Finding Portugal (And Sangrias) In San Francisco

With Portugal. The Man’s The Satanic Satanist still burning up our speakers and holding steady among the best albums of the year thus far, we decided to get back in touch with vocalist/chief Portugal songwriter John Gourley, this time to discuss the intricate, brilliantly colored, origami-like album cover, as well as the band’s next album, which is already completed.

Before their rocking performance in San Francisco at the Independent a couple of weeks ago, John sat with us over glasses of sangria to talk about how he makes time for fine art, his preference for spontaneous creation, the life in Alaska that was the storyline for this latest album and what it’s like for the crowd-shy frontman to be in music videos.

Antiquiet: You guys have just been churning out the records over the past few years. In regards to your music, you’ve mentioned that you feel that constant creation is necessary to keep things evolving, and progressing and preventing them from getting stale. Do you approach your fine art in the same way, and how do you make time for all your different kinds of creation from the album work to the shirts?

John Gourley: I don’t know. You know what… Drug Rug was asking just the same thing last night because they do all their own art work as well, Sarah does. We were just talking about how hard it is to find time. Generally I’ll get deadlines for things, our manager will call me and be like, “Ok I need somethin’ by Friday” and I’ll say “Alright, cool.” And then I’ll wait like four weeks and give it to him on that Friday. So basically I’ll do everything late and that’s really the only way I can even find time to do it.

Antiquiet: It’s pushed to the last minute, to when you are under those constraints.

John Gourley: Yeah, and there is always so much pressure. I feel like art can never be pressured but it always is when we are doing what we are doing. Everything has to be handed in on time, and you know, before tours shirts need to be done. Yeah, there’s really no time, I don’t know how it happens. It just does, it just does. (laughs)

Antiquiet: I’ve read previous interviews where you’ve been hesitant to delve into the meaning of album titles so you’ll have to forgive me when I ask you to elaborate on the significance of the Santanic Satanist and the painting of the creature with his third eye. I see a lot of symbolism there and wonder if to you there is a connection between the two and what that’s all about.

John Gourley: Uh, yeah. I really love Scanners. Scanners is a great movie if you haven’t seen that. The Satanic Satanists came around a long time ago- we’d tossed it around as an album title but we really didn’t have the music for it. We always do this- “Oh that’d be a great album title, let’s throw it in the bank!” It made sense once we started talking about the music. We really wanted to write an oldies record and we wanted to write a pop record and we wanted to write something with substance and something that made sense. So I guess in sitting down to write these lyrics I knew I really wanted to write it about the times the we moved around a lot in Alaska which was me as a little kid. We moved around from ‘87 to ‘93, something like that. Maybe it was ‘86. ‘87 just sounded better in lyrics so (laughs) we put it in ‘87.

Yeah, we wanted to write a pop record and we wanted it to be about escape and the Satanic Satanists came back around as just a really great contrast to what the album was. It so very much represents what that escape was- it felt like you were an outcast. It felt like you were, you know, booted. I would watch Sesame Street, and you know TV shows, and I’d wonder where my neighbors were, like where is our apartment building. What would that even be like. You know I’m stuck out in the woods. I’m just hanging out with my family- which was amazing. But yeah, that’s just the way it felt and it was about contrast. The album artwork was very much the same. The third eye was just everything you think about as a little kid. It was that extra look into the trees and into the sky, you know looking out at the northern lights when everything is just snow and ice and pitch black. It’s pretty amazing. It was trying to take all of that in and have it make sense. I don’t know if anything we ever do will make sense (laughs) But to me it all works really well.

Antiquiet: How content do you feel in Portugal’s progression of sound and your approach to making music? Do you think that the same pre-production that went down in this album will go down in future albums or that you’ll go back to the spontaneous in studio kind of thing?

John Gourley: Well we actually did another record, another album, basically right after Satanic Satanist was finished. I went back to Austin and just, just to do it because we had done so much preproduction and planned out everything, I wanted to see what would happen if I just went and did it. and its come out really cool. its all drum machines and all samples, and mostly synthesizers. It was just the producer and I playing guitar and handing guitars and basses back and forth. I played a little bit of synthesizer on it… It’s pretty weird. I think its something you have to do… You really have to just go and throw something out there to see if it will work. its just the way i work personally. the pre production helped, it helped a lot but it was really just doing the exact same thing that i’ve done in the studio, just a month or two before we actually went in and recorded it. So the pre-production was no different than our albums in the past and the music didn’t really change much outside of that. We just knew it, going in. I think the advantage to knowing what you are going to do is pretty huge. But you can do things both ways. It always works. Whatever works, works.

