Smells Like Alternative

FYI: Portishead

by acostill on April 4th, 2008

Portishead is back from a long hiatus and they should have a big month this April with their current tour in Europe, a headlining spot at Coachella and the release of Third.

Here’s the video for a new track “Machine Gun”

• Portishead formed in Bristol, England in 1991 after vocalist Beth Gibbons met keyboardist Geoff Barrow at job-retaining program.
• Barrow already had experience in the studio, he was a tape operator for Massive Attack, produced a track for Tricky and remixed tracks for Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Depeche Mode.
• The band is rounded out by jazz guitarist Adrian Utley and sound engineer Dave McDonald.
• The band’s name comes from the shipping town where Barrow grew up.
• Portishead records a 3 song demo, which includes “Sour Times”, “It’s a Fire” and “It Could Be Sweat”, which lands them a contract with the label Go! Discs.
• Barrow and Gibbons write, perform and provide the soundtrack for their short espionage film To Kill a Dead Man.
• Portishead release the EP Numb
• The band’s debut album, Dummy, is released in October of 1994.
• Dummy goes on to win the Mercury Music Prize for Album of the Year.
• “Sour Times” samples some of the “Mission Impossible” theme.
• “Glory Box” samples the Issac Hayes track “Ike’s Rap II” and was featured in the flicks Stealing Beauty and Lord of War. 
• The two-disc Glory Times is released in 1995; disc one is 5 remixes of “Sour Times, disc two is “Glory Box”.
• The track “Mourning Air” appears on the 1995  The Help Album, (which was a charity album to help children in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and also features Radiohead, Oasis, Blur, The Stone Roses and the supergroup The Smokin’ Mojo Filters (Paul McCartney, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, etc).
• Portishead is released on September 30, 1997.
• The track “All Mine” is later covered by Tom Jones.
• Roseland NYC Live is released in 1998, where the band was backed by the New York Philharmonic orchestra.
• In 2002 the band releases the DVD for Roseland NYC Live and it also features the videos for “Numb”, “Sour Times”, “All Mine”, “Over”, “Only You” and the short films Roadtrip, To Kill a Dead Man.
• The band reunites in Feburary of 2005 to perform at a Tsunami benefit show with Massive Attack.
• Portishead performs at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in December 2007.
• The band announce that their album will be entitled Third and will be released on April 28.

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POSTED IN: FYI