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B Scar TV Podcast
How John Gourley Created Grammy Award Winning Music
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He grew up in the backwoods of Alaska. He came to Portland and lived out of his van to live out his dream and play his music. The man needs no introduction, but I'm gonna give him one anyways. John Gourley is the lead singer and guitarist of Grammy award-winning band Portugal the man. He pulled up to North Portland in a three-quarter pants sweatsuit with Burberry tights underneath and the state of Alaska snapback in some shades and we talked and we laughed and he played his music. I hope you all enjoyed this episode of Beast Guard TV with our very special guest, John Gordon. How did you do when you were a kid? Were you blasting the music?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say we listened. Well, I don't know, we grew up in the woods man, like we listened to a lot of music, but it was in a truck, you know, with my parents. It was like oldies radio. That's like all I heard growing up. It was like Motown and Elvis and Roy Orbison, like you, have a real appreciation for quality music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. No, I've always been a fan of like. The thing that always got me about listening to music like that, like the classics, motown especially is like how do you write a song like that in two minutes? You know, ain't no Sunshine Bill Withers. It's like two minutes.
Speaker 1:What do you mean? Write a song like that in two minutes?
Speaker 2:I don't understand. I didn't understand growing up how you could say so much in such a small amount. Tell a story in a sentence, Can't you do it? It's a real. That's always been my obsession.
Speaker 2:It's like how do you do that? That's always been my obsession. It was like how do you do that? Because, like I guess I, when I moved from Motown to like Wu-Tang, was kind of like the first thing that we heard. That was like like well, this is great. And like I remember hearing that for the first time and thinking like there was something so familiar about it because they're sampling. Their sample pool was of this era that was like there's only a handful of mics during that, that era that they're sampling. So they're sampling like all this, like soul and like r&b and this music, that I may not have known what the sample was, but I knew the sound of it. And then on top of it, it was just like a bunch of friends saying whatever they wanted to say oh yeah, and and like that art form to me was really like a really exciting break from like perfectly structured, perfectly written melody to like rhythmic melody and and double meaning and just the depth of the lyricism yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's interesting when you talk about like the oldies, like the bill withers, you know, uh, he's ain't no, ain't no, ain't no sunshine when she's gone, yeah, and packing so much meaning and substance into as few words as possible is really that's really an art form, like that's poetry right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a. I mean, that's a crazy art. I mean I've always found that really impressive. I find both sides of it Like say everything you want to say, like what do you have to say? Do it all, yeah. And like fit it all in, like that's equally exciting to me. Yeah, I mean I always thought of like rap to me growing up was like punk. I mean I listened to like Minor Threat and I mean we're like metal kids too, so we listened to like Pantera. And then rap to me was just like it's just metal and hardcore and punk. Yeah, it really is just like total free form, political, like powerful, it's everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you grew up in in alaska, yeah, right, so what? What was hearing that music that's coming from like the inner cities of la and new york and like hearing that, uh, growing up in alaska.
Speaker 2:I I thought about it all the time growing up because, like we would hear motown and things like this we had my dad brought the weirdest thing with us as we like travel around. My parents were dog sled mushers so they ran the Iditarod. They're like sled dog races, yeah, like thousand miles on sled dog, yeah. So we had dogs, no neighbors, nothing. But he always brought this encyclopedia set with us everywhere we went and I remember like flipping through these things, like there's like a music section and just kind of thinking about like like wow, this is so crazy, this music that's being made in london and in new york and la, like in dashville and all these different places, is ending up here in the woods. You know there's something real cool about that. Like I would look up and we got known light pollution. I'm just like looking at stars and listening to you know the Supremes and thinking about what it would be like to be in those places. Having never been right, it was kind of like a view into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you almost feel like you know it because you're like like, oh, I like, yeah, I like to hear what they're they're going through huh, yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a surreal experience, like, uh, almost magical, right, where you're there, there with you, or you're there with the musicians who's you know music that you're you're hearing, yeah, especially as you like process that, like as a kid too, you know, we're like, I mean that it just it's big.
Speaker 1:I remember when I was, when I was getting I don't know why this is reminding me of this story, but I used to have, um, or a friend had, one of those um like little, uh like interactive books where it came with a stylist and if, like you pressed on it, it would like say something, and it was like, uh, it was, uh, the country of the United States, right, and you'd like press on a state and they would say is oregon, population so and so million. And I remember as a kid being so awestruck that I was one of the mill, one of the million, you know, and it was like, and I don't know why, your story of like being in alaska hearing that music reminded me of my childhood, of just like pressing, you know the the whole country and like hearing the population and thinking like, damn, I'm one of those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Just little kids going like oh my God, there's more outside of my house. Yeah, Just realizing that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:For sure. Where are you at right now with from like touring standpoint or I know you talked about the Fortnite of being in the studio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm in the Fortnite portion of my recording where I just sit and I play Fortnite. We're kind of wrapping it up right now. Yeah, and we're in the lyric writing process, which, for every artist, is like every artist. I mean, I've worked with black thought, like I see how easily lyrics come to him. Uh, it's, it's like pulling teeth, like this portion of it, because you have talking about motown, like you have this limited amount of words you can fit in and like how do you tell that story? And like, how do you say something and how do you like get everything out within that? So it's, it's, it's that part of the process for me, like it's we've recorded a ton of music. We can always do that really quickly.
Speaker 2:Um, it's just trying to lock in or kind of feel. Whatever I'm feeling right now. It looks real I gotta be honest Like if, if it feels like things just move differently. Um, over the last like 10 years, like with social media, the way everything works, like it just seems like all of your emotions change from like week to week, like like everything you're taking in. You take in so much information. So it's Fortnite for me is turning it off.
Speaker 2:And it's going like? What am I thinking about? I'm just going to play for a minute and like gather my thoughts, cause we have a lot going on in our lives, like we. We have a 13 year old daughter now which is so nuts to me looking over. I mean I drive her to school every day and I, every single morning, I look over and go how are you so big? You know what it's ripped and comes from.
