Jun 15 2026, 9.34am / Features
Dear Joey and Brooke, What a wild ride! I just wanted to write to express …
Right off the back of the massive Super Chon Bros Tour 2, Polyphia bassist Clay Gober is prepped and ready for further domination. “It was a really fun crowd to practice on,” he says of Polyphia’s time under Chon, “because the fans are so fun and fun-loving. I could pretty much say anything other than ‘Fuck you,’ and they’d laugh and be about it. It’s fun.
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“We had a dozen wall of deaths going on on this tour, some real metal shit, dude. We’re having fun with it.”
Fun has been, and continues to be, the word that best describes Polyphia’s operation. When the Texan djent prodigies put out their latest single, G.O.A.T, they made something of a sarcastic jab at themselves. “It was like, a meme joke that like, we’re a metal band or something,” says Gober, “I don’t know if anyone’s listening but no, we’re not a metal band.
“We’re having fun doing metal shit, and like, bringing that energy of hard rock vibration to like, music that bumps.”
From what Gober describes, their summer tour with Chon was a blast, and though he’s sad it’s over, there’s a few perks to be had from the little break he’s having right now. “I’m actually drinking more water now than I am tequila,” he says bluntly. “I’m in a good place, feeling it out, this whole health thing. It’s crazy, I’m telling you, this water shit is crazy – we’re made of water!
“I’ve been waking up sober lately,” Gober jokes, “It’s bizarre.” Hopefully Polyphia won’t get too used to the feeling of being well-hydrated and having the clarity of a non-inebriated mind, because pretty soon they’ll be out here on tour for the very first time with fellow instrumental/djent/prog demon Intervals, aka Aaron Marshall. What the two bands are in for when they rock up in September is a nation who know how to drink – they’re going to want to keep up. “I guess I’ll have to practice,” Gober says, “I dunno, maybe I’ll keep a clean slate so I can get nice and fucked and I can fall from really high, y’know? Get as healthy as I can so I can just drop. No parachute,” Gober finishes, giggling knowingly.
“I love a small-ass intimate show, I fuck with that really hard, where one guy can be crowd-surfed from one wall to another with too much time expended. As we play, the goal obviously is to get those crowds a little bigger each time.”
[CLAY]
Bring it. From festivals in the States to the down and dirty stages of Australia, it’ll be interesting to see how those unlikely walls of death Gober recently witnessed will worm their way into the intimate locations Polyphia are playing here. In the four years since the release of their debut album, Muse, Polyphia have had their share of diversity in venues. From big and small, Gober has witnessed the crowd play out in many different ways, depending on how much space they have to kill each other. “The size and sheer mass of a crowd is obviously a factor, but like, some of the craziest crowds I’ve ever played in front of were about 300 people.
“I love a small-ass intimate show, I fuck with that really hard, where one guy can be crowd-surfed from one wall to another with too much time expended. As we play, the goal obviously is to get those crowds a little bigger each time.
“But honestly, I don’t give a fuck, just as long as people have a good time. That is my mission for 45 minutes a day on tour.”
Good times guaranteed, then, when Polyphia are here with Intervals. The second tour Polyphia ever did was with Intervals and The Contortionist. “That was when we met Aaron [Marshall],” Gober says, “He introduced us to a lot of tour lingo. I don’t know if you’ve heard the word ‘shot’ before. That’s a big one.
“Let’s say I wake up, roll out of my bunk. My lips are chapped, my tongue feels like a cotton ball. There’s food stuck to my face, my hair looks like shit. I roll out of bed, put on some flip flops [thongs], in my underwear, no shirt, walk out and have a cigarette.
“Say someone walked up to me and said, ‘So Clay, you are so fucking shot right now, buddy,’ and I would be, like, ‘Goddamn right I am!’ So that’s ‘shot’, down, burnout, shot. That’s one of the key things touring with Intervals has brought us.”
It’s good to feel like one is down with kids. “Yeah dude, it’s a thing.”
“And on a more serious note,” Gober has taken the helm, and it’s entertaining to listen to him, “Aaron was actually sick enough to take us out to Europe last winter, and we got to see all kinds of crazy shit across Europe which was super sick. Touring with Intervals is fun as hell, his band are a nice bunch of dudes.”
Gober knows how to tell a tour story, that’s for sure. On learning Hysteria are prepped to chat with Intervals, Gober wants Marshall to be reminded of their fun times, offering forward a trigger word coated by an evil cackle. “Just tell him I said ‘Amsterdam.’ He will know! Oh, he will know!”
Catch Polyphia with Intervals 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+)
