Portugal. The Man

Part 1

0:00Alright, well we're at the Fillmore, the world famous Fillmore, with Portugal the Man. This is... what a hell of a venue. Yeah, it's our first time ever playing here, ever even being here. Yeah. We're pretty excited about my uncles and my dad are super pumped. Oh yeah? Do you have family in Syria? On the stairs, pumped that you guys are here. Yeah, yeah. They're pumped just before you. We have a family reunion this weekend up in Washington and I'm the only co-rothers that is not there and a couple of them almost came down but they figured that'd be more. They should do that. Alright, well I think this is the Fillmore. Yeah, no, that's what I said. I can only imagine the amount just in this room alone of what has happened with the bottery and drugs and sex and rock crows. Yeah, I know. I'm excited. You guys are sitting on right now, it's probably disgusting.

0:45It's probably terrible. And not going to eat off of it for sure. Yeah, probably not. So you guys have a new record. Well I guess it's not too new, I've been a couple months old now but you've probably finished work on it in the fall or something like that. No, it actually was finished up directly after Satanic Satanist or started. Okay. It was started then and we got all the songs done. We just kind of took our time with it and just did some weird mixes and just kind of had fun passing things back and forth with Anthony Saffrey. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was a pretty cool process. You know, I went out to Boston and while I was working on stuff out there in Boston, I was sending it back to Ryan and the guys and they were doing little additions from Portland.

1:32So it was a cool project. What made you base it up for it? I didn't get it from Alaska. Are you from Alaska? Yeah. Okay. Cool. So if somebody gets from Portland, someone from Alaska. Yeah, they're two guys. Why Portland? I know they have a great music scene but... I think Zach actually went to college. Yeah. Okay. I have no intention of ever leaving the state or being in a band like this. But he and some of our friends asked me to come down and sing for their band and everything just kind of went from there. We just stayed in Portland because touring out of Alaska is impossible. Yeah. Well, a lot of VC shows up in Canada. Yeah. They like their music. They can work their way through Whitehorse and also leave.

2:18Yeah. Yeah. And the entire tour. With Silla, Alaska, though, of all places after everything's gone down the past few years, you're probably sick of talking about it. Like living in Sarah Palin's city. Oh. Well, she went to Portugal and Man's city. Yeah. Sorry. I think we were in the scene a little bit before. She may be a little bit bigger. Yeah. You know. You guys are at the film where she's talking about one. It's true. That is true. She had a lot of stuff. She brought her church workers in. Yeah. She did some weird things. You know. I don't even really care about that whole story of music. Back to music then.

3:04But it's a cool place. It's a really nice place. I'm really happy that I got to grow up there. I feel really excited every time I go back to get away from the cities and just be out at my parents house, be out in Willow or... You don't want to talk to Sarah Palin. I understand. I've just had... She's just an interesting person. Yeah. She is interesting, yeah. Yes, interesting. Well, I'm not going to go there. Anyway, I heard Satanic was more of like a production focusing for you guys. It was the first time you guys really focused on not just songwriting, but the other stuff that goes into being a rocker. Yeah. It was kind of really the first album we ever really planned in any way.

3:50I don't know why we didn't do it in the past. I think we were really caught up in just being loose and having fun going to the city. Not that we didn't have fun, so we had sickness, but it was just a different process. We actually wrote songs in advance. It worked out for that. You were just doing it? Oh, yeah. But we still did it in the city of Satanic. We just had acoustic demos. Then we did all the beat lines and melodies once we got in there. Nice and sure. We'll get here so we're open or sound checking right now. Yeah, is this the builders? This is the builders. Yeah. Have you guys been touring with them? You know what they sound like? The builders are actually from the same place. They're from Alaska. Oh, really? And they're mandolin player actually played in our band at the beginning.

4:38Their merch guy was in our band soon. We went to the start. So we all kind of played together in different ways. Nice to hear the words of the long tour now that you're the big famous big and dirty man. Oh, yeah. Well, we're working on it. You guys, you record every year in season. So I'm assuming the next one has already started or something. Yeah, we just recorded a little bit in El Paso. We just got back. Oh, really? See, two weeks ago. We have three more weeks of recording later in the year, and we're going to try and put out the new record. Try it next spring. Next winter in season. How far are the D20 years already? Well, it all kind of goes back to just the way we were raised. The things that we see, I don't know.

