In his recent interview with Creative Loafing Tampa, Portugal. The Man bassist Zachary Carothers explained his band’s motivation to put their money where their mouth as they tour in advance of their new, socially conscious LP Woodstock.
“A lot of times when we're out on tour we drink far too much and we play too little and it's kind of nice to do something that makes us feel good,” Carothers, 35, joked. “We're all about doing those kind of things. Anything that we can do to help communities, especially children.”
Read: Portugal. The Man talks new LP, Infowars hate, being good to the community
That sentiment manifests itself before the indie rock band’s appearance at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg on April 8 when Portugal. The Man invites a group of local kids to help the band soundcheck.
A press release says kids from south Pinellas rock school Noisemakers and Operation Coexist will play Portugal. The Man’s new single, “Feel It Still,” alongside the group. Noisemakers provides music education at a low cost (sometimes waiving fees completely) and Operation Coexist hosts and sponsor concerts and music festivals to raise money to provide funding for music education programs for children in the local foster care system.
"Providing instruments and lessons is a major part of what we do with Operation Coexist, but giving these kids the opportunity to meet and even sometimes perform with their favorite artists like this is what keeps them excited to learn about music," Operation Coexist founder Katie Talbert told CL in a message. "That is the kind of magic that we want to do at Noisemakers. We don't just want them to learn how to play music , we want them to learn how to love music."
Carothers, for his par,t agrees.
“We've worked with a lot of different companies to help, donate instruments, our time, money from shows and things like that,” Carothers added. “We definitely have to practice what we preach and we're all about that for sure. It's something that just makes us feel good.”
Watch a video about Coexist below and see a video for Portugal. The Man’s “Feel It Still” here. Get more information on the show via local.cltampa.com and read our interview with Carothers here.
Portugal. The Man Sat., April 8, 9 p.m. $25. Jannus Live, 200 First Ave. N., St. Petersburg More info: local.cltampa.com \\This article appears in Apr 6-13, 2017.