![24 1st December 2015
www.studentnewspaper.org music@studentnewspaper.org
twitter.com/EdStudentMusic
P
ortico are a fascinating
group. They came onto the
scene as a fresh, contempo-
rary jazz quartet and were im-
mediately lauded as potential saviors for
the (statistically) least-appreciated genre
in music. After three albums of technical-
ly stoic, atmospherically brilliant instru-
mentals,theformerquartetisnowsimply
Portico. Looking to solidify themselves as
anelectronicbandwithexperimentalten-
dencies to match their past efforts, saxo-
phonist Jack Wyllie explains his humble
rise, and how this has led him to pursue
an altered form of musical expression.
SMS: Whats up?
Jack: Literally right now, sat at a caf辿
on the Thames. Generally, were writing a
new album and doing a rehearsal tonight
By Ross Devlin
@BossDevlin
for our tour. Hopefully well release an al-
bum next year.
Who performs the vocal parts on your
last album, Living Fields, live?
Withlivestuff,theresaguycalledJono
McCleary who sings a few on our album.
He sings all the other songs from the al-
bum live. Theres three singers on the al-
bum Joe, Jono, and Jamie and Jono
sings Joe and Jamies tunes, so theres
four of us going out on tour.
How is your approach to song writing
different now that youre a trio?
It has changed. Everyones got their
own influence on how the process works
and their own input. I suppose more of a
change came about when we moved from
being a live set up to working with sing-
ers and writing [songs] on a computer,
and that was a huge change for the three
of us. We went from being a live band
that based all our songs around saxo-
phone, double bass, and drums, to all of
us writing lots of different parts, and also
producing it more; having a much more
variedpaletteoftexturesandinstruments
we worked with. Recording into a com-
puter and figuring it out digitally before
we played live. Its been a really big shift
in process.
Are you still a live band in the sense
that you try out new ideas live and flesh
them out on tour?
Were generating a lot of ideas by play-
ing live and improvising, which is what
weusedtodoalot,actually.Theresgoing
to be some saxophone, and more acoustic
instruments. But were also trying to inte-
grate some of the more electronic sounds
[...], but from ideas that weve generated
from playing live. It feels a bit more dy-
namic, I guess. We wont really be playing
that live on tour, but it will be played live
when we record it. And then there will be
additional production work done after-
wards, but the crux of it is live.
Do you think the attention you re-
ceived as a new, contemporary jazz
band has had a positive effect on the di-
rection youre taking now?
It was great in a lot of ways, because
its great to be known as that [a modern
jazz act], and we felt like it reflected what
we were doing. It was kind of a comple-
mentarydescriptionofthemusicwewere
making. Now that were doing something
else theres a bit of weight to that. Its
Cannonball Satchmo Duke BleedinGums
quite hard to get people to not contextu-
alise it like that when they see our music.
We still get reviews saying were a jazz
band. We still get booked for jazz festi-
vals, which is fine, but it also means its
difficult to break out of that. I think in the
past year weve made people understand
that [Portico] is a different thing.
Now that youre using more electron-
ic manipulation on your saxophone, do
you feel like you can express yourself
more musically, maybe in a more indi-
vidual way?
I felt for quite a long time that the sax-
ophone is such an idiomatic instrument.
Its so jazz. [...] Its quite hard to play sax-
ophone and not sound like youre playing
jazz music, regardless of what you do
with it. People broadly understand it as
being in that genre [...]. I guess we kind
of went outside of it [...]. But its very
heavy with connotations, and its quite
nice not to have that now to make mu-
sic that I felt reflected me a bit more, and
what I was listening to, and what I liked,
rather than a specific genre or history of
certain music. In that sense, it was really
exciting switching over. And its not like
I dont play the saxophone anymore I
love the saxophone and its a beautiful in-
strument,butIdidfinditquitedifficultto
play it and have an original voice in some
ways.
Its almost paradoxical - the more you
can disguise your instrument, the more
you can reveal yourself through it.
Yeah, I think so, by disguising it, or lay-
ering it up.
Youve named yourself after a portico
you played under in Italy once. Have
you played any other interesting venues
on the jazz festival circuit?
Its a mix of playing jazz clubs in Ger-
many to a bunch of 50 year-olds, which is
a lot of how the subsidised music in Ger-
many and France works. There are lots of
art centres on the outside of town they
payquitewellandwellgoandplayfora
slightly older audience. Its great, but not
very vibey. Weve also played a handful
of really wicked festivals. [...] One done
by Giles Peterson [Radio 6 DJ]. [...] A
festival in Marsaille, and we played in a
Roman amphitheater that was sort of set
into the side of a cliff. [...] It was pretty
special. Croatia, at Dimensions Festival,
which was in a large amphitheater as
well, I reckon about 5000 capacity, and
we opened for Bonobo.
What are your plans for the new al-
bum? Are there going to be more guests?
Well see. We might try to do a bit of
singing ourselves, and maybe have some
more sax and melodic lines in it. Were
trying to keep it in-house at the moment,
but that might change. I could see us do-
ing one or two songs with other people. If
we did use singers again, I reckon it will
be the same people [as Living Fields].
