Polysics at The Clubhouse

By Jonathan McNamara

Something amazing happened at Clubhouse Music last night. In the old tales of concert-going I've heard of this mysterious phenomnenon called "interaction," but it wasn't until a group of Japanese musicians in orange jump suits with rectangular sunglasses took the stage at the Clubhouse that I witnessed it first hand.

Video courtesy of Taylor Pakula

Hiroyuki Hayashi (AKA Poly-1) was one of the shortest guys in the room, but on the stage he sent out an electric aura of excitement that was more than enough to have the crowd following his actions which seemed more like calistenics than rocking out at times. Polysics fans did jumping jacks. They clapped rhythms to beat of drummer Yano. They moshed but not because they were filled with rage or because Metallica told them to. They did it because the music told them to and they did it with smiles on their faces.

In their hour and a half set, The Polysics ran through most of their new album We Ate The Machine including "Moog is Love," "DNA Junction" and "I Ate The Machine" stopping only to converse with the crowd even if it wasn't in their primary language and came accompanied by energetic peace signs.

Each member has a unique personality that is portrayed subtly through their on-stage performance. Hayashi and Yano are the embodied energy source of the Polysics and are balanced by the too-cool-for-school Fumi on bass. Rounding out the band is Kayo who adopts a robotic persona complete with seemingly automated movement and a vox-box voice in many of the songs.

Through some alchemic process, the combined forces of wacky Japanese dance moves, quirky on stage personas and over the top new wave fury create in The Polysics live show a never-ending source of fun. As they headed off stage stopping only to say "Tempe...We'll see you again," we could only hope it won't be too long.