Wasilla, Alaska-hailing, Portland, Oregon-based experimental rock band Portugal. The Man is one of the most prolific touring and recording groups on the road today. Since 2006, the quartet has put out a new album every year, and is currently on tour in support of their latest record, American Ghetto, which was released March 2 of this year. In April, Portugal. The Man signed with Atlantic Records, the same label that fostered Led Zeppelin’s rise to fame. “It’s amazing when you think where we came from. We didn’t play venues in Alaska, we played in our parent’s garage,” explains frontman John Baldwin Gourley, who also creates the band’s visual art. Before his cell phone died, Gourley chatted with OffBeat as he wandered the streets of Winnipeg, Canada.

 

First of all, thanks for taking the time to talk. How are you?

I’m alright. Actually, you know what, I’m lost. I’ve become completely lost at this point. I figured I’d go for a walk in Winnipeg, and I followed the directions that our tour manager gave me to the cool part of town that I need to go check out. I followed the directions to a point, and then I just kind of walked a different direction. And now I’m like in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea where I’m at, and I’m easily three miles, at this point, from the venue.

What were you planning to do today before you got lost?

Well, I was going to get breakfast. I was just kind of wandering. I wake up early every day. No matter what time I go to bed, I get up at seven, eight, nine o’clock. I just wanted to walk, I guess.

What was it like growing up in Alaska, and how did your upbringing impact the music that you make?

We moved around quite a bit growing up, lived in all kinds of places. We were actually just talking about this last night with the Primus guys. We’re out on tour with Primus right now. We just had some pretty amazing experiences. I lived on the Kenai River at one point. If you don’t know, it’s just this massive bright blue river. You’ve never seen anything like it. It’s just such a brilliant blue. It actually looks pretty ridiculous to see in the middle of Alaska, in the middle of all these trees. The salmon would come up every year, and the river would just be packed full of these red salmon. I remember, I was in third grade at the time, so I was a pretty small kid, and these salmon were just absolutely massive for me. The rivers were so packed that we could literally walk in and grab salmon and carry them out. It was just really funny things like that that we did growing up, just all over the place. And I think the one thing that tied it all together, from Cooper Landing to Wasilla to Chignik to Healy and Fairbanks, all the different places we lived, was oldies music, oldies radio. There was this one station in particular that we always listened to. It was like our family’s soundtrack, which was basically some Rolling Stones, but mostly Motown and The Beatles. We just always, always listened to this music.

When I was 14, we ended up just staying in Wasilla, just for the sake of going to school, which didn’t last long. I really despised school for whatever reason, and was home-schooled at a certain point. I really tried to stick it out, but it just wasn’t for me. I think school is very important, by the way. I was really, really painfully shy growing up, and still am in the right situations, but I’ve gotten better over the years. Obviously, playing in a band forces you to be in those situations constantly, and eventually, you just kind of get over it.

I’m going to let you know too, this phone may die, and I walked so fucking far, that it might not work again.

Thanks for the heads up. Was high school any different?

I had a fucking great high school experience. My friends all listened to the Pixies and The Clash, they were all these punk rock kids. I fucking never got into punk rock. I never got into the indie music of the ’90s, but I was lucky enough to have this really great pile of funk coming my way, which was Oasis and Nirvana, and I guess Blur, things along those lines. Really great, great music, and really great jamming albums. All those albums sounded good. Even if I wasn’t a big fan of the Pixies at the time, the albums always sounded great to me. I was born in oldies radio, I was born in Motown structures, these really perfect songs, so I was drawn to Nirvana and Oasis right away.

Your musical career never really took off until you moved to Portland. Why the move and why the jump into music?

My love for music was always there. I was really shy, and never wanted to sing or play guitar, really doing that stuff for other people, because I was doing it for myself. I think at one point or another, I put together a couple of songs, and I showed my friends, who had moved to Portland. This is right out of high school that they had moved to Portland, to pursue music. One day they just called me, and asked me if I wanted to come down and visit. For whatever reason, I just had this crazy point in my life. I was really shy, never did anything very spontaneous at all. They asked me to come, and they asked me to sing for the band, so I flew down two days later and joined the band. Within the first month, we got signed to Fearless Records, where Portugal. The Man put out their first record. When that band broke up, I decided I just wanted to play music. I kind of fell into it, and it just seemed like it happened for a reason. There was a reason I fell into this, this is in my head anyway, there’s a reason this happened. I just continued doing it. I know now that there’s not necessarily a reason, I just fucking love music. I love working, and I fucking love doing things that I love. I just stuck with it, and it’s been really fun.

At this point in the conversation, Gourley’s cell phone died. It was later determined that after wandering aimlessly for some time, he eventually found his way back to the venue, and played his show later that evening. “At some point, I must have taken a wrong turn that lead me in the right direction,” Gourley explained. Catch Portugal. The Man tonight at One Eyed Jacks at 9 p.m. Chief and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band open.