Skip to main content
Portugal. The Man's fourth full-length, The Satanic Satanist, drops next Tuesday (though, as the band has made clear, it leaked a long time ago). While the band doesn't have any Portland dates in the near future (they play McMinnville Sept. 3 and perform at MFNW Saturday, Sept. 19), we thought The Satanic Satanist was a cool enough disc to warrant coverage timed to the album's release date. So we called John Gourley, who seemed a teensy bit frazzled from the band's German tour, and chatted him up about the record, love from the emo kids and his home state of Alaska. Brand new music intern Jenny Booth scribbled out the entire twisted chat. Here 'tis for your enjoyment.
WW: Hey, how you doin'?
Cool I just got an email that said "The Sun" was number 5 on the top 100 over there?
It must be a weird touring experience then if you're kinda blowing up over there right now?
Hey so I'm just gonna bug you about the new album a lot—I know that the process for this one was very different than the old one, I wondered if you could talk a little bit about the song writing process and recording process?
Censored Colors
Censored Colors
Paul Kolderie!
Did you feel like little kids or something, like that must've been kind of intimidating??
Yeah it's interesting you know, everything about the album has a different feel to it, but the lyrics especially for me, feel a lot more concrete than they have in the past. Was that a conscious effort?
Censored Colors
It's funny you mentioned putting that many people in a room and that it can go sour—and especially when a band is embarking on these kind of changes that you guys are, like the sound has evolved so much...were there any conflicts in the band about where things were going or how things were sounding? Or was this a real natural fit for you guys to have a kind of a brighter sound?
really writing
You don't take things too seriously in that setting it sounds like.
I've seen you talk a lot about the influence that Alaska's had on your music, and I wonder what kind of influence living in Portland has had on your music?
So do you feel like outsiders in that music scene? Is that what you mean by that?
Yeah I think that's tough for a lot of people, I was talking to Hutch from the Thermals not too long ago and he was saying the only shitty thing about being able to tour and make a living out of it, is that you miss the Portland summers, you miss PDX Pop and stuff like that.
With the last record you got some attention from Alternative Press, which is sort of like the huge rolling stone these days, especially for the younger generation. And it's interesting to me that your sound is sort of morphing out of their general aesthetic, and at the same time, those audiences are just now picking up on your music. I wonder if you have any thoughts about having these stylistic changes and kinda diving in the way you guys have to the sound while the emo kids are starting to pick up on—
really play music
the same record
I was going through the website the other day and realized that you personally really have a strong desire to communicate with your audience. You write a lot more than most bands that I've noticed.
I was reading you explaining where you are as band, and the economics, and I rarely see that stuff written out in such an honest open way. Where do you get that from?
It's cool for me to see that kind of dialogue. That cool, kinda early hardcore thing that has fallen by the way side.
Can you tell me about the album title? It reminds me of The Stones—
Their Satanic Majesties Request
The Majestic Majesty
That's funny I had that same issue especially when I was younger, I used to just hate him. Him and Billy Idol was the other guy I always hated growing up.
A lot of the songs talk about your Dad's experience going to Alaska, so how did he wind up going up there?
Are you mostly in Germany this tour or moving through the rest of Europe?
NME
So what's next for you? I'm curious what you guys are thinking up next, are you talking about the next album and the next phase?
Because the process changed on this album, did that change the way the band will always do things, or might you wind up just going back in the studio and just seeing what happens again like you did in the old days?
Not taking too much of a break then?
Last question—what the fuck is Sarah Palin doing? I know you're gonna get asked that loads now but still.
People
Links:
WWeek 2015