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Portugal. The Man<\/a> is still feeling it.<\/p>\n John Gourley \u2014 the rebel creative force behind the wildly successful Alaska-born, Portland-based indie-rock band \u2014 gets his kicks writing and performing whatever new music he conjures up now just the same as he has since 2004.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s latest album, SHISH<\/em><\/a>, is a reflective collection and ode to his beloved homeland, even though he\u2019s been in Oregon for more than twenty years now. The title is a reference to the Alaskan city of Shishmaref, known as \u201cthe friendliest village in Alaska,\u201d while the album art is a photo of a man dragging two bloodied seals across the frozen tundra taken by resident Dennis Davis.<\/p>\n \u201cAlaska\u2019s kind of wild, as you can imagine. It\u2019s a pretty wild place,\u201d says Gourley, adding the highs and lows, heavy and slow, throughout SHISH<\/em> are the audible equivalent of the Last Frontier\u2019s untamable landscape. \u201cUltimately, what all these songs started sounding like to me is exactly what it\u2019s like being in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re aiming to raise $50,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to this community. If Westword<\/em> matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n The lessons he learned growing up hopping around Alaskan villages ultimately center around the importance of community \u2014 how we all need one another and have important societal roles to fill, which should encourage us to lean on one another, especially in times of need.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t interact with each other enough,\u201d Gourley says, reciting a favorite quote from fellow Alaskan musician Quinn Christopherson<\/a>. \u201cIt takes a village. It\u2019s the most fitting saying for everything that\u2019s happening politically.\u201d<\/p>\n That message is presented loud and clear on SHISH<\/em>, juxtaposed against the dissonance and din of modern politics, how it divides and tears people further apart. As a result, the album also reflects what it\u2019s like \u201cbeing an American right now,\u201d Gourley says.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I pick up my phone and it\u2019s utter fucking chaos. It\u2019s fucking Metallica. It\u2019s Slayer. It\u2019s Sepultura,\u201d he explains. \u201cThen you set down your phone and walk the fuck outside and get back to fishing or doing your job. The album has lots of those moments where I\u2019m picking up my phone and setting it back down, like, \u2018Holy shit, let\u2019s get out of it for a second.’\u201d<\/p>\n Courtesy Grandstand Media<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Always a beacon of progress, as evidenced by his long history of activism and the foundations he has started (Pass The Mic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Frances Changed My Life<\/a>), Gourley aims to share what he sees and experiences<\/span> around him via Portugal. The Man, which has included his longtime collaborator and now wife, Zoe Manville, since 2008. Take the track \u201cAngoon,\u201d<\/a> an anti-ICE anthem, which includes the verse, \u201cNo ICE, no borders enforcers, no owners, don\u2019t need new world order.\u201d Or there\u2019s the Lynchian-meets-Metallica line, \u201cjump in the fire, walk with me,\u201d sung so sweetfully you\u2019d miss the meaning if you weren\u2019t consciously listening to the words.<\/p>\n Portugal. The Man is in California when Westword<\/em> catches up with Gourley, just before its date in Denver on Wednesday, November 19, at Mission Ballroom<\/a>. Alaskan-Indigenous artist Ya Tseen<\/a> is also on the bill. The live band includes guitarist Nick Reinhart, drummer Kane Ritchotte, bassist Dani Bell, guitarist Liv Slingerland and Bonnie McIntosh on keys.<\/p>\n Gourley shares a surprising connection to the city, as his short-lived Portland post-hardcore crew, Anatomy of a Ghost<\/a>, immediately fell in with the local DIY scene in the early 2000s. He\u2019s quick to share high praise for the players who helped him during those salad days.<\/p>\n \u201cI probably wouldn\u2019t play music if it wasn\u2019t for Denver,\u201d he says. \u201cIt reminded me so much of growing up, moving around as a dog-mushing dogsled kid in a builder family. We bounced around all the time. It reminds me that, \u2018Yeah, I have little homes all over the world.\u2019 That was my first, so thank you, Denver hardcore.\u201d<\/p>\n But those aren\u2019t just rosy words (for the record, he also loves Blood Incantation<\/a>, Denver\u2019s preeminent death metal group; Gourley\u2019s worked with director Michael Ragen, who directed \u201cThe Stargate\u201d<\/a> music video, for ages). Gourley teamed up with old friend David Marion, best known for his time fronting Aurora post-hardcore act Fear Before<\/a>, aka Fear Before the March of Flames, on \u201cPittman Ralliers,\u201d<\/a> by far SHISH<\/em>\u2019s hardest-driving song, complete with a retro synthwave outro.<\/p>\n \u201cDavid Marion just randomly ends up in Portland and comes over to the house,\u201d Gourley says, explaining that he and Reinhart were working on the track when he stopped by. \u201cIt\u2019s just this thrash song, and David Marion is in the other room and literally gave me my first tours, supported us when nobody else did, so it was like, \u2018Fuck, yeah, he\u2019s going to be on the fucking record.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Marion\u2019s currently on the road with Portugal. The Man, too.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just absolutely crushed the vocals on that. I thought, \u2018Why don\u2019t you do the whole tour, because that\u2019s fun,\u2019\u201d he adds. \u201cThat\u2019s what we did back in the day, so I\u2019m really excited to have him out. That\u2019s our callback to Denver and what he did for us back in the day.\u201d<\/p>\n You can sense the excitement as Gourley recalls that time, before Portugal. The Man, when he learned what it meant to grind it out with Anatomy of a Ghost. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Denver scene was the very first place outside of Portland that accepted us. They accepted Anatomy of a Ghost with open arms,\u201d he shares. \u201cIt was like, \u2018We\u2019re friends for life. Us against everybody. Our tours are the best fucking tours.\u2019\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Remembering his roots is obviously important to Gourley.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ll never forget about playing music, about being a musician,\u201d he concludes, \u201cis where you come from.\u201d<\/p>\n Portugal. The Man, with Ya Tseen, 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 19, Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St. Tickets<\/a> are $65. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen news happens, Westword is there \u2014<\/strong>
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