Antiquiet: But you do ultimately prefer the more spontaneous going at it?

John Gourley: Yeah, yeah, I think it works well for me.

Antiquiet: What are some of the things that you’ve learned being a member of this band, and how have you seen both yourself and the band progress as a result?

John Gourley: The thing that I’ve learned through all this is that you really have to be true to yourself and what you want to do. I think thats the way the world works. You have to really like going to the office every day and filing things all day to have it really work… to be happy in life. And there are people for every aspect of life. Thats one thing that i’ve noticed just traveling around as much as we do- it’s just so strange how there are just groups of people. And there within every little group as well. I think that might be going too far in depth or off pace… (laughs) but yeah, its really amazing. I feel like i’m just really happy doing what I’m doing and I can really appreciate the fact that my dad is really happy building houses and that’s what he’s always loved to do. He’s always worked hard doing that.

Antiquiet: You’ve said that if you weren’t in the band you’d be in Alaska and that its a place where a lot goes down that’s just isn’t very common over here. What are some of those uncommon things that keep your heart so deeply connected there?

John Gourley: There are really tight communities, everybody knows everybody. Especially in the town my family is in now, they live in Willow and my mom works for the fire department there, which is the funniest thing. Just out of nowhere my mom called me 3 years ago and she was like, “I think I’m going to be a firefighter!” I was like, “Wow! You’re eight years old!” (laughs) “You’re going to be a firefighter!” She went from that to paramedic to ambulance driver to dive rescue- she does all these crazy things. The thing I learned about that community is just everybody trades, trades everything. Its such a cool thing to be around. My dad builds and he’ll go build something for someone who bakes or whatever and they’ll do things for us. It’s just very cool. The communities are just really nice, and really tight.

The space is amazing as well, you just kind of do whatever you want. It’s easy to sit. You kinda get lost in sitting up there I guess.

Antiquiet: What were the periods of darkness in Alaska like? How long were those?

John Gourley: Like 6 months, 7 months I guess. Not straight dark. I mean we have mountains, we live in a valley so there are mountains all around us. The sun will come up for maybe 3 or 4 hours at the darkest point but it dips back behind the mountains pretty much right after you see it crest. So its pretty dark I guess. Its kinda fun. I never got bothered by it. My friends would stay in doors but I’d always go out cause it was fun and the moon is amazing when you are in that intense of a darkness. Just with the reflection of the moon on the snow- it’s actually very bright if you stay out long enough to let your eyes adjust.

Antiquiet: Did you ever pay much attention to the constellations then? Do you have a favorite constellation?

John Gourley: I was actually pretty scared of space when i was little which is so weird cause I’m such a sci-fi kid and I was so into it. You know I loved space but just the thought of space… When you’re in that much darkness you look at it and you’re like “Holy shit! There is so much happening up there right now. I can’t even grasp it.” Yeah I was scared of space. I’d get really nervous whenever I’d see satellites moving around like “what’s that doin?” (laughs) And you always see that stuff when you’re in Alaska cause its just so dark.

Antiquiet: This is something I’m personally really curious about- You mentioned the album being about escape and I know that your family ended up in Alaska because your parents decided to escape from New York in the ’70s. What was it that they were escaping from and what did you grow up understanding as the reason for being in Alaska?

John Gourley: Man, Escape From New York is such a good movie! (laughs) That’s so funny. I’ve never really asked. It’s just one of those things that I can appreciate and I understand that they just went and did it. And I really respect the fact that they did what they did. They have some really amazing stories. My dad lived off of no money at the beginning of coming to Alaska. Eventually he started his own construction company and he’s fine now. (laughs) Yeah, they have some really cool stories. I think it was just what alaska was at the time. It was completely unknown, it was so unknown. I remember even being younger, going to my grandparents’ in New York and their friends asking me questions like “Do you guys have TV? Do you have radio? What do you do? Do you have stores?” and I’d be sitting there dressed in clothing, you know, I’m obviously not blown away by your TV. (laughs) I flew- there are planes. (laughs) I think it’s just what it was at the time. It must have been very appealing in the town they grew up in because my mom and dad are years apart, didn’t know each other at all, very very small town but a few of my dad’s friends ended up in Alaska, and then my mom. They eventually met up there.

