John Gourley Quotes
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My dad just left high school in '69, went to Woodstock, and after half a year of college for architecture, just took off for Alaska. He bought a van and went straight into the mountains and built a cabin.
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The whole band is from Alaska. It's like growing up anywhere else.
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Weird Al was something that kids would listen to. It's funny, super funny, smart. It's just kind of jokey. I remember hearing 'Smells Like Nirvana' before hearing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' That's how it really worked. I think it's just such a cool thing how he introduced us to so many cool bands. Even Queen - 'Another One Rides the Bus.'
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Poor Ron Paul. He means well. He really does. But there's something about him. I don't know what it is. From falling victim to Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno to that old-man shuffle, he just seems like kind of a... like kind of a sissy.
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It's so perfectly Alaska to be like, 'Dad we're going to the Grammys,' and for him to be like, 'Oh, well that's great, Johnny. All right, gotta go back to work.'
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I think we're pretty spiritual people, the band in general. We're not a bunch of hippies or anything like that, but we like to work together and work with people. We believe that positive energy is pretty necessary in life, although it's not always easy to maintain.
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We tour, we do the distance from friends and family, not really knowing how to connect with people on the same level. I've understood now, as much as we tour, we live day-to-day, so our lives are much different than the people who stay at home and go home every night.
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It's really hard to escape where you were brought up. Not that I would ever want to escape it.
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As a songwriter, it's good to have criticism, and I like objective opinions.
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There are some athletes who I feel like are just looking for likes, and then there are people who are just real.
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When I was in high school and first starting to drive by myself, I listened to Wu Tang in the car, and I recognized their soul and R&B roots.
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As much as we love an excuse to dress up, the red carpet is not the place.
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There's no making art for art's sake. You've got to make the best art you can.
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I've never been the type of person that puts things on a shelf or, like, needs to clean my sneakers every day. I just wear what I like.
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Right after we recorded 'Satanic Satanist' and 'American Ghetto' here in Boston, we decided we'd grow our hair out. This is - was - like the Beatles thing. I wanted to see these pictures later in life.
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I like the challenge of writing music without being the coolest guy or band in the room.
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To me, sci-fi has the most amazing style.
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I grew up in Alaska, okay? My dad graduated high school and went straight to the mountains. He had $300 and staked a claim. He didn't even have enough to put a title on the land: just had the records that he bought before he moved.
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I feel like rock n' roll has become very tame.
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Portugal. The Man, to me, doesn't have any real ties. We try to change things up with every album, really progress, and let things happen.
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Whether it be tour posters, album packaging, videos, stage design, etc., the visual aspect of music is very important to us.
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If you don't have negative experiences, you have no way to gauge the positive ones, and you have no way to deal with it.
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I feel like every album we make, that's our debut album.
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Levis are my go-to. Plain crew necks and jeans.