Speaker 2:Looking grown now, like you're as, big as your mom, crazy, yeah, and she's really funny and uh, I mean, I'm gonna be very real like it's she loves, like she loves kids movie soundtracks. So she loves like kid, like disney soundtracks. Yeah, I see, I seriously like I I drive her to school, I sing along with all of these songs, lindley miranda, like all of it, every lyric. I get to school and I drop her off and I leave and I'm going what the what does music sound like? I don't even know anymore. Like it's all just like these kids movie soundtrack sub.
Speaker 2:Like trying to break a little bit of that cycle too, because I love it. I gotta be honest, like I love singing the songs with her. Yeah, it's the most fun and I love the joy that you see in kids when they they hear songs like that, which for us was we had, we had a song get really big and I had never experienced that like I, like we've had kids at shows and things, but we had a song called like Pop and man. When I started seeing like Instagrams and like people posting like their kids, like dancing to that song, yeah, yeah, that feeling of like, yeah, I was that kid and like how cool to be just a little piece of like that kid's experience like getting to know music, yeah. So yeah, I think about that as I, as I sing along with the the coco soundtrack I was gonna ask you do you have a favorite?
Speaker 2:the Coco soundtrack is for you. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, uh, I just love all of it. I'm a nerd man like I like movies and I like music and it's. It's so fun that when I hear these, I think about Lion King and Aladdin and all these songs. Elton John wrote some of those songs.
Speaker 1:Those are some of the greats. You know what soundtrack I dug into recently? What's that? Remember? The Titans Really Incredible soundtrack. All right, I'm going to have to pull this up. Yeah, recently, what's that remember?
Speaker 1:the titans really, oh incredible soundtrack all right, I'm gonna have to pull this up, yeah, and it's uh, I think, because it was just such a like pivotal movie for me that like I can hear a song and like visualize the scene where that song starts and they're just classics. Um, like I don't know how many of the songs were actually made for the movie in the same way that, like on a like kids movie soundtrack there, you know, the songs for coco were made for the movie. Uh, remember the times. I feel like there was like just some picking out of like classics and putting it all together in the in the soundtrack. But it also made me start to think about the art of like choosing a song for a scene Like what is the best scene for when Herman Boone takes all of his team out for a 5 am run? Like what is the best song to pull from? That, I think, is the art form in itself.
Speaker 2:It absolutely is. You know, with all, with all that stuff, I it is such a skill. And to be able to get the song too, I mean to to break it down for people like you don't always get the song that you looked for. You know like they could hit me up and be like, hey, we have two grand or whatever for this song, or like it's, it's not enough, yeah, and you wouldn't hit me up, you'd hit my publisher, yeah, and I probably wouldn't even hear about it.
Speaker 1:It's interesting you'd be on the other side of like get it fielding those requests yeah, no, I don't, I wouldn't even know like my publisher would get it.
Speaker 2:I and I've definitely had situations like that where you're like, oh, I tried to get your song for this thing and like I wouldn't, even I wouldn't know, yes, because the publisher would say no, right. So it's like having that relationship, knowing what songs you want to pick. That's why people like Tarantino to me are, are so, and Paul Thomas Anderson and, uh, sofia Coppola, like these, like they're these really great directors that understand the value and the impact of that soundtrack, and Disney too, like they absolutely put the effort into those soundtracks, especially writing those originals, and it takes a lot of energy to do that. A lot of energy, yeah, to do that, um it. Tarantino is the one that like, first one that comes to mind, because that was a movie. I was probably too.
Speaker 2:I was definitely too young to watch pulp fiction when it came out, yeah, but my dad had seen it when he was.
Speaker 2:He was working, like he, because he would go away for work, and he came back home he said I really think you should watch this movie and I'm like, I'm a little kid and I remember watching it and hearing a lot of the songs that I heard on all these radio, seeing them put to scenes, that again I shouldn't be watching. But the contrast, yeah, that's exciting. Yeah, to me it's like when you hear a song out of context and it's like put into a whole new space. It it shows you the value of like album artwork, like I'll listen to something differently, like if, if it has like rainbows and unicorns on the cover, it could be the darkest, darkest music and you'd be like like I picture like face paint and like black hair and all these things, like that cover can change the way you listen to it and that's that's a fascinating thing about just putting all of these things together, all these different art forms together. Yeah, like film and music, that's kind of like a pairing made in heaven.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Typically, when we, when we'll start this conversation portion, we start with inspiration, and the Beast Guard TV podcast is all about inspiring listeners, viewers, uh, to pursue, you know, the dreams and uh goals and, whatever you know, live life to the fullest. So, and really leaning into stories with guests and myself to to share you know what's inspired us and uh, so for you, john, I've come a long way from you know, alaska, uh, you know, I thought 2002 was when you dropped your first album, right, you were 22 years old, uh, with anatomy of a ghost, anatomy of a ghost, yeah, the anatomy of a ghost.
Speaker 2:And now we're what, 23 years later, I'm curious what inspired you then and what's inspiring you now. And then I have to look back and think back then I so I grew up, I was really shy kid like I was really like painfully, painfully shy until I was like 25 years old. I'd put out records. I couldn't order food at restaurants, just even talking to like whoever was, like the wait staff like I couldn't, I couldn't really do it like I was always like I'd get flustered and music was always like an outlet for me that I I would make it in my bedroom, I would make it away from people and I had played a couple shows before we put out our first record. But really it was just it was probably more things like that was on the radio at that time, like it's oasis and nirvana, and just looking out and like I always wanted to write songs because those songs meant so much to me. Growing up I had no idea how you become a songwriter and it's funny like knowing more now like this would never would have worked. But I I sat down one day and I decided I was going to write three songs and I'm going to send them to labels. I don't want to be in a band, but I want to write for bands, so I want to write for Google, so I record these three songs. I set it around a bunch of labels, a handful right back, and of this handful I end up talking to a few people and they're like like, hey, we want to sign you. And one of them was this it was a rap label named castlevania, I don't know where, with a k. I don't know where they got castlevania, okay, with a k, that was one of the three that you, yeah, there's, like it was a rap label. I don't know where they got it. Castlevania, castlevania, okay, with a K. That was one of the three that you yeah, there was like it was a rap label. I was like whoa, this is kind of crazy. Like it's not, it's not rap, but it wasn't rock or like pop or anything either. It was just kind of like it was more like Beatles-y type stuff, okay, stuff I grew up on and the stuff I grew up on.