5:24It's going to come together when it comes together. The entire day. I find it interesting when we're together how you saw about 60 years. It was over a thousand years. Yeah. I just find that interesting. Yeah. I'm pretty big out of the industry. I think most of it comes from the lyrics all being written on the spot. So I go right out all the lyrics at the end of recording. Not really. And do all the vocals. Yeah. So you'll have a lot of themes that run and start to finish. Interesting. Do you have some talk so we'll do that one? I'm thinking, well, I don't know if that's on big ships or that sort of thing. Yeah, I think it brings around a lot of consistency. It makes the lyrics a little bit more honest as well.

6:10You just kind of do it. And not over edit, not overthink everything that's happening. I mean, it's just music. I mean, how many times did the Beatles use the song yesterday? Oh, I think it's the song. It's just worse. But we got the new one. You guys are on tour basically. I think you got a month off in the summer. You got an ice on Canadian road too coming up. Yeah, it's really fun. Crazy. Yeah, I don't know how that fits together but it works. Yeah, you know, we're really big promise fans. Anyway, somebody brought up the tour and right away all of us were like, you have to put us in for this tour. It's short. Who cares?

6:55Just put us in for this tour. We could have been doing our own headlines or whatever. It's just going to be so cool to just see that band play. Yeah, I don't care if they even watch our band. We even run into that. Just being able to play with that band. It's going to be cool. I mean, one of the tightest, one of the best musicians. Especially in mainstream music. Dude, Rips. All of them are just so good. It's going to be cool. Yeah, for sure. Let's get a little noisy. I know you don't call your mom Josh. Yeah, I do have to call my mom. But thank you very much. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Part 2

0:00I'm on the road for a little while. Yeah. I mean, if you include the press ship, and we did a promo trip, which I've never really done, in the past, it was done my short, short days. But doing a promo trip, we were working on artworks, and trying to tie and mix videos and all that stuff. It was pretty crazy. I mean, I haven't been home in over three months now. But you gotta be fairly used to that by now, I would think. Yeah, I mean, I am, I totally am. It's kind of a strange thing. We toured nonstop up until we signed with that woman. And the whole point of that was,

0:47like, this is still out in its play, every single show we can. Since they can't be, every tour we could. It was more about us learning. You know, kind of learning a little bit about the E and B industry, and really just playing together every day. It's going up in the last stage, like music every day, but you don't get to have to play in front of people, all the time, they play in front of different people in different regions, different countries. And it was really about, like, let's just keep recording music and practicing. You know, by the time we signed to Atlanta, it was really about the show. And I don't know how many, but it felt like that. You know, it was all worthwhile when we went over there.

1:32That was really what I felt like was a band, when we put out that last album in the mountain in the clouds. That's interesting. Because I talked to you guys, oh, God, I'm trying to think of the Fillmore for Satanic, I don't know, years ago. And you got, it felt like it was a real band. It sounds like you feel like you almost got your footing. Interestingly enough, when a label signed you. Yeah, you know, that's one of our best. Oh, for sure. And that was when everything started to kind of click. I don't know how, I mean, I can't really recall exactly

2:18how it felt when we put out that album, because we did just two or nonstop straight through it. I mean, looking back on it, that was at that point where I was just really trying to focus, try and understand how those songs worked. You know, I'm a big fan of Motown and The Beatles. And I think just the ability to write a song and I've been three minutes and have it completely make sense. And, you know, just the point A is one B, it gets full of A. I mean, that stuff excites me more than any bare metal noise, socks or whatever.

3:05I mean, that's really a so much more difficult to fall off. What about where I think this album? Sorry, go ahead. I mean, I think it's a big step for the band too. What was it? Oh, I think they can't figure this one. Oh. I mean, it's famous when the band became a fan. That's when we played Bonnaroo and when we get all those things, like that really started to click. And everything felt like it was falling in the face a little bit better. I know the first album where we really played a tight show. She knew we had never really played a super tight show. So we thought it was like,

3:50oh, we're a rock band. I mean, to try to punk rock, we could still out, we'd have fun, we'd hang out. It's supposed to be loose. Like that's what's shocking all of it, supposed to be loose and untreating it. I can go the first time we ever was playing a super tight set. And now it's kind of an attorney point where you look at it, you know? Oh, wow, I have no idea the band could sound like that. Speaking of the live set, I... Because you always want to be confident in it. You always want to be confident. Oh, absolutely. Well, I'm sure I was going to mention, I'm glad you say confidence. Because last year when I saw you guys play, Wayne Coyne was taking pictures of you from the side of the stage. What kind of confidence boost is that?

