Interview: Portugal. The Man

Portugal. The Man
ALBUM: “The Satanic Satanist”
LABEL: Equal Vision Records

Alaska natives and Microsoft Word grammar flipper-offers “Portugal. The Man’s” fourth LP, “The Satanic Satanist,” is by no means a large departure from the type of rainbow-colored, soul-infused pop of their former works. But they’re OK with that; they just want to make tunes that reflect the oldies radio-inspired sing-alongs of their childhoods.
A&E chatted with vocalist/guitarist/lyricist John Baldwin Gourley , avoiding the most obvious question (“What does your band name mean?”*) and instead accidentally unleashing the musician’s love for The Beatles , which, as it turns out, is vast.
If “The Satanic Satanist” was to your band’s career what one of The Beatles’ albums was to theirs, which would it be?
I guess it would be closest to “Revolver.” It’s dark at times, but really it’s just a collection of songs. It’s not the concept album that album “Abbey Road” turned out to be, and it’s not crazy s---like the “The White Album .”
Honestly, when I came down to it, we talked about The Beatles so much when we put this album together, just because they really focused on what everybody was trying to do. Everybody was trying to pull off these crazy psychedelic sounds and forgetting the one thing necessary to the music, which was the songs.
[Long discussion about The Beatles …]
The Beatles gave everybody pop songs with substance; there was a history to every song. They told stories about their lives, and they said what needed to be said. Those songs were so huge for a kid, to imagine these scenes that were playing out. It’s not often you find a lyricist in a band that can write songs as well and a songwriter being able to write lyrics. It’s a weird handoff to be handed both.
Being from Alaska, are you asked to explain Sarah Palin all the time?
We are from obviously different scenes. We don’t run with the same crowd. Alaska being the place that it is, you know the groups; you know that person. You know people that are exactly like her, you know where she’s coming from.
The thing I compare it to the most is the dad of one of my best friends growing up. He is the type of guy that read his kid The Book of Revelations before bed.
Speaking of dads, you originally considered the name “Portugal. The Man” for a book about your father. Can you summarize one hypothetical chapter for this book?
There was a point when I gave my dad a tape recorder and had him record all these stories; he has a really great gift for telling stories. We gave him a tape recorder, and he’s hidden the tapes somewhere. I wanted to take his stories and make a character out of it, make it fictional. Now I feel like it’s more of a family thing.
I hear you guys travel by van rather than bus. What is your van like?
We had a van that was the worst piece of s--- I’ve ever known in my life. It broke down every tour we did and cost us thousands of dollars to fix every couple weeks. We have a new one that does really well. After touring as much as we have and making no money for this long, the idea of spending 30, even 20 thou’ a month on a bus is out of reach and almost unnecessary.
What is one of your favorite albums this year?
Fever Ray [a project of Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife] is so amazing — so, so good. It’s one of those things you really can’t define. Hearing it with the wrong reference points gives you the wrong impression of it. I first heard The Knife with the wrong reference point and it made me think of techno, but when you get into it, it’s metal, it’s punk rock. It’s — in such a classy way — the darkest thing I’ve ever heard, but also it’s light and it’s beautiful. She really has a way with songs and sounds and a crazy way with songs.
Both Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion” and Dirty Projectors’ “Bitte Orca” are being called the albums of the year. Are you a fan of either?
You know, we actually just listened to both. Dirty Projectors live is so amazing. I think it’s a really great movement; it’s something new. It’s so hard to create something new.
I don’t know if it’s something that I necessarily connect with on the sort of level I connect with albums. That comes from a Beatles kid.
* Gourley’s response when Emotionalpunk.com asked the question: “I've already answered this like four times in the last week. [pauses] Portugal is a man's name as “Ziggy Stardust” is David Bowie ... but the country is representing a group of people — and the band is not just one person ...”