Speaker 2:And so I have a conversation with this person and this guy's like yo, we want to sign you. Guys, we want to sign you to the label. I'm like, well, I just want to write music. I don't really want to be in a band. They're like, well, no, we want to sign you, though. We want to prep this EP. I'm like, okay, okay, cool, we'll talk more.
Speaker 2:And I'm just like this shy kid in Alaska at this point. So I'm just, this is like right out of high school. I mean, I didn't graduate high school, I dropped out like ninth grade. So I've sent out this record. He tells me he wants to sign us. He's like, hey, I'm gonna call you next week. I want you to think about it. So I'm like, waiting for this call to come back and, uh, comes back around and we're we're chatting. And he's like, hey, so we want to sign you.
Speaker 2:I'd really like to talk to the girl that sings for the band and as, like an Alaskan kid, like I work, work, construction, like I'm a carpenter or grew up in the woods, like carrying a gun since I was a kid, I'm like, yeah, no, of course you could talk to the, the girl that sings, like I'll get a, I'll ever call you. And I'm like, well, never gonna talk to that person ever again. Like, yes, and it made me just as this as kid, feel like there's no way I shouldn't be doing this. He thinks a girl singing. It made me really self-conscious. Well, in the meantime I've decided I'm not going to make music anymore.
Speaker 2:That was really silly, I need to find a singer. In the meantime, some friends of mine, inregon, had also gotten this cd, okay, and they they called me up and it was just, you know. A few weeks have gone by. They call me and they say like, oh my god, I didn't realize you sang. Like I didn't realize you, you like, wrote music, you did any of this stuff because I was extremely shy. These are like band kids that I grew up like looking up to Wow, and they've moved to Oregon. They're like playing music, you know, professionally, like they're traveling and touring, they're doing all the things that I I never thought I would do.
Speaker 1:And they grew up with you and had no idea that.
Speaker 2:And they had no idea. I was surprised they knew who I was, if I'm being honest. Okay, but zach, the guy that taught me how to play bass, he plays in this band and they're all like, hey, you should come down and visit.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, okay, like I'm gonna do everything I can to pursue music and I just want to like hang out with these people like they're like the cool kids yeah I fly down and I realize after I get down here in oregon they've actually like learned how to play my songs and they've been singing them which I think might annoy somebody else. I was stoked because I'm shouldn't be singing, like, and this is sick. And they're like well, there's one of these songs we can't really sing. Our singer can't hit these notes because I sing so high. Will you come and play this show with us? They were playing a show.
Speaker 2:I'm like okay, one song, I'm not going to sing more than one. Like I, I really like anxious, like stage fright, like all of it. I go up and I sing like the one song, and they have another show. They're like hey, can you stay down a little bit longer? And, dude, we ended up getting signed off of our fifth show, like the fifth show I ever played down here at the paris theater. Like I remember where we were, like we're at the paris theater downtown, got signed by rise records. And now this is this alaskan kids, like idea of what the music industry is. It's like, oh, you go play shows, you get signed and this started in portland yeah.
Speaker 2:So, like they had my record, they started playing it had me come down and sing and then we got signed and it was like, okay, here's your dream, like write nine more, 10 more of these, yeah, and we did that and we went on tour and it feels like such a huge part of my life my career is in that, like first year. Yeah, it's like you, you play there, like you have all these experiences. You go out on tour. You kind of learn how to tour. We didn't know you got paid to play shows, like we were selling out shows. They had no clue that you got paid. We were just like this is so cool. That's been my entire life too, by the way. Like I wake up, I walk outside and I go, I can't believe I'm in a house. I can't believe like music like got me a house, like I really can't believe I like do any of the things I do. I still feel like that. That kid that was like I can't believe it. I can't believe this is happening.
Speaker 2:And I guess throughout this, this journey, that band kind of fell apart because of the nature of the way it ran. It was like our. Your idea of a band as a kid is like everybody. It's like this total democracy which it it should be. Um, you're all friends, um, but we all like different things. So it's like our guitarist he wants like more screaming on the records, but I want like a hardcore band. Guitarist wants like I want like a led zeppelin, like like classic rock band. Yeah, I want to do the beatles or whatever the beatles and punk, punk.
Speaker 2:And when that band broke up I just kept kept going and we just like rode through all of it. And I think where things really changed with us is when we had that song. So we had a song called feel it. Still, that was like all over the place and we thought it was so funny, like because, again, nerds like we're just like this is hilarious, like this song is like competing with danny levato and like everything else is on pop radio, like we went to number one on pop. I mean that that does not happen for bands like us. Yeah, and I think in that I Did, I noticed one thing that it made me feel a great deal of empathy for people like I think we all kind of look out and we see like Celebrity as it's like you asked for it, like you like you think these people get up and they do interviews and they think they're on tv, they're on morning shows and they do this stuff all day, every day, when they're promoting movies. Like I got a little taste of that and really, like I I think it was the hardest I've ever worked in my life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we did 58 days straight of we would do a show in the night, but it would. We would wake up and we'd be like morning radio, like next radio station, meet and greet, meet and greet, interviews, interviews, soundcheck party. So like, play for radio station winners before our set, then play for the other radio stations winners, because you're on pop and alternatives. So it's like you're not just doing like one, like you're doing all of it, and then we would play the show, meet and greet. After the show, get to the hotel, take a shower, get on the plane, and we did that for 58 days and, man, I appreciate our crew. Like, if you've ever seen like that seems like a lot of hard work. What our crew was doing is like they do all of that and they show up at the venue the next morning, the second we get in and they're setting up the next show, right, right, right. So they do, they do all of that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, the last two shows like and I like I'm not ashamed to admit it like it like we played our last two shows in, uh, alaska all my family's there, all my friends, we go two shows in a row at the alaska airline center and the second show, this it was literally the second. We took that picture like end of tour picture. Everybody thumbs up, we're all like, yeah, we did it. They took the picture and just started crying and I was like I couldn't stop. I went to the bathroom. I just like cried all night long and I realized that this like shy alaskan kid just had to like smile for the camera, like play this like weird character that I've never been. So it was honestly like really intense. It's cool, like I mean, it's a really cool experience to to do all of those things and but, yeah, for like a nerdy kid, yeah, it was like an extreme amount of like emotional energy to be out there doing all of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah I mean it's uh, it's. It's fascinating to do something just out of the passion and the love of it, right, Like create, making music in your room, you know, and just saying like I want to be a songwriter. I'm not even really trying to be in a band, but then one thing just kind of leading to the next, and then you look up and being like finishing a big tour, I mean I can understand how that's emotional.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it definitely was. I mean, we had done so much of it. It just makes me think about like I've never been an actor or ever wanted to be an actor. I'm not good at it. I think it's really good to be self-aware and know that, like you shouldn't be acting, but that was the only time I felt like that. Those two months I was like acting every day, right, right, right. Like, oh, are you like sore today? Nope, are you sad today? Nope, yeah, Like none of it, right, you're just like always waking up and like always going and always doing, and I'm extremely grateful that like I did it it and like push, push through all of it. But I would say it, it definitely changed uh, motivation and like inspiration, yeah, uh, in in doing that, because my goal was always to like do something different and that's something like I.
