PORTUGAL. THE MAN Interview

After the amazing show Portugal. The Man put on last night, their lead singer, John, was kind enough to sit down and answer a few questions I had for him. John’s presence on stage belied his endearing, soft-spoken personality during the interview.

MAJESTIC MUSIC: I’ve gotta ask…where did you guys come up with the name “Portugal. The Man”?

JOHN: When we sat down to talk about the band and what we wanted to do with it, Bowie & the Beatles were a big inspiration at the time; Elton John as well, so we wanted to make an alter ego, this other character, and make it sound like an individual but also have it represent a group of people as well. So we decided to take a country’s name because a country represents a group of people and is a singular voice in the world as well. And to be honest, Portugal sounded the best as a person’s name, and I know the whole thing looks weird now, but Portugal was the person’s name…and it didn’t make sense without saying “he’s the man!”, and the period is in there to emphasize that.

MM: How did the band start/meet each other?

J: Zach (bass/percussion/vocals) and I went to high school together and he was in a cover band that covered like Rage Against the Machine, Pantera, Slayer…I’d see him playing at lunch and I just thought to myself, “It’s so crazy,” these kids playing these songs, probably not very well, but at the time it just seemed like it. And I thought, if he can play those songs, why can’t we write and play our own songs?

MM: How old were you in high school when you met?

J: It was freshman year; I left that school pretty early. I’d been homeschooled before, off and on, and high school just didn’t make any sense to me. There was nothing I wanted to do, and there was nothing it was giving me. I was really shy so I wasn’t getting the social experience or anything like that…but I was fine, I had an understanding of what I wanted to do. We moved down to Portland after we started this band, Matt, Ryan, and Jason…we’re trying to keep it very Alaskan, or Portland-based [laughs].

MM: Any other bands that inspire you besides Bowie, Beatles, Elton John…?

J: Oh, Wu-Tang, totally Wu-Tang. Old Dirty Bastard’s first record; I was just listening to it the other day and just sitting there listening to that…his first record is one of the craziest albums I’ve ever heard, it’s a total concept record if you listen from start to finish, it flows together so well; everything they did with that was really cool. The Flaming Lips are kind of an obvious new band…out of any new band that’s the band that I connect with the most, visually and song wise, and as people they seem like they really love playing music and that’s what I dig more than assholes playing rock and roll.

MM: Are there any newer bands that you’re really into right now?

J: Hello Electric are friends of ours; Drug Rug obviously, we’ve been wanting to tour with them for a long time now and I’m really glad it worked out.

MM: What did you think of Madison/the Majestic?

J: It’s great, it’s so cool; last time [at Café Montmartre] was really good, too. It was really fun, and people here are really nice. The promoter is really cool, the venue is cool, the security is cool…we’ve had the best experiences in Madison. It’s always been nice.

MM: Any random trivia about the band you want to leave me with?

J: I don’t know…every time we get this question, I feel like I have to say something cool…[laughs]

Let me know what you think–there’s a comment button right below this post! Also, if anyone has ideas of what I should ask bands in upcoming interviews, tell me! I can always use more constructive crit.