Interview: Portasound at the Joiners

Last night, the mighty Portasound played the Joiners in support of Wave Machines. The Tab were invited along for a chat.

Portasound look like five guys who have just stepped out of an NME photoshoot and it’s easy to imagine they’ll soon be filling the country’s largest venues. I ask what their tour of smaller places has been like.

“Playing somewhere like the Joiners is a milestone for local bands,” James, once a Solent student, tells me straight away. They’re a band whose appreciation of their audience grew during a series of legendary warehouse parties. “I can’t imagine what we’d have if these places didn’t exist.”

Since I didn’t have a camera, Portasound helpfully drew me this picture of them if they all merged into one beardy man

Portasound don’t love every live performance, however. “Some gigs you just get fifteen people who are all there to write about you.” They look at me accusingly. “These aren’t the highlights but they build your profile.” Quickly I change the subject.

I’m told that on tour in Newcastle during a “sexy dream” drummer Graham bit the neck of a bandmate in a hotel room. Was it awkward on stage? “We couldn’t look at each other.”

Portasound seem a band destined for massive stages. Their sound melds together post-rock and Gary Numan synths, sci-fi keyboard sounds and staccato guitar riffs. Lyrics are sparse. Citing influences such as Fuck Buttons and also Metronomy, who they supported at an early show, their music explores the vast range between indie rock and European dance music. Almost irritatingly catchy keyboard loops form the basis upon which they build with thick layers of guitar noise.

The band have evolved their duration, starting as a trio in the studio, named after a keyboard long since retired from their sound. Portasound found themselves having to deconstruct their studio productions to reproduce in front of an audience. Adding a live drummer and another multi-instrumentalist caused a shift in focus, bringing the experience of their stage show back to the studio.

Graham, on drums, is the glue, bashing out fills and holding together seemingly unrelated fragments of music. “We do have trouble saying ‘this is a verse, this is a chorus'” the band admit.

Small venues like the Joiners are clearly just another step in the Portasound journey. The destination?

“We want to make a whole experience. The music, video, everything. Think of Secret Cinema. We’re working with a director.”

Wherever it ends, Portasound have a distinct and creative vision for their art, one I cannot wait to see realised.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vy3LVABnxk?rel=0&w=560&h=315]