Speaker 2:For people that don't know our music, like if you go back, like our first record, I'm learning how to play guitar and I'm like dumping, like idea dumping, so there's like tempo changes and it's like punk all over the place. We go out and we play it for a year and I'm like, okay, I learned that. Like the blues year, like heavier stuff, was really fun for us to play the tempo shifts not as much, yeah. So there's like a little bit less of that and more like blues rock guitar. Third record I learned how to play chords, so like that's, I was like I learned how to play a seven chord and to this day it's like the only like complex chord that I really know.
Speaker 1:So you learn. You're learning, yeah, as you're dropping albums as we're going.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that was like the first time I played guitar and sang because he says zach is the one that taught.
Speaker 2:He taught me how to play bass. Wow, yeah, he did so. Inspiration along the way, like it should always change, like it should always be, like should always be inspired by what's around you. Right, and for me, like it became more about like I think writing at the beginning of our career is more like check out all these ideas I have and then, like, as it goes, like let me focus all those, let me see what, what the essence of this is, and that's why we have like a two and a half minute hits on, because I was like maybe I can distill this down to like saying one thing about my, my daughter, about the world we live in.
Speaker 2:I mean, that song is like political, you don't even see it on its face and that's all. Listening to wu-tang and rap, it's like, yeah, how much like, how much meaning can I fit into this? And from that point it it becomes like okay, well, I've distilled it down. Kind of the most fun is like the idea dump. If that's the thing, that's like who cares? You just shove it all together and see what works. I've watched tyler the creator do that for his entire entire career and it's a pretty fun method.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it also keeps the audience on their toes, right, yeah, like you're constantly reinventing, and maybe it's not even like for just the purpose of reinvention, it's just because your ideas are taking you down a whole another rabbit hole.
Speaker 1:Embrace the ADHD rabbit hole, embrace the adhd. I mean. I think it's interesting to find like finding the the balance between the idea dump and like being everywhere and being able to like harness that energy and put it into a two and a half minute song, or even like your writing, to take it from a page down to a paragraph. Right, like all these different ideas and everything that I want to express, and doing it with less yeah, I mean, that's, that's all of that's all music today.
Speaker 2:To me too, like when I look out, like this is also just like, as, as you like, as art progresses, like it finds these different places that it grabs onto and I've loved watching music progress through like feature culture creates this. Like people are more like ready to hear, like you don't have to sing the same verse, yeah, like features have made it to where, like I'm so used to hearing somebody else jump in on a second verse, that, like I don't need the same cadence, I don't need the same rhythm, I don't need the same delivery, I can hear anything. And then you see something like I mean, obviously the.
Speaker 2:The subject of like my entire feed currently is the, the super bowl halftime, which it it's always like this, it's always a medley, but it made so much sense seeing kendrick do it because his flow is pretty impeccable, like he walked you through the whole thing and it felt consistent. It didn't feel like a medley. Yeah, and that's that's where, to me, like that's the most exciting music can be is that I can flip the beat every eight bars, every four bars, and as long as, like something is consistent, it's, it's always exciting. Yeah, so yeah, music is in a. I think it's in a really interesting place currently.
Speaker 1:As your career's grown and feel it still hits right. You know it's Grammys, it's you said, 58 show tour.
Speaker 2:Well, that was just 58 days in a row 58 days in a row, right?
Speaker 1:Well, that was just 58 days in a row. 58 days in a row, right. And you know where your career started like how, as you've, you know, gone throughout the arc of that have you been able to balance the like the business side of it? We're also the creative side, and you spoke about your 13 year old daughter, and you know balancing being a family man as well.
Speaker 2:I think that's the that's always. It's like that with work. You know Any job. Like how do you balance? I tend to think about like how do how do single parents work in two jobs balance it all? Yeah, I mean I'm very, very lucky, I'm very. I mean I feel like the privilege of being able to do what I've always wanted to do and I also see the like need for me like we're working on a deck on my house and I feel lucky. I grew up in a construction family. I know how to build and I know how to do those things. Like. I do tend to think sometimes like is there more like value to my community in me, being like present doing that versus like making music? And that's like a we've.
Speaker 2:We've found a really great balance in january and february, kind of being like fundraiser months for us.
Speaker 2:So we go out in community and like we were just up in in sitka and juno in alaska working on a fundraiser with our buddy, jerick Hopelang, to build a new longhouse for the Kixadi up there, and I feel like that's what fills my mind these days is like going out and being able to use what we've built to help others and be there for others, february is also like rare disease month and our 13-year-old has a rare disease and she's like one of seven kids with her like specific genetic mutation, and then there's like 70 or 80 in the larger group. So it's like a very small world, yeah, in the world. So I feel, honestly, I feel lucky that she came to us because, like we, we have the means to get out and like, try and raise awareness and we have a platform to talk for all of those kids. I mean there's, you know, there's 100 million, 300 million people in the world with rare diseases, and to be able to go out and like, say to people that, like, working on these treatments I mean that's something we raise, raise funds for is like we're looking for a treatment for our daughter who's like her.
