The Polyphonic Spree

The Polyphonic Spree is a three-piece minimalist goth/avant-garde band founded by noted despot and Church of Satan deacon Tim DeLaughter. DeLaughter, along with his wife, Paris Hilton, and roving gambler Toby Halbrooks formed the band in 1965, in response to the growing effects of hippies. The Spree is the arch-nemesis of Marilyn Manson. The band's name is derived from the original professions of the trio, who originally stole cellular phones.

The Music

The Spree's music consists of minimalist arrangements featuring vocals reminiscent of Lou Reed. Influenced by artists like Village People, Barbara Streisand, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Barry McGuire, their dissonant harmonies are painful to hear, and Tim has started wearing his goat-fur roobe on stage, which has generated protests from PETA. Each song by The Spree is very repetitious and the minimalistic production leaves a hollow and dreary mood, and the Spree fans dance around in a hypnotic trance.

• "Blot out the sun"
• "Stalk the day"
• "Solider Squirrel"
• "Drop me now"
• "It's all a nightmare"
• "The Fool Becomes a Fool"
• "Suicide is a-ok"
• "Hey, it's the sun, and it makes me Blind"
• "Follow the day and go to the Sun"
• "A Very, Very Long day"
• "Overblow your Balloon"

DeLaughter's vocals are accompanied by CornMo's accordion and Halbrooks's howling (resembling his mother's vocals, an instrument that mechanically huffs kittens in an attempt to imitate the sounds of the theremin, which Halbrooks was too cheap to buy. These three musical forces combine to produce what has been described as "the most horrible sound on Earth, even worse than Jandek".

Band News:

• There are several additional members: Fredie Fastfingers (snapping), and Genesis P Orridge (is he a choir girl or choir boy ? you decide), Corn Moe (Accordion), Jay Jennings has put down his trumpet and taken up the bagpipe.
• Watch for Audrey Easley to appear on the TeleTubbies episodes 187 and 188 - she'll be in the bunny suit (don't let Nu-Nu play that Queen song).
• TVT reports the final sales report for the record: the Fragile Navy, 455 CDs sold.
• Daniel Huffman has been working out actively, in hopes of joining the the Martial arts group Sideswipe.
• Rick, Ricky, Tamara, and Buffi will be backing up Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell (Air Supply) on their upcoming record, "I'm all out of Paper"
• The Polyphonic Spree Christmas party promises fun for all. Special guest this year will be William Hung, King Diamond, and Kelly Clarkson.

Watch the upcoming VH1 special "Where are they Now". There will be a special on the current and former Spree members. Thus will be a weekend marathon, running from Friday at 8pm until Sunday at 11pm. The 51 hour special will be fairly complete, but due to time constraints and commercials, the show will only show about 30 second interviews with each former member.

2008 has promise for soundtrack appearances: "Toesucker", "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", "ER - The Musical", "The Tony Blair Witch Project"

and be sure to watch upcoming TV appearances

• Joe Butcher will appear next month playing Jack Twist in The Brokeback Mountains TV series .
• VH1 Behind the Music spacial on Annie Clark and St. Vincent.
• Matt Bricker has signed up to be a contestant on America's got Talent's 3d season.
• The Love Boat reunion episode (Nov 2017), watch for the cameo appearance of CP and Jennifer

The Albums

The First Death Of The Polyphonic Spree

The Spree's first album was characteristically lighter in style than those which followed it. It included the song that would bring The Spree closer to fame than they would ever come again: "Blot Out The Sun". It was used by Boyd Rice in his campaign to market "Arian Pride", pure-white Volkswagen Beetles. Its video, which consisted of the iconic image of DeLaughter sitting alone in a dark room, instantly reached the number 1 position on MTV. The remaining songs on the album dealt with similar subject matter, such as "Mourn", "Mister Blue ... Sky", "Did you Steal my Copperphone", and "Mind Games Cabaret". However, the album's final track, "A Long Way To San Jose", was a half-hour long prog rock song similar to those of King Crimson. The Spree's fans were thrilled, and they'll buy anything that the band puts out. (Even the "Wait 3" CD single)

Together We Sink

The Spree's second album was created in a secret government laboratory as part of VH1's Music As A Weapon program. It increased the intensity and rage already present in the Spree's work with such songs as "Fold Me Now", "Suitcase Falling", and "The Fool Is Still a Fool". On this album, Halbrooks and Teasley used vocal variants of the cat-gutter which instead goats, sheep, and emo kids as their unfortunate ingredients. The album was panned by critics, and sold a total of 21 copies in the United States, all to members of DeLaughter's congregation. However, it did reach number one in Falkland Islands top 40 charts, and remained there until it was forced off by the duo of Glenn Danzig and Diamanda Galas covering "Stand by Your Man".

Nose-Picker

The Spree's most recent effort was created as the soundtrack to the 2012 Keanu Reeves movie "Nose-Picker", which dealt with the growing issue of Scamboogery in inner cities. It is on this album that The Spree reclaimed some of their appeal in the United States, particularly with the centerpiece of the soundrtrack, the "Nightmare Trio". In this remarkable series of pieces, Toby and Rickey made cameos (Brian dressed as a woman in the airport scene and is credited as "Briana Teasley"), which allowed each of her organs to produce a different tone when activated. This eventually resulted in Hilton's nose surgery and now looks like Jamie Farr. The critics panned the movie as being "trite and predictable, though altogether the best thing possible for The Spree". After this incident, DeLaughter began to wear handkerchiefs on their stage robes and a Texas emblem on their sleeves.

Current Work

The Spree is currently working on a new album, tentatively titled "Get up Real Slow". Inside sources have reported that Halbrooks's cat-gutter vocals and the choir has disposed of the risers and will all dance on stairmasters during the show. "Love in Alcatraz", "Comfortably Dumb", and "Solider Girl (A love song to Lynndie England)" are also expected to be on the new release. Some Spree members have recorded the opening track for the updated Victor Hugo story "Weeds" .