LIGHT BULB: you guys. I finally figured out why I still only have a personal blog for reviews and Rolling Stone, Spin or NME haven't hired me yet, duh. Wanna know why? I get white girl wasted at most shows and forget important details, that would add leaps and bounds of descriptive verbiage to these posts. Last Thursday night, for instance, I met 3 members of Portugal. The Man, (PTM) and I can't remember their names. Seriously, Lindsay?? Thumbs down. Regardless, they were humble and down to party...a winning combo of personality traits.
PTM breezed through the CapReg last Thursday night to promote their latest effort, Evil Friends, which drops June 4. The Hollow Bar & Kitchen, formerly The Bayou, closed off the back bar for a quick, acoustic set for about 100 lucky fans. Not only did they play for the crowd, but in between songs they answered some burnin' questions that fans had. My homie, Rory, was able to inquire about PTM's tour. Rory has been a fan since 2009 when The Satanic Satanist was released and he was curious as to why PTM was playing for 100 people and not 100,000 people? It was a good question, and even the band seemed stumped. However, Amber and Jeff made it seem that they'd be back for a full show, even though I did prefer the intimacy the show we saw provided.
What these 5 dudes lacked in stature, they made up for in stage presence and energy. The vibe was chill, but people were still rockin'. Albany wasn't even a location listed on their Tour Date page and you couldn't buy tickets anywhere, guests had to be invited by WEQX, talk about VIP, holla. I was offered these passes while in Colorado visiting my bestie, Sally, who was going to be in town for this show, so naturally she was my sidekick. PTM was coming from NYC, where they drove around the city all day, playing tunes on top of a double-decker bus, and en route to Boston for Memorial Day Weekend. PTM's ability to flex their tour like this, just goes to show they're pulling out all the stops to increase their fan base. These gracious moves are definitely not going unnoticed, and while they didn't play for that long on Thursday, I can safely assume everyone prefers quality over quantity, any day.
I first heard their name when they were opening for The Black Keys, but never really gave their full albums a chance. I was always content with the jams EQX played regularly, they were enough until last week. I can't wait to get my paws on Evil Friends, and also dig into some of their more 'vintage' stuff too. I don't know what genre to put them in, because their sound is insanely original, but each track has relaxing harmonies paired with harder geetarrrr riffs, to make this music love-child that everyone digs. Their stuff is edgy, but also has some pop undertones because of John Gourley's soprano vocals...who by the way is adorable, mustache and all.
Some tracks to listen to immediately include: Got It All, So American, All Your Light, People Say, The Sun, Purple Yellow Red and Blue and obviously, Evil Friends. Also, to be noted, is the artwork of the band. You can follow their Instagram account: "portugaltheman" or check out their wesbite, it's another addition to their uniqueness. It seems the band had this ridiculous consistency of releasing an album every year since 2006, but tapered off since 2011, which makes this album drop pretty huge, especially for the enthusiastic and close following fans.
I'm still averaging one show per month and Metric is up next in June! My personal goal might be to stay about from the sauce.....hm, haha, nah. ;)
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