Speaker 2:Her disease, like it looks like dementia or Alzheimer's and Parkinson's is, and it's like it's a neurodegenerative, so, um, it affects a lot of things for her as she grows. Um, finding a treatment for that is going to, it's going to advance medicine to where, like, if we can create treatments for that, it can create treatments for other kids, or you might find some other like drug repurposing along the way that can work for other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then this stuff insurance companies should be able to pay for it after the treatments are created, right? It's kind of like the hardest thing to explain to people is like insurance doesn't pay for creation of something. It pays for something that exists.
Speaker 1:That's privately funded, yeah, the creation of the drug to the treatment.
Speaker 2:It's very expensive. Yeah, yeah, I remember sitting in the doctor's office and being like, okay, well, we'll sell the house, we'll sell the car.
Speaker 1:And she's like it's not that, it's not like a house, right when you're, when you're going out to fundraise, do you have a non-profit that you are able to, like um? Allocate funds for what you're doing up in alaska, what you're doing for your daughter and her?
Speaker 2:treatment. Yeah, we have uh, so we have, francis, changed my lifecom is where you go to like see what's happening with our daughter. Um, everything runs through a rare village which is a 501c3 and um, yeah, we try to like be very transparent about where everything goes. Yeah, but we do that. And then we also have uh past the mic foundation, which is a ptm, portugal man like acronym yeah, where we work with indigenous community and we give like unrestricted grant funding to, to representatives in each place we travel through. So we've done this in Brazil, we've done it in like done in Mapuche and like Argentina oh, that's we've done some like really cool ones, and we do like land acknowledgement, which is like the.
Speaker 2:It's like a really basic, like it's an entry level for people towards like doing greater good for community. But I think, as you look around, like the belief I have in like Pass the Mic and indigenous knowledge is like, as we look ahead and we talk about things like farm to table and like climate change and how many fish are running this year, um, it's, those are the things that carry you forward, like we literally created a dust bowl back in the day by not paying attention to the environment around us, and there's like thousands of years of knowledge there and I think it's coming from where we come from. I think it's really important to support that and and keep culture alive. There's so much culture around us and everywhere you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just have to look for it and it'd be nice if we didn't have to look so hard for it. I mean, I love traveling places and seeing the new restaurant and like whatever it is like what's what's their thing? Like, what is like I want to eat schnitzel in germany, whatever it is like. Let me do that.
Speaker 1:So we've um, yeah, I feel really lucky to be doing all the things that we do the unique way to empower those communities, like, as you're touring right and in the framework of your own, you know, business and music and creative expression, being able to help to equip others to do that same thing. That's sick. Leading into culture and that's cool, man. And there's like the bigger, like humanity aspect of it, as well as like the culture and then connection to the land, to the earth, being actually what's going to help us move forward in our future as a as a human race. It's cool, man. It's a lot packed into into one thing. It's cool. Portland-based podcast here, portugal the man. Portland-based group band. Why Portland man? I know you guys formed here Anatomy of a Ghost and you were here and then you gave us the story about the origin of Portland. But you don't necessarily have to be here now. Like why, why be in Portland?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I think when I first came down, okay, being being very real, I avoided getting a Portland, an Oregon ID. Fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 1:Alaska's rare, though, bro. You gotta hold on to that.
Speaker 2:Alaska. It was. It was, it was covid, it really was covid. Like covid happened and I was like, uh, not for the reasons that you guys might think, but uh, I was like I need a gun, like I need a gun, and it was because I like grew up hunting and I was like I was like, oh, if, like everything closes, I need to be able to like go hunting and like, yes, do do my thing, which I mean just to make a point about this. Like I get approached by groups a lot because we play music about guns, like anti-gun groups. This is like one of the biggest divides between like cities and like country folk. Like I'm a rural kid. Rural folks need them for their tools. You know their tools where you grew up. So this is the origin of my Oregon ID Like I need to be able to hunt if I need to hunt, if it all goes to shit.
Speaker 1:Man, you got to feed the fam.
Speaker 2:If it all goes like I got to be doing something. So I recently got the idea, but it was honestly like being down here. I didn't have a house, Like we were essentially houseless for the first five years, but I mean we were touring nonstop so we played 300 shows a year the first two years. So we played 300 shows a year the first two years. So we played 600 shows those first two years, Over 250 the next two years.
Speaker 2:Like we toured you were constantly on the road Nonstop. That's like all we did and it's because we're psyched Like I can't believe we're playing music, I can't believe people want me to come. They gave me pizza last night. This is huge, so we got Peyton pizza. Yeah, I would come back to Portland and that would be in between tours. I would sleep in the van typically and everybody would like stay at friends' houses. It was the trailblazers that made me really love Portland and the Portland food scene. Like well, because and we didn't grow up with like a pro sports team and I grew up in like these little pockets, it's like the skateboard, snowboard, yeah, music communities. They're like these little tiny, like we're like the niche, like the weird kids are over here in these like different scenes. And it wasn't until I went to a Trailblazers game that I saw like I saw all of them there, I saw everybody there, like everybody was there.
Speaker 2:The Trailblazers game and cheering on Brandon Roy, and it was that sense of community that I hadn't really felt since I left Alaska, right and and again, like being in the music scene, like you're in, like these little pockets, like I'm used to, like I may live in the woods and we may not have neighbors, but we all like work together towards something Our communities like work together, and that was the first time I really saw it and do.
Speaker 2:Like as after I got into the trailblazers, I would travel around like we'd hit games every now and then and like if the lakers are down, like people are walking, like they're not staying, and that's something I would just always respected about portland was like, uh, we're here, we're all here and we're we're gonna win this game, that we're down by 30. They all just ride it out. Oh, none of us fascinating. I was like this is, this is the most alaskan shit I've ever seen. It's like I'm gonna support this no matter what bro, the kobe years were tough, man.
