SuburbanHorror: You were raised really unconventionally. Your parents ran the Iditarod race several times. You grew up without a telephone and with a generator. How did that influence your music today?

John Gourley: I’m sure it does in any way, much the same way upbringing and experiences lead people to do what they do for a living, I suppose. At the time, growing up, I always thought it was weird. A lot of my friends grew up in town, which our towns aren’t much different from down there. It was always weird to me that my parents did all this crazy outdoors stuff, because it was like one of those things that was looked down upon by the kids. I didn’t really get a lot of the new music or get into any of the trends of the time. I was really shy as well; I wasn’t about to step out and do anything crazy. I was just really shy because I didn’t get brought up around kids. It let me just sit back a little bit more and observe things a little bit more.

SH: How does that influence the way you live your life now and Portugal. The Man’s social commentary?

JG: In every way. Because I was shy and because all I did was sit and watch people interact, not in a creepy way by the way; I wasn’t socially awkward, I was just shy, I don’t know my parents are really open minded and really laid back people. Everything they’ve taught me growing up, I think it’s helped me understand people a bit more, just sitting back and not really falling into all the craze and the groupings of people.

SH: I saw you guys play with the Fall of Troy when you guys played the Troubadour. My friend was telling me you guys were an amazing band, and I was just blown away. I was really excited that I got to interview you guys. You guys put on a great live performance!

JG: That’s great. Normally, we’ve gone out on the West coast, and we don’t really practice that much because we’re constantly touring. But we get like two weeks off in Portland, and then we go have these tours, and we have the worst shows ever in California. The whole West coast is awful. Then we get to the Midwest, and we’re finally comfortable with it, but we’re playing the Midwest so it doesn’t really matter. But that’s cool, that’s really good to hear!

SH: So on your latest record, what were the big influences?

JG: I think it was just ourselves, not in a pretentious way at all. It was just we went to Germany, and we showed up there, and we had no idea we were headlining shows there. And this magazine, Vision Magazine, which were really great to the band when the record came out, not that many people picked it up, even for review. I don’t think we had any reviews here in the States in magazines. But, Vision picked it up, and they gave it number one of the month. And, we showed up, and we were like, "Holy shit! We have headlining shows!" We have a 25-minute set; we’ve never been to this place. We have thoughts in our heads about how this place is going to be, nobody speaks English; we’re not going to know what to do! So, we just kind of jammed, and we just played, and it was really what came out of that whole trip. We had to play for an hour and a half as opposed to the 25 minutes we were used to so it just gave us a chance to see what happened, to just play. Not being a trained musician at all, I’m pretty much self-taught, and Zach is the same way on bass, he pretty much has his own style of playing everything. It really evolved quickly at that point. Up until then, we had been playing with samplers and drum machines and different things on stage to try to recreate the sample elements on the first records. But, we just threw it all out and sought a percussionist. I think that is everything that led up to the new record and everything sounding a bit different.

SH: For clarification, it’s "Portugal. The Man?"?

JG: No, it’s "Portugal. The Man". Really, it’s pretty much lost everything that it was at the beginning. When the band started, I had pretty much been writing a lot of songs. I knew I didn’t want to do a solo project. Zach and I had been playing together for so long, and we knew it would always be a band. And, I guess where I’m going with this is we wanted to give it this larger than life person creating the music creating that feel with the name. So, we wanted to give it a person’s name, but not necessarily one of ours. So, we randomly picked a country to represent the group of people, which is us playing the music, and the individual as well. Portugal., that’s the guy’s name.

SH: What is your favorite song off of the new album?

JG: I guess, it’s such a cop out to say I really like how they all came together. I honestly was really liking "Sleep." It just has a really cool grouping, the bass, the drums, with the slow song kind of droning on the top of it. I think Zach and Jason did a really great job on that one.

SH: So what is Portugal. The Man going to be up to now?

JG: I think we’re pretty much touring for the next three and half months. We’re just going to be on tour. We’re doing our first headlining tour, which is really fun, we’re going to be able to play as long as we’d like to play in the States. So, that should be really nice. I think we go back to Germany after that and probably loop around here again. Then work on more new music.

SH: Would you ever consider relocating from Alaska?

JG: We pretty much have. We live and are based out of Portland, Oregon. And, it just makes so much more sense to be set in the lower 48. It’s so hard to tour out of (Alaska); you have to get plane tickets all the time. During the summer, when you would be touring the most, plane tickets are just crazy expensive with tourism and everything. Tickets from here to Portland are like $700, so to do it out of here wouldn’t make much sense.

SH: What do you think it is about Alaska that is so mystical that just draws people, as an Alaskan native.

JG: It’s really just open. It’s one of those places where you can just drive out into the middle of nowhere and never be bothered. I’ve never seen that where we’ve been touring around. Zach and I are just used to driving out to secluded places and camp. You can’t do that easily down there; it’s a really big and open place. The mountains are just massive and everything.

SH: Are you guys really big outdoor enthusiasts?

JG: I wouldn’t consider myself one, and I can say Zach isn’t either. After going down there, I would definitely say so. Compared to other Alaskans, we’re definitely not. Coming back home, I like just sitting on the porch and being surrounded by trees. I like having the option to come out and walk in the woods. I would probably never do that, but it’s nice to have the option.

-Magic Stick Mish