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Post by itrainmonkeys on Apr 18, 2012 10:44:56 GMT -5
Say goodbye to the guys on the ends (drummer and keyboardist).
On April 3, 2012 it was announced via Facebook that keyboardist, Ryan Neighbors would be leaving the band to pursue his own music career with his new project Hustle and Drone. He will be replaced by Kyle O'Quin.
During Portugal's April 9th show in New Orleans, their touring drummer was fired from the band mid-show, due to unknown reasons, and left the band without a drummer for the rest of their Jägermeister Music Tour. Utilizing the drummer from The Lonely Forest, their current set list contains half acoustic songs, and the rest of their planned set-list. Their current show contains little, to no, jamming.
Here's a review from the show that the newest drummer (added in 2012 when the guy in the photo was no longer with the band apparently) was fired:
The band’s most recent drummer (who moved in after replacing Jason Secrist at the end of 2011) must’ve grown impatient with the awesomeness he was seemingly helping to create, so he up and split. Then the rest of the band followed, leaving a mass of perplexed stink-faces in the confused crowd. What had just happened? Was this a naughty joke? Or even worse, was the show over? Finally, through profuse apologies, the band returned to perform an acoustic set. Rumor has it the drummer had gotten hammered one-too-many times, so the band decided to fire him half way through the show (a familiar tale from golden roads past). Tense, you could say, but Portugal. nevertheless redeemed themselves with a sensuous acoustic set, which was eventually accompanied by Braydn Krueger, drummer from The Lonely Forest. The chameleon crowd was ultimately unaffected by the strange turn of events, as we all adapted, alongside the determined band, following the timeless cliché, “The show must go on!”
There was nothing else to think or feel besides the serendipitous comfort that corralled a nearly-deflated night into a righteous display of dedication and redemption. The songs continued to come, as right and true as ever, with only a few beats being skipped, as the group of natural performers that are Portugal. The Man carried us through acoustic bliss. It couldn’t have been more appropriate than ending with the tune “Sleep Forever”, as the set certainly seemed to pull us into and through a dreamy, briefly tumultuous, world of sound. Wait, not so fast. It did get more appropriate, when the band blended “Sleep Forever” with an enchanting refrain of “Hey Jude” to send us off with love. Ultimately, the show was a blessed, reviving experience and further proof that Portugal. The Man is truly a steadfast rock machine.
Portugal. The Man, responded to a question about the situation this morning and had this to say:
All good, looked worse than it was. The stripped down set was cool.
So apparently their drummer that I was familiar with - Jason Sechrist (in the picture) hasn't been playing with the band since the end of 2011.....that's news to me. Apparently their NEW drummer was the one who quit/was fired in the middle of a show.
Either way....I'm a bit disappointed that the foursome I really got into have been reduced. Obviously Gourley is the mastermind behind the band so at least he and the bass player are still in tact. Now I really want to see them live and get a feel for how the sound may have changed.
i didn't know that jason left last year. they didn't make an announcement about that. i was at the show in athens last weeekend and didn't know what was going on with the drummer. they started the show with a drummer (who i thought was jason), then they played a bunch without a drummer, then were joined by the drummer from the lonely forest. but to add more to the confusion, on the encore it looked like there was a different drummer, not the guy from lonely forest. this article clears up a lot, but maybe jason is back? maybe he was there, i really wish i could say clearly. but i almost can swear that he was there. as far as being upset about those 2 guys leaving, i wouldn't be. as you said john is the song writer in this band, he controls everything. but also he and zach started this band together in alaska. the other guys were not original members and they're both from portland. so when one left i wasn't surprised at all to find out that the other left. ptm will be alright i'm sure. these guys do not let anything stop them. they're probably the hardest working band out there.
That is bad news, but it could be worse. I think the bassist is probably the most indispensable non-Gourley member.
I agree. They are the backbone of the band. Still, I really dug the two guys who left (Sechrist and Neighbors.....didn't see the new 2012 drummer live.
I saw them 3 days before that and I noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The drummer was good and seemed to mesh well.
In regards to Kyle, he is fantastic. I was right in front of his setup and he is one hell of a keyboard player, probably better than Ryan. The only thing he seemed to be lacking was Ryan's vocals, but that's something I'm guessing he gets more comfortable with later on.
I'm also a fan, and wondering how this will all shake out. I have seen them three times previously, and plan to see them here in Nashville on Thursday, April 26, so I'll let you know how it goes.
Post by FatKeystone on Apr 18, 2012 13:25:55 GMT -5
I'm likely seeing them in three days in NJ. This is going to be interesting but I have mixed feelings. Obviously would have liked to see the full band in tact but it does have the potential to be different and creative. I'll post after the show to let ya'll know what I think.
Post by FatKeystone on Apr 22, 2012 1:52:48 GMT -5
Saw PTM tonight and they were amazing. You never would have known they had just lost two members. Don't know who the drummer was (it wasn't the Lonely Forest drummer). Also, no acoustic songs which upset me a little bit but still it was a fantastic show.
Saw PTM tonight and they were amazing. You never would have known they had just lost two members. Don't know who the drummer was (it wasn't the Lonely Forest drummer). Also, no acoustic songs which upset me a little bit but still it was a fantastic show.
Post by lazybutterfly on Aug 17, 2012 16:12:08 GMT -5
I will forever love these guys, no matter what the changes; they always seem to bring in the right person when someone leaves.
I photographed them a couple years back with Jason (have to find the digital copies on one of my hard drives) and they were such a pleasure to be around:
I'd like to see the new line up live. Hope it doesn't change their live show because it's certainly one of my top five.