4:40I think we met him. I guess he wouldn't met him a year and a half ago now. Maybe almost two years. I'm such a huge fan of him and the funny list. And that's so cool. I'm that the... Like I guess he was doing that crumb with the... It's always funny and so it's like, I feel like my inheritance. Like that's a huge deal for me. Like I'm a huge, huge fan of music and film and TV. That's like... It's just things that I'm just a fan of. I could care less about the exposure and I still have the size that we're hanging out with. I was going to have a spin right now.

5:26How did you get in that set? Why were you on the set of sending? How did that come out? I'm back to friends with friends. And what did I say in that, a friend actually connected us? People are so competitive about that stuff. I mean, I'm just a fan of the show. So I can hear it. I thought he said, you think he could put me in contact with the guys from always funny. Yeah, he was actually really connecting with Glenn. And I don't know why I thought he could do this. He was like, Glenn, right away. I was like, hey there, would you be down to do a promo for us? Like I showed him the whole idea.

6:13And immediately afterwards, like what the fuck are you shaking, man? Did you get the shutter dude? That'd take the first introduction. Can you do something for me? And he wrote back his two first super nice. But yeah, he was super nice down the dirt. He connected me with Eric and Chris, who are two of the behind the scenes writers. And always funny to do the weather songs. Yeah, it all came together fairly quickly. It was actually funny. It was pretty hilarious because the day we met is the day we shot that. And we were like holding hands

6:58but how about holding hands the whole day. So at one point, it happened to the day Glenn said to me, I never even thought they asked is this weird to you. I couldn't show it. Like I do this every day. I never really think about it. But yeah, it's pretty weird. I do want to talk about the right. There's so much to talk to you about because I love this record. You know, it's funny. I brought it up to a cottage this past weekend. And everyone loved it. Like it all, you know, it takes a listener too to get everything through. I mean, there's so much going on in these songs. I'm glad I'm because we were supposed to do this last Friday. I'm glad I got a chance to listen to the record a little more just because there is so much going on in every tune. And I love that you guys have done that on every record. But maybe we'll talk about like, I mean, you

7:45asked questions, you get answered questions about Brian all the time. So maybe I'll avoid that. But plastic soldiers and evil friends, you know, these tunes are like two movements almost. You're combining songs. Are you writing them with movements in mind? Like how do you create tunes like that? Everything just kind of started rolling. Or when in with Brian in the first place, Brian's was changing that. When you go in with him, it's kind of, I don't know. It was intimidating a bit. But at the same time, like you said, it makes an accident is that I was just excited to get started on an album. And the way he wanted to work was the way

8:31he always worked, apparently, is we just went into a theater together and for a wedding song. It was actually perfect for me because I stayed doing pre-production. He's doing that stuff. I mean, it helped here and there. But in my opinion, I feel like I can't hear the directors just do that stuff. If you have a set idea, it's so hard to get out of it. You know, everything's set. That's what people want to hear. Anybody who put the demo back that they want. And I can get hold to that. So how difficult was it to scrap all those tunes in Texas? What's that? How difficult was it to scrap all the tunes in Texas, then?

9:17Or was that just the these aren't working? They got to go. Well, we went to Texas. We were planning on recording it ourselves. So initially we were in El Paso, a 20-year-old Texas comic ranch. And we were tracking a bunch of stuff. And I got a call halfway through that process. And that was the painting. You come to New York, come out in New Danger Mouse. There's no set up of making out. We should have to do stuff like that. It's just you want to come out to New York and meet them. I mean, you can be frustrated with that situation because we're already making an album.

