En Route to this year’s Harvest of Hope festival and on the heels of their newest release American Ghetto, Portugal. The Man graces the Crowbar in Tampa Wednesday.
Portugal’s bassist Zack Carothers credits front man and guitarist John Baldwin Gourley’s experimentation with outtakes and edits from their previous album as the inspiration for the latest brew.
“It was mostly John at the beginning,” said Carothers. “He took pieces of audio and b-roll from our album The Satanic Satanist and looped them together.”
When Gourley finished, the rest of the band flew later to record their parts, said Carothers.
“We’ve never really done anything like that,” said Carothers.
The album released on March 2 in MP3 format on iTunes and Amazon.com.
“We’ll have physical CDs and vinyl in stores on May 11,” said Carothers.
In the past, there’s been sufficient comparison of PTM to the progressive-rock band The Mars Volta due to the similarities in singers, but Carothers said the new album is a different avenue for the band.
“I think with this album, it will widen the gap a little between us and them," said Carothers.
He said the band doesn’t mind the parallel at all due to the fact that they’ve played numerous shows collectively with The Mars Volta, and have a great amount of respect for their music.
Carothers and lead singer Gourley started out together in the emo/screamo band Anatomy of a Ghost, but the band broke up in 2004.
“We started Portugal pretty much the day after Anatomy ended,” said Carothers.
In April, PTM plays the Coachella festival in California. While they’ve never played there before, Carothers said he enjoyed a family reunion at the festival in 2007.
“The last time I was at Coachella, it was to see Rage Against The Machine,” said Carothers. “My whole family came out to the show.”
Gourley and Carothers both hail from Alaska, while keys player Ryan Neighbors, and drummer Jason Sechrist represent Salem and Portland, Oregon respectively.
Portugal has received its fair share of merits over the years.
Alternative Press included PTM’s album Censored Colors on its “10 Essential Albums of 2008,” and affectionately called them “indie darlings.”
Carothers and company hope to garner the same attention with American Ghetto.
Check out Portugal. The Man with Port O’Brien and The Dig at the Crowbar in Ybor City Wednesday March 10, 2010.
