Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Portugal. The Man
“It comes up all the time,” John Gourley says via telephone when I ask him to explain the name of his band. They call themselves “Portugal. The Man.” “It’s pretty off the wall, but at the time when we were coming up with a band name it made perfect sense to us.” Gourley says they wanted to give the band a “larger-person feel, like Ziggy Stardust or Sgt. Pepper.” I feel sheepish. At first I actually thought that “Portugal. The Man” was a dude, much the way my parents thought Jethro Tull or Pink Floyd were the names of actual persons and not entire bands.
Gourley is 27 and grew up in Alaska. “We had rabbit ears for our television antenna,” he says. “We lived out in the middle of nowhere — the most random places — because of my father’s work. We spent a lot of time in the car on long drives, just to get anywhere. We listened to oldies rock on the car radio, and the most-played group on oldies rock radio is the Beatles.” Hence one of Gourley’s influences. “It’s kind of a cop-out because everybody listens to the Beatles, but I love every album.” He says Abbey Road is his favorite.
Portugal’s sound is experimental avant-pop rock with a smattering of soul. “When I was in high school and first starting to drive by myself, I listened to Wu Tang in the car, and I recognized their soul and R&B roots. They took the best and chopped it up and made music that transcended all that.”
Gourley says he finally left Alaska when he turned 21. That’s when he began touring with his band. “Up until then,” he says, “I was too shy to play music.”
RX Bandits headline.
PORTUGAL. THE MAN, Soma, Saturday, August 30, 8 p.m. 619-226-7662. $7 advance; $13 door.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Portugal. The Man
Portugal. The Man
“It comes up all the time,” John Gourley says via telephone when I ask him to explain the name of his band. They call themselves “Portugal. The Man.” “It’s pretty off the wall, but at the time when we were coming up with a band name it made perfect sense to us.” Gourley says they wanted to give the band a “larger-person feel, like Ziggy Stardust or Sgt. Pepper.” I feel sheepish. At first I actually thought that “Portugal. The Man” was a dude, much the way my parents thought Jethro Tull or Pink Floyd were the names of actual persons and not entire bands.
Gourley is 27 and grew up in Alaska. “We had rabbit ears for our television antenna,” he says. “We lived out in the middle of nowhere — the most random places — because of my father’s work. We spent a lot of time in the car on long drives, just to get anywhere. We listened to oldies rock on the car radio, and the most-played group on oldies rock radio is the Beatles.” Hence one of Gourley’s influences. “It’s kind of a cop-out because everybody listens to the Beatles, but I love every album.” He says Abbey Road is his favorite.
Portugal’s sound is experimental avant-pop rock with a smattering of soul. “When I was in high school and first starting to drive by myself, I listened to Wu Tang in the car, and I recognized their soul and R&B roots. They took the best and chopped it up and made music that transcended all that.”
Gourley says he finally left Alaska when he turned 21. That’s when he began touring with his band. “Up until then,” he says, “I was too shy to play music.”
RX Bandits headline.
PORTUGAL. THE MAN, Soma, Saturday, August 30, 8 p.m. 619-226-7662. $7 advance; $13 door.
Comments