Antiquiet: In Alaska??

John Gourley: Yeah, it’s so weird. And they met in Wasilla which at the time it must have been under 1,000 people, easily. It’s completely random they met there.

Antiquiet: Is music something that you’ve always done? When did you become conscious of your voice as such a strong instrument? When were you like “I can sing!”

John Gourley: (laughs) I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to that point- every night I’m like “why am I doing this, why are you guys letting me do this?” (laughs) Really, I guess I got into music in high school and it was hearing bands like Oasis and Nirvana, all these bands that were playing at that time. They were so good. They were really doing what the Beatles did with songs. To me, I had missed everything from like ‘69 or ‘70 when my parents left NY and came to Alaska, everything under that my parents listened to. And then I missed everything up until high school. So I was really thrown into this world of three chords and four chords- people writing songs so simply. It was something that felt so untouchable to me because to me the Beatles had done everything and they’d done it all right. (laughs) It was just so hard to even think about playing songs like them. So, I got a guitar and kind of just played around. I was always into writing songs- but I mainly did it for myself. I just sat in my room. I had made a demo at some point or recorded something and my buddies who had moved to Portland, heard the demos and asked me to come and sing for their band.

I didn’t want to sing for a band, I was really self conscious of my voice. I absolutely did not want to do it. A few people had heard the demos and they asked who the girl was- “Who’s the girl that sings all this stuff?” I was like “Oh… sweet. That’s me!” But I would never say that. I’d just say “Oh, you don’t know her” and just blow it all off.

Antiquiet: Who’s voice would you have if you could have any artist’s voice besides your own?

John Gourley: Man, if I were to claim anything new- that dude from the Black Keys has the coolest voice. He’s so good. Sam Cooke, he’s amazing. Favorite singer ever. Joe Cocker is good too. He’s got some crazy screams.

Antiquiet: I know that lyrically there was more coherence in this albums than past albums but did the lyrics in your past albums have significance to you or was it really, truly random?

John Gourley: They did. It’s actually really fun to read the old lyrics because they all make sense to me. The weird thing is that they are very literal and I know it doesn’t come across that way. It’s just kind of the way I think about everything. I’d rather think of things as a reality no matter where I’m at. But ah, yeah, they all have their place. Everything was written at the same period of time. You know, we had always gone into the studio, just recorded the songs then I wrote all the lyrics. Pretty much on every album we’ve done I’ve written all the lyrics on a 2 or 3 day period. so a lot of the times the subjects will get mixed. If you actually take apart the lyrics and put them where they need to go it all makes sense. Its just kind of telling like 6 different stories at once. It’s really fun. You actually don’t have to make sense.

Antiquiet: Was being on camera (for the video) intimidating for you at all?

John Gourley: Oh yeah. I hate being in front of a camera, it’s the worst. (laughs) But we kind of have to do it. We love David Bowie, we love things like that and I think to truly get into that role you do have to do those thing. Its always been fun. Its always been cool and we’ve always worked with friends on them. Its easier when you are in that setting.

Antiquiet: When do you guys finish the tour?

John Gourley: December… December 8th.

Antiquiet: How much time do you have off then?

John Gourley: None. I go into the studio with some friends, they’re making a record. Then we go into the studio with our band and make another record. And then we go on tour with our band (laughs) until December next year.

Antiquiet: December of next year??

John Gourley: Yeah… That’s what the schedule says right now. I wrote our manager back and was like “Dude!” (laughs) That’s so much time.

Antiquiet: You’re not feelin’ it?

John Gourley: To be perfectly honest this year was the first time I ever felt like- Wow, we traveled a lot, we’re really doing this quite a bit. I think the luxury of hotel rooms and the luxury of going out for dinner has just completely been ruined which is funny to have happen.