Polyphia’s Tim Henson addresses comments on his looks: “I’m kind of used to it at this point”

Polyphia’s Tim Henson has addressed the negative comments he receives about his appearance in an interview with Herman Li.

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In response to a discussion on the DragonForce guitarist’s ShredTalk YouTube show about the perception of what a metal musician is supposed to look like in comparison to Henson and the sentiment that Henson is not “macho enough for metal”, the guitarist described some of the comments that have been made about him, sharing, “I definitely get a lot of really nasty comments. I see shit like, ‘Oh, there goes the transgender skeleton again.’ And like, ‘This guy is cross-dressing,’ whatever the fuck else. All [of] the most homophobic, weird transphobic stuff.”

The insults usually followed backhanded compliments, Henson said, explaining, “It’s like, ‘Yeah, this guy can play but he spends more time on his makeup than he does this.’ Whatever. I’m kind of used to it at this point.”

Henson went on to explain that he views appearance as a “strong tool” for self-expression, explaining that if a person can detach themselves from what people say or think about them, then they’re free to do whatever they want. He concluded, “And I encourage all those people who have to comment something negative about the way somebody else looks to look inward and maybe think like, ‘Hey, are you expressing yourself as much as you want to?’”

“And, if not, maybe try it sometime because it feels good and maybe you won’t feel the need to shit on somebody else for expressing themselves. Because it’s getting closeted.”

Henson previously shared that he views Polyphia more as “composers” as opposed to “guitar players” these days, stating, “The guitar is a means to an end, the end being good music” before adding, “The average music listener and enjoyer probably won’t give a shit about the things guitarists do.”