Wed like to give it more of a band feel,
and less like a song that happens to fea-
ture a singer in it.
IMAGE:AMAZON
Bird
T
he Doormats have per-
formed as part of exciting
showcases like the Liq-
uid Rooms In Limbo
and Summerhalls Neu Reekie. On
the 25th, they played Henrys Cellar
By Megan Wallace
@EdStudentMusic
Bar, promoting $CR*P, a zine cu-
rated by students at the Edinburgh
College of Art. I caught up with
them after the gig, by which point
any chance of a normal interview
was ostensibly out of the question.
SMS: You define yourself as experi-
mental; what does this mean to you?
The Doormats: Asymetric in both
sound and look. Theres a range of
haircuts.
In terms of your experience with
venues, have you been affected by the
councils crackdown on noise?
Our career as a band has been
plagued by noise complaints. The only
times weve not had a noise complaint
are when weve played in Glasgow or
London.
What kind of musical backgrounds
do you all come from? Both in terms
of training and your personal music
taste.
Jack: I used to play orchestral
percussion but now I restrict myself
to just the tambourine and I have
no official training on the frying pan.
Oscar: Yo La Tengo, Half Japanese,
Steve Malmaus, Pavement,
Joel: I went to Trinity Music College
for three weeks.
Silas: Blues rock with my brother,
but now hes gone in a more
management consultant direction.
Experimental Frequencies...
The Student interviews two bands that mix jazz and funk rhythms with their own secret ingredients
Do you have specific ideas about
your sound and look that you
cultivate or is it more of an organic
process?
With the sound yes, but it tends
to miss the aim and go in a different
direction. Our look is just very
incohesive.
Speaking of style, whos the
fashionable one of the group?
Well, Big Daddy (Jack) is like the
Bono of the group. Often seen wearing
charity fun run t-shirts.
Do you see music as your vocation?
Resident assistancy is my
profession. Music cant be my
profession.
How would you describe your
band dynamic?
We need one another to live, so
theres no choice in getting on.
How is the the album youre
working on different to your EP?
Its a bit more full band-y. Its also
less stripped back, the vocals are more
present.
As a final question, how do you
create your music? Is it lyrics first?
Or music? Where do you get the
inspiration?
Lyrics recently, but in the past it
was music first. What inspires it is
Big Daddypeople inspire me. Or
sometimes I lift lines from places
from books. Renaissance Poetry on
occasion.
A mixtape compiled by the
Doormats :
Cobaya by Magma
Parliament Funk
Woody Guthrie
The Fool
Gun Club
Fourtet
John Donnes complete works on
audiobook
King Crimson
Oh Sweet Nothing by the Velvet
Underground (for when the credits
roll)
The
Doormats
Portico](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/8ef2d112-88d5-493c-a9a9-40e1dc1810b0-160101001640/85/TSNP-E01-S2-0112-024-1-320.jpg)
TSNP-E01-S2-0112-024
- 1. 24 1st December 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org music@studentnewspaper.org twitter.com/EdStudentMusic P ortico are a fascinating group. They came onto the scene as a fresh, contempo- rary jazz quartet and were im- mediately lauded as potential saviors for the (statistically) least-appreciated genre in music. After three albums of technical- ly stoic, atmospherically brilliant instru- mentals,theformerquartetisnowsimply Portico. Looking to solidify themselves as anelectronicbandwithexperimentalten- dencies to match their past efforts, saxo- phonist Jack Wyllie explains his humble rise, and how this has led him to pursue an altered form of musical expression. SMS: Whats up? Jack: Literally right now, sat at a caf辿 on the Thames. Generally, were writing a new album and doing a rehearsal tonight By Ross Devlin @BossDevlin for our tour. Hopefully well release an al- bum next year. Who performs the vocal parts on your last album, Living Fields, live? Withlivestuff,theresaguycalledJono McCleary who sings a few on our album. He sings all the other songs from the al- bum live. Theres three singers on the al- bum Joe, Jono, and Jamie and Jono sings Joe and Jamies tunes, so theres four of us going out on tour. How is your approach to song writing different now that youre a trio? It has changed. Everyones got their own influence on how the process works and their own input. I suppose more of a change came about when we moved from being a live set up to working with sing- ers and writing [songs] on a computer, and that was a huge change for the three of us. We went from being a live band that based all our songs around saxo- phone, double bass, and drums, to all of us writing lots of different parts, and also producing it more; having a much more variedpaletteoftexturesandinstruments we worked with. Recording into a com- puter and figuring it out digitally before we played live. Its been a really big shift in process. Are you still a live band in the sense that you try out new ideas live and flesh them out on tour? Were generating a lot of ideas by play- ing live and improvising, which is what weusedtodoalot,actually.Theresgoing to be some saxophone, and more acoustic instruments. But were also trying to inte- grate some of the more electronic sounds [...], but from ideas that weve generated from playing live. It feels a bit more dy- namic, I guess. We wont really be playing that live on tour, but it will be played live when we record it. And then there will be additional production work done after- wards, but the crux of it is live. Do you think the attention you re- ceived as a new, contemporary jazz band has had a positive effect on the di- rection youre taking now? It was great in a lot of ways, because its great