Jun 15 2026, 9.34am / Features
Dear Joey and Brooke, What a wild ride! I just wanted to write to express …
Amsterdam. The word is a message uttered by Polyphia’s Clay Gober to be passed onto Intervals, aka Aaron Marshall.
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Want to know what goes on when Intervals and Polyphia tour together? Amsterdam, as Gober said, would be a trigger for Marshall to share some juicy details.
Marshall erupts into laughter, saying, “I don’t know how much I’m allowed to divulge about that!” We can only assume Marshall has a free pass given Gober said, ‘He’ll know what I mean.’ “That’s a multifaceted statement!” Marshall cries with a smile.
“So here’s the thing, right–the Polyphia guys absolutely love to enjoy life, as it were, and Amsterdam is probably the place you can do that the most, so … I really don’t know how much I’m allowed to say but we really did have the best time that day, and Clay, he definitely had the best time that day!”
Interviewing Intervals and Polyphia is a tennis slash banter match. And try as we might, it’s a game no one besides them will understand. “I’d rather tell the story about Hamburg,” Marshall says, “but I’m probably not allowed to say that one either. Let’s just say somebody got a stiletto thrown at them!” he guffaws.
There’s a lot of madness and mayhem to be had from two of the biggest acts in djent-prog out on the road together, even if we’ll never be privy to the slapstick antics that occur offstage. Hopefully, though, Australian fans will be subject to their own fun when Intervals returns on tour this September, bringing Polyphia out for their first stint Down Under. “This’ll be my second time taking [Polyphia] somewhere and popping their cherry,” says Marshall. “We’ve had a lot of firsts together—well, their first’s and me being around to witness it.”
It’s not just this friendship between Intervals and Polyphia that is compatible and complementary, it’s the music as well. Marshall doesn’t consider Polyphia his supports, saying this tour almost feels like a co-headline arrangement. “That’s how we arrived at it,” says Marshall, “It makes sense.
“It’s gonna be super fun, crazy high energy. We just did it for a month in Europe, it’s gonna be good vibes, the music is very complimentary …”
This time around, Intervals are on the bill for far more intimate venues. Though Marshall’s brand of instrumental/djent/prog-rock has an incredibly dominant sound, there are more personable aspects he looks forward when comparing a performance in a 200-capacity venue with a 10,000 person festival. “I like both for different reasons,” says Marshall. “The big fests are really cool, but there’s something disconnected or dissociative between the energy on stage and what’s being felt in the crowd.
“The more intimate shows are definitely the rowdier, the more unique, more interactive, because the energy on stage is like symbiotic with the energy in the crowd. They’re big on that, I’m big on that, like, I feed off that shit with my banter.
“If you look up the definition of djent and listen to any of us, we’re actually pretty far from it.”
[AARON]
“Australia was one of the highlights of my entire touring career at this point,” Marshall gushes. “It was September 2016 and we had just finished seven weeks of Europe. I seem to arrive in Australia feeling like a zombie!”
The energy Marshall speaks of, the vibe he shares with his audiences, is likely going to work like a Valium for him to get through his crazy touring schedule. “Yeah, Valium, or insert-any-other-stimulant-here!” he laughs.
In the two years since Intervals were last here the djent movement has blown up in a big, way, largely down to Interval’s material and bands like Polyphia. “While what I’m doing, and others like me are doing, came from that, while it is niche it’s broader than that now,” says Marshall. “I think the notion of guitar-centric, instrumental driven, progressive rock is more so the umbrella this exists under now.
“I think djent was the moniker that most kids associated with the movement early on because of hype from bands like Periphery and their contemporaries, and of course early Intervals–where I came from and how I built this whole thing definitely came from that.
“My sound during my set will meander between shades of the early stuff and then flow into what I’ve been doing since The Shape And Colour [2015], which is definitely an evolved approach. It’s got elements of those things but it’s not as tied to that particular movement.
“If you look up the definition of djent and listen to any of us, we’re actually pretty far from it.
Indeed, Clay Gober described Polyphia’s music as ‘the most not metal, metal’, a statement that Marshall says isn’t wrong. Under the progressive moniker, which makes a lot more sense when we talk about the output from bands like Intervals and Polyphia, it’s a no-holds bar. “We’re just making guitar-centric music that’s influenced by the things we like, it’s portrayed and rooted in progressive rock and metal, but [Polyphia] are channelling guitar, virtuoso type playing over trap beats, with the attitude of all the things they like.
“Whereas me, I’ve always had a rhythmically angular approach, so whether it’s too down and aggressive or whether it sounds like djent back in the day, it’s like I’m channelling really infectious, almost pop-driven single note melodies over the top of what honestly feels like I’m channelling all the cool pop-punk stuff I listened to in high school.
“At the end of the day, Clay’s not wrong–it’s the least metal metal. Its delivery is aggressive and to the average person it sounds like metal, but it’s way more nuanced than that.”
Catch Intervals with Polyphia this September:
Fri 21 September // Amplifier Bar // Perth (18+)
Sat 22 September // Corner Hotel // Melbourne (18+)
Sun 23 September // Bald Faced Stag // Sydney (18+)
Mon 24 September // The Brightside // Brisbane (18+)
