Round Table - PolyPhia / Covet

Meet the six-string anarchists who have taken it upon themselves to propel guitar back into the mainstream by obliterating the rulebook

- Michael Astley-Brown

If anyone tells you the guitar is dead, invite them along to a Polyphia or Covet show, and let them take in not only the age of the crowd but also the diversity. This isn’t your typical bunch of chin-scratching guitar types; the standing space is rammed with everyone from tracksuited hip-hop fans to teenage popsters and bearded metalheads. Both bands feature three of the most technical guitarists of their generation, yet they’ve managed to tap into audiences even the high priests of shred struggle to reach.

Because that’s exactly what these three players – Polyphia’s Tim Henson and Scott LePage, and Covet’s Yvette Young – are setting out to achieve: make the guitar relevant to the mainstream once more, by any means necessary. No guitar convention is safe in their relentless pursuit; these players draw more on rap and classical music than anything where a six-string takes center-stage.

So, when we got the three together for an all-encompassing chat, their conversation was bound to slay a few sacred cows. Yvette’s two-hand tapping technique treats the guitar like a piano, Scott deploys a metal upbringing over hip-hop grooves, and Tim hopes “guitar music dies a painful death” – bear with us on that one. Suffice to say, this is no ordinary guitar interview…

You’re all highly technical players; who inspired you to play the way you do?

Yvette Young: “I come from a classical piano background, so most of my heroes or idols are piano composers – I think the way I play and write is more informed by my classical upbringing and a lot of contemporary and modern composers.”