Chances are you’ve heard of Wasilla, Alaska. You know it as the home of snow machines and as a place where a certain former Republican vice presidential candidate can see Russia from her doorstep. That’s probably just about all anyone knows about this arctic town tucked far, far away from the rest of the continental United States.
What you likely don’t know about Wasilla is that it’s home to one of the most exciting live bands making music today. A band with a name as obscure as its hometown used to be prior to the 2008 presidential elections. That band is Portugal. The Man and they put on a mini rock spectacle at the Crocodile April 16 filled with smoke machines, fancy lights and loud guitars.
If you take the spazz out of the Mars Volta and the art out of … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead you’ve got Portugal. The Man, the best band you’re not listening to. Their songs are not overwhelmed by too many grandiose, proggy jams and they aren’t filled with ambitious concepts or massive artistic statements. Portugal. The Man’s music just flat out rocks.
Led by John Gourley, a small man in stature who plays a big guitar (see above photo for evidence), the band blazed through a 90-minute set that was heavy on material from its best record “Church Mouth.” The set kicked off with the title track from that record with the band seamlessly folding “One Is The Loneliest Number” into its tail end. From there it was all business as these rugged-looking Alaskans proceeded to give the new Crocodile its first real rock show. They make the type of bombastic rock I could see Led Zeppelin making if they would have continued making records instead of dissolving after John Bonham’s death.
Gourley didn’t directly face the crowd for the entire set. Instead he wailed his borderline banshee vocals standing sideways while singing into the microphone while a golden floodlight lit his face and torso. This unique approach only made the band seem all the more cooler and its music, which is a cross between progressive rock, folk and soul, sound all the more epic.
Unfortunately, most of the group’s records don’t really do the band justice. They sound so much better live and have much more of a musical impact in a live setting than they do on record. Maybe their upcoming “Satanic Satanist” album, which hits stores July 21, will change that.
Alligators, a promising band from Bremerton, took the stage before Portugal. The Man. They showed an amazing amount of potential and poise for such a young band. Their songs alternated between having an outright standard rock feel to a more pop-oriented approach. Right now they’re straddling the line between the two styles, but once they figure out the direction they want to go I expect the local media hype machine to catch on and for them to take off. And yes, I know Alligators at the Crocodile sounds like a cool band name.
H is For Hellgate was also on the bill. They opened the night with a set of progressive rock that was as powerful as it was brief. They’ve been a local fixture on the scene for a few years now and it was good to see them on the stage of the new Croc. It was my first time catching the Hellgaters live and I will definitely make it a point to see them again soon, perhaps at a show they’re headlining, because the Crocodile set seemed to only scratch the surface of what H is For Hellgate has to offer.