Speaker 1:kobe shack years were tough, bro. I hated the lakers, yeah, yeah. Well, because everybody did. You know, I'm a kid and like watching the playoff games, the Blazer playoff games, and we always see LA in the playoffs and they always beat us and it was like the Shaq and Arvides Sabonis rivalry and Shaq was always just dunking on Sabonis, sabonis would give his best, but it was like Kobe, ah man. Yeah, I grew up a big Blazers fan, especially like the Rasheed Wallace, fondly Wells, yeah, and the Jailblazers, bro, damon Stoudemire, those were my guys and yeah, and then brandon roy, years were cool. Since I've left, like, and probably since I started getting more into football and like kind of distanced myself from nba and the blazers, but now that I'm back here I'm trying to get become a fan again, man lillard was fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dame, dame was sick. Yeah, same time I feel like he's always a blazer, though yeah, he was a really good representation of the city.
Speaker 1:Like he wasn't like well, he isn't. Doesn't seem like he's a big. Like you know, I gotta be a star in this big market, like I need a lot of attention. I feel like that's kind of the hang-up for a lot of nba stars with portland. But dame was very much like I'm not here to do a lot of talking, I'm here to do the work. You know, I'm also doing my music and there was like this creative, uh, support. It seemed like maybe you got from portland and then also being from the bay too. That's why I, and that's why I went to school down in the bay, because I just felt like it was a piece of home.
Speaker 2:It was like far enough from Portland and from like the rain up here, but it still felt like home. Yeah, it's insane. I guess that's how I ended up here. It was Alaska, it was that community, and I mean again, like Seattle is not affordable for me as like a homeless kid, so I can make my 150 dollars rent like my portion of the rent, or in portland at that time bro, thugging it out in the van.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sleeping in the van, that was nothing dude like we. I was just talking about this with somebody. Like the beginning of this, van, I don't think we would have survived if we weren't all Alaskans, like the whole band. When we started it was all Alaskans, right. And there was one time and it's just so funny to think about the stuff that we did and just didn't think anything of it, because we're like 21, 22.
Speaker 2:We were traveling, no cell phone. We have shows in Florida, a hurricane goes through on our way to Florida and we have no way to contact them. So we like drive down to go to the venue. Everything's shut. So three of our shows are canceled, three in a row. And we get down there and we're like, oh my God, it's hot as hell, we are broke. One of the shows pops up again, but it's three days later. It's like, okay, you guys can play this coffee shop in three days, but we basically have to sit outside of Tallahassee. We're outside there.
Speaker 2:We ended up because it was so hot we couldn't afford a hotel room. We slept on the ground outside in a parking lot and we're all stoked because we're just like again, alaskan kids were like there's like frogs hopping all over the place because the hurricane has just come through these giant bugs. And again, just too hot in the van. It was hot out on on that concrete, slept on the concrete. Yeah, we slept on the concrete. No blankets because, like dude, it was just too hot it's part of the year was this, uh, when's hurricane season, like whatever hurricane season was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got you. Yeah, it must have been end of, like end of summer hot in florida man it's hot in florida, so just always muggy and like yeah that sun is unforgiving it can be nasty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we are. Uh, miami training camps starting in July. There was not a lot of indoor practices out there in pads, helmet. I cannot imagine Getting after it. About two hour, two and a half hour practices how would you keep weight on? It was tough At least. I mean it was tough for some guys. For me, I'd struggle to keep weight off. I guess I just naturally could eat and just gain weight pretty easily. So it wasn't ever really a struggle for me.
Speaker 1:But some guys like the linemen who needed to stay at 315 or 320 and would come out of practice and have lost 12 pounds from the time they weigh in before practice, to weigh out like in the course of two and a half hours, maybe 12, 15 pounds and straight water weight. And guys just like drenched shirt, shorts, like every step, with the cleats bubbling. Yeah, I'm serious, bro, you just gotta get right back to it. Like the fluid, they would test our. We do like hydration tests so you pee in a cup and see like if you're hydrated enough and if not, then here's five Gatorades that you need to drink before.
Speaker 2:They didn't do IVs and stuff. Yeah, you can get.
Speaker 1:IVs too, you can get IVs.
Speaker 2:They do that all as part of it, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah I mean, if you want to, you know, if you want to make the time before practice to do that, you can. A lot of guys will do IBs before games, for sure. Yeah, they're less common before practice. This is what ends up being a lot of IBs, you know, jeez man, yeah, that is wild. Yeah, yeah, that is wild. But then when the music all comes together, it's with a group of other people who are also creating. I'm curious, like, how both of those happen. How does the individual creative process happen for you and then how does it, you know, all come together in the context of these other creatives who have their own individualized process?
Speaker 2:it is really interesting. Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it. Most of the producers I've worked with, like anybody that's worked with a band, is like I don't want to work with a band like it's it's because it's difficult. There's a lot of egos and there's a lot of that stuff. I think with us, like it's it's always been, everybody's way is so chill. Every way is very easy. So the way it's historically worked with the band, it's like I'll lay down the shape of the song and then I'll sing something and put a guide on it and build out as much as I can before it hits like the wall of like here. So it's it's essentially like here's everything that I've done, like here's the bass, like play it the way you would play it.
Speaker 1:So that's the shape, yeah so like the sounds of the song yeah.
Speaker 2:So like I'll do the arrangement and like kind of structure it out. Yeah, and I will say, like I, it's it's not a normal process for for a lot of bands. Okay, you know, some bands are just different, some bands like all go into the studio together and play together, but I I think, like it was the it's wu-tang for me, like I, I like the rZA role, like I like the role of, like I want to find the beat, find the sample, find the, the thing that makes the song work, find the form of it and and essentially act as like an art director, okay, creative director. I mean that's a lot of those like it's. It's really fun when everything clicks. And we've had songs where, like it has clicked.
