SF: The music of Portugal. The Man draws influence from a wide variety of genres and styles. What do you feel are the strongest influences (bands, genres, etc.) on your music?

John: There is a lot of influences in our writing. It needs to be that way in my opinion. Who just listens to rock? Who just listens to Hip-hop? It would be very limiting to do something like choose what type of music we want to play. There are bands that we listen to on pretty constant rotation…there’s Elliott Smith and the Beatles and Rage Against the Machine, as well as bits of Hip-hop here and there. Not all of it is music either, there are plenty of visuals that have sounds of there own. It's all where your head is at during the writing of a song.

SF: You guys hail mostly from Alaska with one member from Oregon….. How does the fact that you all mostly grew up in a region that was (for the most part) isolated from the “rest of the world” influence your music?

John: Alaska is in our blood. It permeates through in just about everything we do or so we are told. I think it gives us a different perspective from those in the Lower 48. The Beauty. The Seclusion. The Wildlife. The People. All make up who we are. I know it influences us but perhaps that is a question better suited for the people who listen to our music, whether it be fans or critics, to tell us how we are a little different. To us it is just normal.

SF: Your past has been tumultuous, with a well-known homeless stint around the time of the recording of Waiter: “You Vultures!”…. Do such hardships help fuel the socially and politically charged lyrics that can be found in your songs?

John: Everything that has happened up until now has opened us up to a lot of things. Politics and religion had all been off limits in my mind, just not something I wanted to approach, everyone has different thoughts, you know? I think right before we did the record we had hit this point of not really giving a shit. Those thoughts had just piled to the point of a much-needed release. I still don't like going into it too much with people. I think it's pretty obvious where we stand and there is no need to go deeper right now.

SF: What was it that attracted Portugal. The Man to Fearless Records or vice versa? How did finally signing a record deal effect the group?

John: Well....our old band [Anatomy of a Ghost] was on Fearless. We broke up before our contract ended and we started Portugal. Fearless had the first option to take us. They've helped us a lot in establishing Portugal. The Man.

SF: Your unique sound has been compared with such bands as The Mars Volta, Blood Brothers and The Fall of Troy…With so many bands striving to do “something different” in music today, how do you guys achieve a sense of identity?

John: I should say that I can understand where some of those comparisons come in and it's very flattering to be compared to musicians that we respect. Those bands are making some big steps for bands like us, in my opinion. It's obvious to say we all most likely share an interest in the same area of music. I am sure there is a lot of Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Neil Young etc. floating around in their heads as well. In the end I feel that we are not an easily shaken band, we like to hear good music and shit like everyone else, but we just don't turn around and rerecord what we just heard. That makes no sense. Who wants to write a Beatles song the Beatles already wrote better? Well.... if we could.... we probably would.

SF: You guys recently finalized material for the EP “Its Complicated Being a Wizard”…Can you give any insight as to how this EP differs from the band’s other releases?

John: Wizard is a beat-based EP. Pretty much everything we had done up until Jason joined up with the band on Waiter had been done with drum machines and programming. We love Jason and would never change that, but this is another aspect to PTM. The idea behind the loop is meant to as perpetual movement. These EP's will not necessarily represent the sound of our next full-length; rather they are a creative tangent.

SF: Portugal. The Man is releasing the new EP on their own label…How did the decision to create your own label come to fruition and what was the reasoning behind it?

John: It felt pretty good to put something together completely for ourselves. Our EP's are going to take some pretty random steps depending on the band members working on them. They are more of a creative outlet meant for fans of the band (for people who already know what we are about). Fearless has been supportive in allowing us to go off and do this on our own. Hopefully we will have many more releases on Approaching Airballoons in the near future. It is cool because being our own label takes off a lot of pressures and expectations, plus it is always nice to hold on to your own masters.