: Jimmy’s in Manchester, the stage was literally on the floor in the corner so you were never more than about six inches from the audience when it was full which created an intense atmosphere. The Liverpool Jimmy's is great too! The other would be The Supersonic in Paris. We’d never played outside of the UK before and we turned up to a full venue and there were people there from as far away as Russia! It also has a balcony overlooking the stage, which makes for such a good vibe.
P: The Zanzibar in Liverpool was our favourite venue to visit I reckon, but it closed last year! It had such an incredible atmosphere and the best sound I’ve ever heard in a small venue.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
P: Kate Bush. I remember the first time I heard 'Wuthering Heights', it just blew my mind. She created a genre!