to be known as that [a modern jazz act], and we felt like it reflected what we were doing. It was kind of a comple- mentarydescriptionofthemusicwewere making. Now that were doing something else theres a bit of weight to that. Its Cannonball Satchmo Duke BleedinGums quite hard to get people to not contextu- alise it like that when they see our music. We still get reviews saying were a jazz band. We still get booked for jazz festi- vals, which is fine, but it also means its difficult to break out of that. I think in the past year weve made people understand that [Portico] is a different thing. Now that youre using more electron- ic manipulation on your saxophone, do you feel like you can express yourself more musically, maybe in a more indi- vidual way? I felt for quite a long time that the sax- ophone is such an idiomatic instrument. Its so jazz. [...] Its quite hard to play sax- ophone and not sound like youre playing jazz music, regardless of what you do with it. People broadly understand it as being in that genre [...]. I guess we kind of went outside of it [...]. But its very heavy with connotations, and its quite nice not to have that now to make mu- sic that I felt reflected me a bit more, and what I was listening to, and what I liked, rather than a specific genre or history of certain music. In that sense, it was really exciting switching over. And its not like I dont play the saxophone anymore I love the saxophone and its a beautiful in- strument,butIdidfinditquitedifficultto play it and have an original voice in some ways. Its almost paradoxical - the more you can disguise your instrument, the more you can reveal yourself through it. Yeah, I think so, by disguising it, or lay- ering it up. Youve named yourself after a portico you played under in Italy once. Have you played any other interesting venues on the jazz festival circuit? Its a mix of playing jazz clubs in Ger- many to a bunch of 50 year-olds, which is a lot of how the subsidised music in Ger- many and France works. There are lots of art centres on the outside of town they payquitewellandwellgoandplayfora slightly older audience. Its great, but not very vibey. Weve also played a handful of really wicked festivals. [...] One done by Giles Peterson [Radio 6 DJ]. [...] A festival in Marsaille, and we played in a Roman amphitheater that was sort of set into the side of a cliff. [...] It was pretty special. Croatia, at Dimensions Festival, which was in a large amphitheater as well, I reckon about 5000 capacity, and we opened for Bonobo. What are your plans for the new al- bum? Are there going to be more guests? Well see. We might try to do a bit of singing ourselves, and maybe have some more sax and melodic lines in it. Were trying to keep it in-house at the moment, but that might change. I could see us do- ing one or two songs with other people. If we did use singers again, I reckon it will be the same people [as Living Fields]. Wed like to give it more of a band feel, and less like a song that happens to fea- ture a singer in it. IMAGE:AMAZON Bird T he Doormats have per- formed as part of exciting showcases like the Liq- uid Rooms In Limbo and Summerhalls Neu Reekie. On the 25th, they played Henrys Cellar By Megan Wallace @EdStudentMusic Bar, promoting $CR*P, a zine cu- rated by students at the Edinburgh College of Art. I caught up with them after the gig, by which point any chance of a normal interview was ostensibly out of the question. SMS: You define yourself as experi- mental; what does this mean to you? The Doormats: Asymetric in both sound and look. Theres a range of haircuts. In terms of your experience with venues, have you been affected by the councils crackdown on noise? Our career as a band has been plagued by noise complaints. The only times weve not had a noise complaint are when weve played in Glasgow or London. What kind of musical backgrounds do you all come from? Both in terms of training and your personal music taste. Jack: I used to play orchestral percussion but now I restrict myself to just the tambourine and I have no official training on the frying pan. Oscar: Yo La Tengo, Half Japanese, Steve Malmaus, Pavement, Joel: I went to Trinity Music College for three weeks. Silas: Blues rock with my brother, but now hes gone in a more management consultant direction. Experimental Frequencies... The Student interviews two bands that mix jazz and funk rhythms with their own secret ingredients Do you have specific ideas about your sound and look that you cultivate or is it more of an organic process? With the sound yes, but it tends to miss the aim and go in a different direction. Our look is just very incohesive. Speaking of style, whos the fashionable one of the group? Well, Big Daddy (Jack) is like the Bono of the group. Often seen wearing charity fun run t-shirts. Do you see music as your vocation? Resident assistancy is my profession. Music cant be my profession. How would you describe your band dynamic? We need one another to live, so theres no choice in getting on. How is the the album youre working on different to your EP? Its a bit more full band-y. Its also less stripped back, the vocals are more present. As a final question, how do you create your music? Is it lyrics first? Or music? Where do you get the inspiration? Lyrics recently, but in the past it was music first. What inspires it is Big Daddypeople inspire me. Or sometimes I lift lines from places from books. Renaissance Poetry on occasion. A mixtape compiled by the Doormats : Cobaya by Magma Parliament Funk Woody Guthrie The Fool Gun Club Fourtet John Donnes complete works on audiobook King Crimson Oh Sweet Nothing by the Velvet Underground (for when the credits roll) The Doormats Portico