Polyvinyl are an indie-alternative, female-fronted six-piece from the UK, renowned for their immersive, concept-driven live performances. Since 2022, they have carved a unique path, blending sonic diversity with theatrical flair.

Who is in the band, and how did it get together?

So Polyvinyl formed in 2021. Me and John had been in bands previously and after the end of that one in early 2020 we took a bit of time and wrote some new songs. We did that online for a while with Ryan, who was also in the band at the time. By the time lockdowns cleared up, we got together. It was just the three of us, which was just drums, bass and guitar.

We decided when that last band ended that we wanted another guitar in. So we got Jake, who had been a friend of mine for years at that point, and he’d always played guitar, but he’d never been in a band before. At the time, John was the singer, and he wanted to move on from that to just playing bass. So we got Hannah in, who was the singer at the time. And then, yeah, we were as that version of the band for a while.

Then about a year ago, Ryan and Hannah moved on. We spent the summer looking for new people and we found Vlad for lead guitar, Annabelle who is a friend of a friend to sing, and then we added a keyboard player and that’s Kris; I met him on a video editing course.

It was all just coincidence how we met, and it’s gone really well.

So in total there’s Annabelle who sings, there’s John who plays bass, Vlad lead guitar, Jake rhythm guitar, Kris on keys and me, Jamie, I play the drums. 

I love the name Polyvinyl. It reminds me a little of Elastica. What does the name say about the band and its music?

Me and Jake actually came up with a band name before Jake was even in the band, which is quite funny.

We used to go to the barrier at gigs, and to do that we had to go early. So we’d spend a lot of the wait killing time by making up games.

One of those things we did was bad band names. Jake had said “cystic fibrosis”, and I’d said “polyvinyl flooring”, and I went actually, oh, polyvinyl is not that bad a name. I might keep that. Sounds a bit 80s. And that’s the direction that we were going in.

So I think it describes us quite well – 80s-ish!

Your press materials mention that some of your idols have reached out since the release of your single “Running from Home.” Who are they, and what do you love about them and their music?

The main one is Alex Kapranos, who is the front man of Franz Ferdinand, commented on one of our videos and said he had listened to the band and he loves what we’re doing, which is amazing. I’ve loved Franz Ferdinand for so many years.

I love the way they champion grassroots artists and smaller artists as well and Alex, although the band is from Glasgow, he lived in South Tyneside, which is where we live, so there’s a nice local link there.

When I was about 14, the first song of theirs that I really liked was Stand on the Horizon, which is the one that has a line about South Shields Metro Station, and that’s near me! A lovely local tie.

That single has also led to some good opportunities for you. Can you talk about them?

Yes and no haha.

So next week, on Wednesday the 25th we’re supporting Congratulations, which is a band that I really, really like, and I’m so pleased to be playing with them. [Editor’s note: This interview took place in February.]

That opportunity would have never happened if we weren’t releasing this music now. 

As well as that, we’ve had a few festival slots. We’re in talks with a few people that I can’t quite talk about yet, but we’re trying to make 2026 quite a big year for us, and so far I’m really pleased with how it’s going.

And hopefully by the summer, bringing the EP out early May and then having summer to do festivals and stuff, hopefully we’ll be in a really good position.

You’ve described your other recent single, “Underground Girl,” as a “frustrated reflection of your first singe, “Running from Home.” What do you mean by that?

Running From Home and Underground Girl are the two tracks on the this EP that lyrically, and I guess musically too, I had quite a big hand in what the songs are about.

So for both of them I did most of the lyrics, they were both written back to back.

After we did Running From Home, which is like a song about looking back on where you were and looking at how far you’ve come, we were like, “oh, this is the best thing we’ve ever done”.

And so to follow up to that, we had the instrumental for Underground Girl, but it didn’t have any lyrics. And so I wrote a song that was about being in a situation and really wanting to be out of it, and wanting so much better for your life – which is really about how I feel about the band and about music, where I want like, I have such a desire for this bigger life, but it’s not there right now.

I was trying to write it like a “shout at the sky”, kind of, song from a musical kind of thing, lyrically, but with the music being a bit more alternative/grungy/shoegaze-y. But, yeah, so that’s what I mean by a frustrated reflectionis: it’s almost like Running From Home is looking back on the situation, but Underground Girl is looking forward to being out of it, which links back into the concept of the EP which follows a protagonist (Underground Girl is the second track, and Running from Home is the closer so it thematically makes sense.)

The instrumentation of “Underground Girl” includes a glockenspiel. Did someone play a real glockenspiel for the track, or is it a sample? Not that it matters a whole lot either way. I’m just curious! 

Yeah I brought a Glockenspiel in!

My background is orchestra percussion stuff, so I have access to a lot of daft things. Triangle, tambourine, but then like, bongos, congas, timpani. (Not that I could transport timpani very easily.)

So I borrowed the Glockenspiel for the studio because we originally used a sample in the demo for it, and then we wanted to re-record the whole song (we changed the key). I brought it along and since Kris plays keyboard, I said it makes sense for you to play the Glockenspiel.

It’s actually double tracked, so towards the end of the song when you hear like that rise before the ending, there’s a chord there, two separate notes.

The glockenspiel gives the song a wall-of-sound feel. Do you have any favorite music producers?

That’s a hard one, because there’s so many amazing producers that are all so good in different ways.

First that comes to mind is Butch Vig from his Nirvana stuff – it’s amazing what he did and he was the first producer I knew by name.

Trevor Horn is another. The way he fixed Owner of a Lonely Heart, and all the stuff he did for himself too – amazing.

Brian Eno is another big one generally in the band. John’s Uncle Graham (from Wire) is close with Brian Eno, and Kris did a songwriting/production course thing with him – so collectively I think that’s probably the band’s favourite.

But I can’t not mention the amazing team we’re working with! Lisa, Paul, Katie – all amazing!!

Speaking of producers, you worked with Lisa Murphy on your latest tracks. What does she bring to your recording process?

First and foremost, she makes the process comfortable.

We’ve been in situations before where you’re pressured to get the work done, and if that’s not also comfortbale, you end up with a bad result, and Lisa knows how to have a laugh.

She’s very very skilled at what she does too, and isn’t afraid to give her thoughts, but I think that’s the most important thing.

And Paul Gregory mixed the tracks. What do you like about his approach to mixing? 

Ah Paul is immense! The stuff he’s done for LOTL is so unique, he’s a very very talented man.

I went to a talk in October where he talked about the production on their 2020 Mercury-nominated album, and it was so so interesting to hear his process, and how they did things before that too.

And he’s also not afraid to tell us when he thinks we’re wrong – and I’m so grateful for that.