The members of Mississippi Peace, Manning Welty, Tre Polk, and Tayler Polk, practice on Nov. 3, 2014. Photo by Zoe McDonald
Posters of past rock legends line the walls of Tre Polk’s upstairs room in Oxford. Blown up photos of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Nirvana stare at a drum set that sits in the corner along with the guitar amps that line the carpet.
This is the place where the members of Mississippi Peace, a band formed this summer from The University of Mississippi, prepares to practice.
The band consists of twin sophomores Tayler Polk playing drums and Tre Polk on guitar with junior Manning Welty playing bass.
Welty, of Dallas, Texas, started playing guitar in first grade and began playing bass in middle school. Tayler and Tre Polk of Magee, Mississippi, have been playing music together on various instruments since they were 7 years old.
The Polk brothers worked together in a band before the formation of Mississippi Peace as it is now. Welty was the latest extension to the group.
“I didn’t start playing with Tayler and Tre until this summer, so I’m the newest addition to the band,” Welty said. “(Tre) told me they needed a bass player one day and then we started playing.”
Their influences are a range of rock and blues legends such as The Doors, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix and The Allman Brothers Band. ‘90s rock influences also come through in their original music.
Mississippi Peace began playing covers, many of which were the songs of their influences, as well as their own music at their live performances.
This weekend the band will record in a studio run by Ryan Rogers. Until then, they practice and do some recording in the upstairs room in their house.
“We’ve recorded ourselves several times up here, which it doesn’t turn out too well, but it gets the raw stuff,” Tre Polk said. “So, we’re going to go record all the same songs and make it just better quality.”
The EP will include all original songs written by Tre Polk.
The posters on the wall of their upstairs room work almost as a timeline displaying the range of musicians the band draws inspiration from. Tre Polk said he focused on one artist, for the most part, during a given amount of time. Both Welty and Tayler Polk agree.
“What (Tre) tries to do is he tries to burn out a certain artist,” Tayler Polk said. “The Doors, he rode them out pretty hard. That was about three years ago, and then it was Led Zeppelin after that, then Jimi Hendrix and now, it’s the Allman Brothers.”
The band’s name, Mississippi Peace, is inspired by the Jimi Hendrix song “Peace in Mississippi.”
“I wanted something with Mississippi in it, and then I found that,” Tre Polk said. “I was really into Jimi Hendrix at that point.”
Mississippi Peace will play live next Thursday, Nov. 13, at Rooster’s Blues House.
