Portugal. The Man Comes Back To Australia For Something Special

Photos: Maclay Heriot

Portugal. The Man, despite their name, is a band that comes from Alaska. Not Portugal.

When naming their band they wanted to have a ‘bigger than life’ feel, an idea based on David Bowie’s ‘bigger than life’ fame but naming it after one of their members wasn’t it. A country would have to do. This notion that everything was bigger than life is something that the members have carried on since their inception in 2001. That music is bigger than simply playing to a crowd, but a way to evoke real change and help others in the process. While the band is obviously famous for their music, it is their philanthropy work that have set them apart. From setting up Pass The Mic, an organisation centred around universal issues related to human rights, community health, and the environment, and highlighting the stories of Indigenous Peoples, to hosting countless charity events to raise funds for rare genetic disorders, they’re a band who care deeply about the world, and the people in it. It’s been a while since they’ve come out to Australia, but we’re excited to see them play at Bluesfest, and of course to have a beer with them downstairs at Maclay Heriot’s exhibition. He’s been following the band around for ten years now, and a catch up was well overdue. We’d love to see you there (details at the bottom hehe). Here’s our chat with frontman John Gourley ahead of their return.

What are you up to today?

I've just been, racing around because we're getting ready for Frances's fundraiser tomorrow, our daughter's fundraiser.

Tell us about the fundraiser.

Frances has an extremely rare genetic disorder. It's neurodegenerative, and it makes you feel pretty alone out there. So we started joining these groups to find all the adjacent genetic mutations to Frances, and I would see a lot of people, feeling kind of helpless and hopeless. I think about it constantly because it's Frances, and it makes me think about the people working an eight-hour job or having two jobs, and having a kid with Frances's needs, I can't even imagine that. To not be around them, to not be with her 24/7. So I would see people in these groups just wanting to commiserate. They just want to be around other people who make them feel like just lift the weight a little bit, and I think just having a platform, having a space where we can talk about this stuff is great. There's 30 million kids in the US with a rare disease, hundreds of millions in the world. It's not that rare. And that's been the most eye-opening thing to me. So we're trying to raise money for Frances right now and DHDDS in partnership with Rare Village and other groups as well. So this funding that we're raising, a lot of it goes into different research. Frances's mutation, like her disorder comes along with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and movement disorders. Sorry. It's a lot to talk about, but of course there's crossover. So if we can solve a piece of this puzzle, they can go up that genome and they can find that little block where there is potential crossover with dementia patients and things like that. So that's why we push research on these really specific diseases because if you can solve this, then you can potentially solve these greater, you just have one more piece of the puzzle.

Yeah, for sure. Where is the fundraiser?

It's in Los Angeles. A lot of people came through. I'm really pretty blown away by the amount of people that came through. I think everything's up on Charity Buzz. I think we'll continue to do stuff with them and continue during our own fundraisers as well. Like just to help out these kids.

This is semi-related. Actually I don't really know if it is, but anyway. I watched the doco The Greatest Night in Pop the other day, and just the way that they were fundraising for starving kids in Africa however many years ago that was now, thirty, forty years ago using music as a vessel to do that. I just want to ask, how have you seen music as a vessel for change within your career? I mean, obviously you're doing charity shows, but are there other aspects?

Yeah. I mean, musicians are compassionate people. We’ve been in a band so long and we never thought we'd be at the Grammys or play TV or go to Australia. I never thought we'd do any of those things. I didn't think we'd leave the country. But now that we have it’s fascinating to see how as a band we started out in the outskirts of town playing little rooms or little bars, you play the dives, you play outside of the cities, and then you slowly move into the city and you start playing the theatres and the audience begins to change. The changes in the people and the surroundings as you move around. When you start in the outskirts you're around people who build the stages and you're around the workers, it's all people escaping. That's what music was for me. It's an escape from isolation, of course. And it's an escape from your everyday nine to five. So you see these different groups of people that start out at the early shows who are hungry for something more. And the audience, it's so amazing how it changes with the venues. The type of person that goes to a theatre is different from the type of person that goes to a club. The person that goes to a club is hungry for it, and they're going out to find it. It's because we're all trapped in this, and you don't want to feel trapped. So I just see musicians as this way that if you choose to care about things, people will respond and will listen to that and will pay attention. That's not to say that musicians are any more influential than anybody else. We're just all in the room together. We're all in the fucking room. I guess we'll talk about things that we all care about. Of course. And it helps to hear somebody else say that they care about it.

Yeah, absolutely. Is Pass The Mic still going, or is it more focused on Frances's fundraiser now?

Of course. It's still going. Yeah. I fully believe in the idea that you should never take anything. I mean, as an artist that should be the hardest mantra. When you go out, always leave something there you'd never take and expect. Whether it's leaving yourself on stage. I mean, those early shows, those club shows, you’re sweating, it's messy, it's loud. You're leaving a piece of yourself in that city. I think you should always continue that.

Yeah. That's so cool. Have you seen some tangible impacts come out of Pass The Mic?