Speaker 2:We have a song called so Young where, like the whole band, like we all went in, danger Mask is there and he's like yo, why don't you guys all go in and play? And we went in and played and that's the song that came out Like we just sat down, we were just just like jamming and kyle did this really amazing like on the melatron. He did this like swooping, like it has this pitch, this pitch knob on the melatron and just did this like really quick swoop on it and it it just really brought the song to life. And then, uh, asap, rocky came in and did like all these like ad libs on it, because we were all just working in the studio at the same time and Rocky's like I'll jump on that and he came in and he did all these like it's. If you a lot of people don't know it's Rocky on the track Because like it's not a feature. Okay, because like it's not enough to be a feature.
Speaker 1:He's just doing ad li feature.
Speaker 2:He's just doing ad-libs and it's so good. I actually got hit after it afterwards and he was like he's like oh, why don't you credit me on that? I was like it's not a feature, it's just not. Yeah, it's sick. But it wasn't a feature and honestly I think what he did brought that song this whole different feel. I mean, if you listen to it again, like afterwards, like knowing it's Rocky doing like this, like pitched, oh, like so young, Like he does it so young, you can hear it. It's him in there. It's a beautiful song, man, yeah, and I really love that song. I really love the way it came together and that's one of those like that's a song that is a band walking into a studio and playing this is what comes out, and there was no shape or even idea like going into that song.
Speaker 1:did you already have the lyrics?
Speaker 2:Didn't have anything, nothing, no, and a lot of that was like kind of free flow. I went in and just sang this stuff and then we had our friend in flow who's a producer out in the UK who is also just like this. Dude is incredible. I actually can't believe we had flow on in the studio with us for like two weeks just doing ad lives, like singing on stuff, and again just like rocky too, like everybody's, so like chill, like normally. There's like like hey, like do you want your like up your percentage, or like publishing on this or whatever, and they were all just like oh, it's cool, like we'll do something else you know, did you?
Speaker 1:you guys were just randomly in the studio together, like in a studio that he was recording at and you guys were recording at, and then there was this like he jumped in the room or like how does that work?
Speaker 2:He was working with Danger Mouse. Okay, so like we were both in the studio at the same time. I will tell you about, like, when I met Rocky. Like I have to say like I think I'm in love, like I think I love that guy. So I got him in the middle of the night it's like 3 in the morning and I'm like in bed, like I'm hanging with Zoe. My buddy calls me. He's like hey, rocky's in the studio right now, like he's working. I really want the studio right now, like he's working. I really want you to meet him.
Speaker 2:I'm like sorry, I gotta go to the studios. Or he's like what are you doing? So I gotta I go to the studio and I'm just hanging with my buddy and hanging with like some of the the asap uh crew who are there and we're just like talking in this room and rocky's like in doing vocals for like hours. So it's like 5 30 in the morning. But I'm like there's this, this hallway behind where the lounge is, where you leave the studio. So like, if you leave the vocal booth, you have to walk down this hall around a corner and then you're in the lounge where we're hanging and, uh, rocky, like I didn't know, it was rocky at the time, but, like this door, I hear the vocal booth open and closed and then somebody's walking down the hall.
Speaker 2:We're just all talking in this room and the footsteps stop and then start again and without even coming around the corner, we hear is that john motherfucking gorley's voice I hear there and he walks around the corner with the biggest smile. He's like I knew it. I was like oh my god, there must have been like heart eyes, like coming coming out. Oh, that's sorry. Like I think I love him, but I've always seen him be like that with everybody. Like when you see stuff like that, you see like, oh you're, you're different, like you're different. I've met a handful of those people and when you see it like it's that makes sense.
Speaker 1:He's got a really positive energy about him. I met I met ASAP one time and this was it was the first off season, so it's maybe like 2018. This is the first off season that I was carrying around a vlog camera and I was calling it Beast Guard's Off Season Chronicles, which is really actually the origin of Beast Guard TV Cool. And so it was the first like season of that ASAP was coming to Houston. He was playing at nrg stadium.
Speaker 1:One of my buddies that I was roommates with at cal had as a connection to asap's manager and we had like went to see a show before. So I tap in with cam and I'm like yo, asap's coming to town, can you like get us hooked up and go backstage, whatever? And so he gets us hooked up and come to find out that my sister's also in love with ASAP, rocky Right, and I have this vlog camera. I'm like trying to think of a creative way to make a vlog out of the backstage thing. I was like, ok, I'm going to set a goal for ASAP to shout out my sister and wish her a happy birthday it's her birthday, was coming up, and so go to see the show. Show ends, get to the backstage and like there's a moment where Asaph's like walking out and he's about to leave, I was like, hey, bro, excuse me, like my sister she's a big fan, you know it's her birthday next month Would love to just, you know, get you like wishing her a happy birthday. He was like bro, it's all good man, here we, when we look at where, look in the camera.
Speaker 1:I was like, yeah, right here, he's just like. He's like what's your name? He's like isabella. It's like yo, isabella, I want to wish you happy birthday. Like in the smooth, asap, rocky, right, yeah, and uh, and I was like man appreciate it, because he like gave her a full little shout out for like 30 seconds and then fast forward it's my sister's birthday. And uh, I end up, uh, downloaded that clip and I put the little like vlog together, whatever, and I had our whole family sit down to watch the vlog and so it was like a surprise moment when he ends up coming on and I like made it part. I was recording her too. She's watching asap, like say her name. And she's just like totally dry. We're all in the living room and it's like, oh yeah now we're right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's so cool. Yeah, it's cool, dude man, that's some good brother stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got yeah, she still owes me for that one Big time. Yeah, I got to remember to bring that up. That's why you don't get that smile for free. No, for sure, for sure. That's cool man. That's interesting. I also was reading that you guys have been through a lot of different band members too. That's what you're talking about, like the creative process which sometimes might be you laying down the shape and arrangement of a song. Sometimes it might just be like pulling up and all band let's get in the studio and just start jamming. When you're evaluating I don't know if that's the right word like when it's time for a new member, like what is kind of like this screening, like what makes a really good Dan member, I guess, is the question.
Speaker 2:Well, I guess I mean everybody we play with there's like this I had. There's like a guitarist I've been playing with recently who played with like plays in a band called Terra Mellis. His name's Nick Reinhardt Bygones, death Grips. He plays in like a bunch of like rad stuff. Um, he was up here hanging out and we're working on some music and, like past band members, like hanging out while he was here and he turned to me at one point. He was like this is the weirdest and coolest thing I think I've ever seen is like everybody that's played in this band can always like be in a room or like be creative. Yeah, they work together still. He just kind of commented on it and I feel really grateful that we've always just been around really chill people. So it really just comes down to the way we started the band.
