|
We seriously doubt it, though we'd be lying if we said we hadn't wondered. There's definitely some "group think" happening on the band's "Together We're Heavy" album cover. Of course, Mom always told us not to judge a band by their robes, so we set out to find an accurate definition of a cult, then work backward to see if the 20-odd members of the Spree fit the mold. Yahoo! Reference defines a cult as: A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. So does the Spree
qualify? The group's official site compares them to a "Broadway revival" rather than a church or religious movement. And another quote from the site states, "The Polyphonic Spree is an ongoing experiment/family with one man's vision..." The "family" line sounds a bit suspicious, but 90% of companies describe themselves as a family these days, so who are we to judge? According to the definition, cult members also live in an unconventional manner. We didn't see any traces of that. In fact, lead singer and founder Tim DeLaughter enjoys a perfectly normal home life with a wife (just one), kids, etc. As far as we can tell, the Polyphonic Spree
is no different than any other musical group with a unique style of dress. They just happen to have a lot more members than KISS or Marilyn Manson.
|