I feel everything is so colonialism and any changes takes so long. It takes generations. I think our little part with Pass The Mic is literally what it's supposed to be, passing the mic to the people who should be talking. It's not for me to talk about the land. I love Welcome to Country. It's so perfect. Welcome to Territory is what we ended up settling on here but it's not a land acknowledgement. Asking can we come play your area? Can we play your territory? That is really important. I see other artists taking it on. We partnered with Boy Genius. That was great. We’re continuing to partner with more and more people, gaining visibility. The goals are really simple. Give the land back. We need to start funding that. My whole thing with foundations and stuff, it's so difficult for me because you have to funnel the money through. Everything is just tracked and checked, and I'd rather just say, how much am I making on this show? Cool. Let's buy some land and just dedicate a show to it and buy some land. Put it in a trust, give it back. I think that's the ultimate goal. And to really learn about the land. I believe indigenous knowledge is why we survive in any of these places.

Absolutely.

And then we're fucking up big time everywhere, just not understanding the land.

No, it's ridiculous. I agree. I mean, we just had our craziest bushfires, what, three years ago? And it's like maybe if we listened to the people that have been managing the land through fires for literally thousands of years, we could have avoided this size of catastrophe in Australia. I could talk about this all day but let’s get back to the music. Have you ever played Blues Fest before?

No.

Okay, cool.

I don't think so. No, I don't think we have.

First time playing Blues. That will be nice. Is this your only Australian show this year that we get?

I believe so. I think with all the Frances stuff going on, we just have not been traveling a whole lot. And I feel so bad because we've really neglected the fans. I mean, it was two years of lockdowns and then Frances happened. We got the diagnosis during the pandemic. So coming out of it has just been like, how do we get back in the flow of things? And also, I'm so obsessed with young artists. So it's kind of fun to let them do all the festivals this year. I want to just play a handful of things that feel really close to people and mean something.

Of course. And then obviously you’ll be here for Maclay’s photo exhibition downstairs on the 26th March?

Yeah.

What's it like working with Maclay for so long? Ten years isn’t it?

Maclay is a ray of sunshine. He is such a special person. Just the type of person that can jump on a bus or a van and hang out with The Chat, or King Gizz. The type of person that can go across all these different groups. Yeah, he's very special. I mean, I knew the second we met him. We were hanging out and I was just like, would you want to come on tour? I feel like I've known him forever. Everybody loves him.

Yeah, everyone does. If someone was reading this and they're a photographer who dreams of following a band around the world, what would your advice be to those photographers? Why do you think that Maclay, apart from his personality, is so good at what he does?

It is such a special talent. You really do have to know that you're good at it. That's first and foremost. I mean, a lot of being good at it is being there, but it really is understanding. Maclay really knows what he is doing. He's never just happened to be there and got the right photo, it’s planned and he never gets caught up in the moment. That's where Maclay is really special. I've watched him, I've seen him in situations where we're all hanging out, we're all having fun, and he's having fun too. And then he just whips out the camera and just takes the shot because he knows what he's doing. I find it to be such a beautiful art - capturing moments. He's really great at fly on the wall photography. He's just in the room and catches it. Also I think to young photographers, I will say that if you have complaints in your first tour, it's probably not for you. It took years before I ever heard Maclay ever any inkling of being like hey, do you think we could do this?

Yeah, interesting. There you go. That's some good tips. And then obviously coming out for Blues, and your charity shows, what else is on the cards this year?

I think we're touring up until July, and then I just want to be making more music. We had so much going on over the last few years. I want to make more art and just keep it all coming. I really love the idea of playing small clubs.

Oh, sweet.

That's the most fun to me, and it doesn't make any money.

As a musician do you feel like you have to play the songs that people know and love. Give them what they want?

No, I don't think you should give people what they want.

Okay.

You have to give people surprises. You have to give people curve balls. You have to show them something new. Australian are really great at receiving music because you are fun as hell. People don't give a fuck. You’re just there to listen to some music and skull some tins, and that’s what I'm there for too. Everybody recognises that about Australians. Australians are like Alaskan as fuck. I have to say, when I come out there, I'm like, y'all are just southern hemisphere Alaskans, and it's hilarious.

I've never been to Alaska. I've been to Canada and I know we’re similar to the Canadians in a lot of ways but I've never heard that we're similar to Alaskans, so that's cool.

Yeah. Alaskans, Hawaiians, Australians.

Great countries. I mean, I know they’re a part of America but not really in my eyes (laughs).

Yeah they’re different. They’re the better parts.

Catch Portugal. The Man on Thursday the 28th at the Byron Bay Bluesfest by grabbing tickets here. And if you are around Sydney next Tuesday, drop in to the Monster Children gallery and see the wonder that is Maclay Heriot’s exhibition capturing ten years of Portugal. The Man. The band will be making a special appearance and you can corner Maclay to ask him all his photography secrets. Or just tell him he’s done a good job. I think he’d like that.