10:05But it's changed now. Of course, you're going to meet it. I want to share a little bit about how you work. And I want to just meet. We have some useful friends. We put the packs to use and everything. And I just thought it was a cool, cool opportunity. Now when we hung out for that day, it was just, it worked really well. It just worked good music. And I think we have similar tastes, similar, but to do it all. And strapping the alpancis sessions wasn't hard. It just felt right. It felt like what we needed to do. I wanted to work with him. And I wanted to do something without any five.

10:54People had heard from the alpancis stuff. So I just wanted to move on from that. And we actually did keep two of the songs. He was going to ask you what did any say? He was going to give us a hit hop kid and a fear there. Both of those were very spontaneous. I think that's why it worked. They were both like, kick hop kids was recorded the last five hours that we had the studio at Donna Branch. The guys had taken off. They had a bunch of different versions of the song. And none of it really shot right, like we just weren't doing it right. And I went in with Sunny 23, who was working with us on the sessions up there.

11:41And had him play a drum track. And we chopped that up. And I just liked to call him bass and really quickly. I mean, it just felt really good. There's a lot of energy in that song. And it just took something for me. And she about was the same way. That was just one day playing. I just kept going around the thrift. And I said, see him the sea of airline. And we just came together. I took it into the eyes. And they were tracking something else at the time. Ticked everybody off the instruments. It was like, now we've got to do this. See you there. This is the fact.

12:27Is she in on the gang vocals? It sounds like there's kids in there. Yeah, like my daughters with us right now. No, no, in the sea of air vocals. You got those gang vocals going on in that tune. It sounds like there's kids voices. Oh, yes, it's a hymns. And we actually, one of the things we did when it was Ryan, the vocal wasn't spinning the right side. He would pitch the whole track down. Like five steps. Yeah, I think it looks five steps. So the sister holding down. And then we kept them at a vocal take as well. So we had these kind of weird, catchy vocals in there. And then we sent some of those through some different vocal processes and put some cool stuff together.

13:17So how does it sound live? If you pitch the whole thing down, is everyone have to play like five steps down or do you try and sing it differently? Yeah, I just bang it again. Which is really, I mean, just more or less, a couple of things. Cool. Oh, here's an interesting quote. Zach said that your best ideas come when you're playing video games. What is it about the video games that inspires you to think? What I thought of the video games where I watched the movie was just kind of taking my head out of meeting to get me

14:04going down. It's such a typical flacker activity. I don't need to be doing anything. You can't tell me to work right now. But because I'm not thinking about it, you can just say my head comes to the opposite. It actually, it just for some reason, it helps me think of the next part or the next thing. It's just kind of cool. Is it allowing you to go deeper? Because Zach's also said, I know I mentioned exactly that, but I read an interview with him the other day. And he was saying that you're singing about things you haven't sung before, that you're a lot more personal on this one. And obviously, for me as a writer, it's harder to get those personal thoughts out sometimes. Sometimes you're a little more vulnerable

14:51and you'll cross out words because maybe you're saying too much. Did you feel that way this time? Or did you just want it all to hang out? It felt more comfortable, I guess. Again, you work with somebody like Ryan. And it's just so much easier if you're just stepped back. He said you have something weird that's actually saying no. But he doesn't like it. And when he's connecting, he lets you know. I think that's just the greatest quality of the producer, is just the ability of you. I would use it some brutally honest. But it's a really inspiring.

15:36Oh man, I know you can write better stuff than I can hardly do it. I know you have this. And that's just a cool thing to have. It's a really nice thing to have. Something you can say no. And you can feel comfortable with it. And OK with that. Sweet, I'm going to let you go. So we do something called Five Questions. Five Quick Questions, One Word Answers. We did this last year, but we'll do it again. Road or Studio? What's that? Road or Studio? I think Road. Leonard McCourtney. We're going to inspire so much. Oh, OK.

16:21Leonard McCourtney. Leonard, I know Leonard. Leonard? Song, sorry. When you hear a song, what usually hits you first? Lyric's, Melody, or Rhythm. I guess Rhythm. Song you've written you're most proud of today. Obviously created for people's sake. And in one word, Portugal the man. Oh, man. I don't have a word for that. I don't have a word for that. Fun. They just do fun. Fun. I wonder what you said last time. I'm going to have to. But passion.

17:07It's passionate. Passionate is a good one. I like passionate. Yeah.