Speaker 2:The way I started it was I always wanted to make something different. I always wanted it to be like just ego, like no ego, like who's got the part, who has it, like if somebody has it, that's what it's gonna be, and everybody I've worked with I mean Danger Mouse works in that way too like, hey, I have an idea for this. Can I play something Cool. Can I beat it? Maybe not. You know, if Brian plays something that's sick like, you want it to be on the record and you don't ever want like a keyboard player like and who's gonna be like upset that Brian played that part, so it's just always kind of been the way we've worked. There's never really been like. I think Zach was the most consistent our bass player, yeah, so he played with me the longest. But the band was originally started by a guy named Wes Hubbard who goes by Wooden Cyclops. He's like a really rad artist. He's out here. He actually developed our like, created our. We had this mascot for the last record called Tank Dog. It's like this pink, like dog character.
Speaker 1:Was that on the top of the car in the music video?
Speaker 2:No, not on that one. That's in Live in the Mode. That's the skateboarder, but we have it. It's in Music Video for Dummy. But yeah, there's just been different iterations of the band and it just always goes with whatever the vibe is and if, like, everybody can tour and everybody's feeling it, then then we do it and I again I just feel really lucky that we've kind of like traveled through all of this stuff.
Speaker 2:Portugal, the man, has never been like uh at as far as I can tell anyway, like when people even hear the band most people don't know the band and when they do, I don't think they picture like a person you know it. It's kind of like this thing, like it's a Portugal man, like whatever there's a mustache and there's some glasses and like whatever and that's it. How'd you come up with the name? It was being in Alaska, so like on the globe. Growing up in Alaska, portugal to me was like always on the other side of the world, like it was like that's like. I was just always kind of like looking at that, like what's on the other side of the globe from us and it just always felt like it was so far away.
Speaker 2:When I was making this band name. I spent a lot of time thinking about how my mom and dad ended up in Alaska. They're both upstate New York kids. They went, so my dad moved up and he went straight to the mountains Like he was a part of like the 60s back to the land movement where they're going back. They're going to go out to Alaska and they're going to like live off the land and figure out where we come from as people. I'm very angry. That's some hippie shit. They're going out to the woods. I always loved hearing the stories about him running into bears out there and just the things he went through at 19, 20 years old. He's out in the bush, bush, and he's just living. So I thought when I create this band, I wanted to be a character that represented my dad's journey. So it's like this individual going out into the world to like find their path, which is essentially what we did, and I wanted to name it after a group of people and just at the time, like a country seemed to make sense because it's a group of people.
Speaker 2:Like I wanted it to be like a solo project, but at the same time I'm like I don't ever want to be alone on stage because I have like crazy anxiety, like I need people around me. Shy kid, yeah, shy kid, indoor kid I wasn't an an indoor kid, but it gets it across. Um, but yeah, portugal just seemed like the place I would name this group after. Yeah, for whatever reason at the time, and it's it's one of those things I think almost every band regrets it. They're like, why did I name it? My band doesn't make any sense, yeah, but yeah, that was. It was just its distance from alaska. Yeah, it's like I'll never go that far, and I have and never expected any of it.
Speaker 1:It's unique because it's like the group of people, but then it's the man, the man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I better make sure it's clear that it's like a person.
Speaker 1:Right, right, that's fire man. Last question what are you excited about now? What you got cooking up looking forward?
Speaker 2:I know it sounds like you're wrapping up a project, yeah, finishing an album and just making. I'm just like in the process of like making a bunch of music. Yeah, and the band currently is like it's all people it is. It's so fun Like it's. It's like this group of people that I've played with in the past.
Speaker 2:I mean we have, like our drummer, kane Rashad, is playing with us again and he played with me on our album People Friends, so like with us again and he played with me on our album evil friends. So like with danger mouse and everything. Like he played through some really, really fun years with us and he's just an incredibly talented drummer. Um, jason secrets is also playing drums from here in portland. Um, we have this bass player, danny bell, who I remember her coming to our shows when she was a little kid. Oh wow, like she was like 16, 17 when we were on our shows and as we were like putting this together, I was like I wonder what Danny's up to. She's also like a mom. She has a two-year-old and like her and Zoe are good friends and like we should bring her into this crew. And then Nick, it's like a really fun. It's going to be more of like a rock thing for this portion of it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, how big is the? How many?
Speaker 2:members. There's like five right now, it'll be five and six and I'm just really excited to see what everybody does. We've been branching out like port school. The man has always been a collective and just we.
Speaker 2:We have like, even like those, those past members, like we have people who want to do like I, I think eric, or we have a member who's a wheelchair user okay and like him like doing speaking engagements with consultation for architectural schools is something that I really think would be like a massive thing for for him and like the students and people to learn going forward.
Speaker 2:I I'd say like that's been a really massive learning curve for me because we we didn't know if it was possible to tour as as a wheelchair user. So like getting him on the bus, like he has this like kind of like huge amount of experience as a world traveler and like touring the world to to share with people, and I've really enjoyed and again I'm incredibly grateful that I've gotten to share that journey with him and kind of see what access looks like in different places and create programs like the night out program where we get people with disability to our shows. Like we set up like tickets, seating, like whatever they need, like we and we do like meet and greets and stuff with people in the disabled community. Um, yeah, I'm excited to continue all of that yeah, beautiful man.
Speaker 1:Well, um, I appreciate you making the time in the in your busy schedule to to come in and chop it up. Uh, I've been through the discography, you know. I'm doing my research. I'm a big fan of the music, you know, and I wish you the best of luck as you finish up the album and continue to make, make art and look forward to hitting the slopes with you man, hell yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Let's launch. Appreciate you, bro, another episode. Appreciate y'all. Peace. Leave us a review, drop a comment. What do you want to see? What do you want to hear? Who do you want to hear from? We would love to hear from you.