Why Polyphia’s Tim Henson Thinks It’s ‘Not Really Cool’ to Be in a Metal Band

Tim Henson, a guitarist in the burgeoning instrumental prog-rock act Polyphia, recently opined why it's "not really cool to be in a metal band."

Henson (pictured above, seated) said as much while promoting Remember That You Will Die, the latest album from the Texas-based quartet signed to Rise Records. Earlier this year, Polyphia captured the metal scene's attention when their drummer expertly overcame a monitor malfunction that tested the group's rhythmic dexterity.

But that musical win evidently wasn't on Henson's mind in an interview last week. Instead, he offered his reasoning for why playing in a metal band isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"It's not really cool to be in a metal band because they don't make any money," the guitarist told Guitar.com before criticizing solo-heavy guitar music.

"Literally every guitar-centered thing is just solos on solos on solos," Henson added. "We've certainly done records that were solos on solos on solos, but between them we actually had hooks."

That said, Henson asserted that Polyphia "take inspiration from anything. If you were to take away the guitars on the past few records and just listen to the drums and bass, they're just playing beats, whether they're trap beats or future bass beats."

He continued, "If you were to take the guitars off and then add vocals to what's playing, it would just sound like whatever genre of music it is we're doing. The guitar is the only guitar-y thing about Polyphia: the rest is just humans playing programmed parts."

Polyphia are on tour now. See all the dates here.

Polyphia feat. Steve Vai, "Ego Death" (Music Video)