Polar States
Photo Credit: Nial Lea
Liverpool-based Polar States is a premier rock group with an infectious sound. They first began releasing music in 2016, and have since been consistently releasing top quality music. Songs like “Roads” and “2020” have received tens of thousands of streams across multiple platforms. Their 2019 EP All You Couldn’t See included some of their most popular songs to date, such as “Fade Out (of Here)” and “Lana”. And, after being featured on Spotify’s Hot New Bands and Fresh Finds: Rock playlists, they’re amassed over 9K monthly Spotify listeners and a quickly growing following. With considerable success under their belt and a host of new songs ready for release, they’re prepared to take over the rock world. We recently spoke with Polar States about how they started making music, the inspiration for their newest song “2020”, and more!
How did you start making music?
I’ve always been making music in one form or another. My grandad had this weird organ in his house and I was fascinated with it when I was a kid, even though I couldn’t reach the pedals. Then, one day, my dad turned up with a Stratocaster and a battered old guitar amp that someone had sold him on his lunch break at work. It was a few months before I plucked up courage to ask him if I could have a play. That was the start of the obsession.
What is the best thing about being a band?
It's a rollercoaster for sure, but the best thing is making music with your best mates and sharing the really good moments, like being backstage after you’ve played a massive gig, or going to the studio to listen to the mix of your next single. Rehearsing new songs is a lot of fun cause theres no real pressure and you can just mess around and see what happens.
Who’s your choice for a dream collab?
We all love so many artists from Lana Del Rey to Radiohead and everything in between so whilst it would be an honor to collab with anyone at that level, at the same time, we're pretty happy with just doing our own thing.
Let’s talk about “2020”. What was the inspiration for the song?
It was last October and I was getting ready to go to rehearsal. I had a bit of time to kill, so I picked up my acoustic and wrote “2020” in about 15-20 minutes, then we pieced it together that evening. I live in the center of Liverpool and my apartment overlooks a load of bars and clubs. It was a really busy night and I guess I was just thinking that there’s so much stuff going on in the world, it's no wonder people go out so much to find an escape. I’d originally intended to write a bigger chorus but when we demoed we all loved how it sounded, so we just left it as is! We obviously never knew just how relevant the song would become.
Who do you, as a band, owe your biggest thanks to?
We’ve had so much support so far, from our families, our fans, our manager and producer, radio presenters, press, the streaming services and everyone in our team. The list really goes go on and we’re just very fortunate that people are resonating with our music. We also owe a lot to our influences, who show you that in the face of adversity so much is possible!
Which song is your most personal? Can you explain to us its significance?
All of our tracks, whilst being rooted in really personal events and experiences, tend to shy away from being direct, because I personally love songs that allow the listener to apply their own story to. I don’t want you thinking about my ex, when you can be thinking about yours. Having said that, our next single has a really big narrative and a lot of our more personal songs haven’t been released yet!
Any future projects for fans to get excited about?
During lockdown we wrote around 30 new songs, so we’ve been busy and there’s some massive songs on their way. We’ve actually just finished off our next single, and we can’t wait to see how everyone reacts!
