Portugal. The Man's John Gourley channels The Beatles and 'Star Trek'

The Portland-based band focused on chord-based songwriting.

By Joey Vergara

Published Nov. 10, 2008

As much as John Baldwin Gourley loves "Star Trek" and Rage Against the Machine, he knows where to draw the limits on his influences. The Portugal. The Man front man can explain the ins and outs of "Star Trek" TV shows ("The Original Series" and "Next Generation" only, please) better than most, going so far as to reference an entire fight scene from an episode in the band's latest video for "Lay Me Back Down," but he draws the line at Rage.

"Oh shit, could you see me rapping?" he said.

Realistically, it wouldn't be that far-fetched, considering the leaps Portugal has taken in its brief but unusually productive existence. The band released its debut Waiter: "You Vultures!" in 2006, two years after forming and has put out a full-length every year since, along with a couple of EPs.

In a lot of ways, the band's latest, Censored Colors, is a natural progression from Waiter and Church Mouth - the culmination of many old influences along with some new ideas for Gourley and his bandmates. Pushed by his friends to try chord-based songwriting, Gourley studied a Beatles songbook while simultaneously listening to the band's previous records.

The result, with songs written and recorded on a night-by-night basis for two weeks, reflects this growth. The album is split both sonically and literally, with an unexpected Latin-tinged intermission that divides the first six longer "singles" from a final seven-track suite.

"Abbey Road was the reason we did the whole second half of the record," Gourley said. "We really wanted to make those transitions between songs and everything big with that second half of the record, without actually sounding like Abbey Road."

The first songs stand on their own in the classic Portugal. The Man way. Heavy guitars and sudden stylistic shifts are layered with the more retro influences (Smokey Robinson, Motown) that Gourley wanted to reference. But the second half blends into one larger piece. The moody "1989," a lyrical acme for Gourley as he looks back on the first Gulf War, moves directly into the bouncier, reggae-influenced "Our Way." Somehow, it all works.

It didn't hurt the band's ambitions that multi-instrumentalists Kirk Huffman and Phil Peterson (of Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground) and producer Paul Q. Kolderie, who has worked with Pixies and Radiohead, came in to help.

"I remember talking to him, and it was the funniest thing," Gourley said, laughing. "I have no business getting on the phone with this guy to talk about mixing. If you're going to work with somebody, if you're going to collaborate with anybody, you have to let them have their space."

For Portugal, a band that "gets really stressed" if it's not recording at a constant pace, there's one thing to do after the release of an album - write another.

"I swear to God, every single time we've gone into the studio to make a record, I've said, 'We totally should make a soul record,'" he said. "And we all shrug and go, 'Yeah. Yeah! We should make a soul record.' With this next record, that's actually the plan. I just really want to do a lot of beat-based songs."

Three records in, the men of Portugal are doing things right, even if they haven't reached the soul sound.

"I think we've found just a really great area of songwriting and keys and everywhere we would do things naturally," Gourley said. "I think on the next record we're probably going to ditch the strings for a record and kinda go back to the four-piece."

In all likelihood, there will be another Portugal. The Man album in 2009 - that is, if another of Gourley's influences doesn't get in the way.

"'LOST?'" he said. "Fuck yeah. Give me a break."