Published on Thursday, August 21, 2008
By Staff Writer
Portugal. The Man makes no bones about loving pop music.
Not the Britney and J.Lo kind, but the Beatles, which Portugal. The Man's singer and guitarist John Baldwin Gourley explained was a huge influence for the band, whose members grew up in remote Wasilla, Ala.
Gourley remembers digging through his mom's cassette tapes as a child, listening to them, but not connecting with anything until he hit on "Abbey Road," the Ringo Starr song "Octopus' Garden," instantly clicking with him.
Years later, Gourley's band has departed from its riff-heavy rock and channeled the chords and energy of the Beatles for the new album, "Censored Colors" (due out Sept. 16), and is bringing some of the new tunes to a show in Pomona tonight.
"I really wanted to reference 'Abbey Road' without sounding like 'Abbey Road' in any way," Gourley said in a recent telephone interview.
