Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with PORTERS
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
All of us grew up in musical houses, whether it was our parents playing instruments and singing themselves or listening to music around the house. Those early musical memories definitely inspired where our tastes and love for music came from.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
I suppose the passion for creating music comes from listening to other music that inspires you to think ‘I can give that a go’. It’s also realising that not only can you listen to what people have to say through their music but also realise that you can say something through your music too.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
PØRTERS started at an open mic night hosted by our lead guitarist Kieran Taylor at a bar called Colonel Porters. Nick, Maria and James are frequent visitors to this open mic night and we’d jam as a four when we’d go leading us to think, why don’t we start a band? All of us had written music in solo projects so it only felt right to collaborate as a group. Tom, our drummer, had known all of us in one way or another through gigs in Newcastle and joined the project and our rhythm guitarist Ollie had collaborated with Kieran and gigged with us all too and both were natural fits.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
It’s hard to describe our own sound but one of the best we’ve heard someone else describe us is like a mixture of Royal Blood and Blondie.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
One thing we’ve learned is that being in a group means no song idea is finished until the whole group has heard it. If you are writing a song on your own, you have your own idea and think, yep that’s done. When you have an idea then bring it to a group, you have the great advantage of, in our case, having 5 other sets of ears to listen and think ‘why don’t we do this here?’ or ‘have you thought about doing a different drum pattern for that section?’ I think utlimately what we’ve learnt is that music is at its best when it’s a collaboration.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
In our case, all of our song ideas have come from the guitar. All of us have maybe written differently in the past but for whatever reason this project has spawned the most ideas from playing around with six strings.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
The song ‘Starburster’ by Fontaines D.C. has a great sound.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
The collective love and appreciation of rock music from all of our early ages has inspired us to go after this sound we have at the minute. We also love to push the boundaries of how rock music should sound and incorporate changes in time signature or feel midway through songs that pioneers in the past have tried too.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Joy hopefully. If you put our music on and feel angry or sick then maybe our work isn’t for you!
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Endurance. No matter how far back in time you go, music has always been present. Increasingly you hear that music isn’t important or music doesn’t create any jobs or music doesn’t contribute even to the economy. Whilst that is frequently proven to be false, the first point of music isn’t important is so untrue. Without music, we are nothing.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
We would love to eventually play at Glastonbury and as far as venues go I don’t think you can get a cooler venue that Red Rocks in Colorado.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I don’t think any of us could agree on one artist! Purely from the standpoint of greatness however, I don’t think any of us can deny that getting to collaborate with Paul McCartney would be an incredible thing.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
We are on Spotify and Apple Music as PØRTERS and we are on Instagram as @weareportersband.
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
2026 is going to be an exciting year! We have already been confirmed for Lindisfarne festival and we are looking ahead to releasing another EP with new tracks and gigging a lot more around the UK.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That we have something important to say with our music.
