Jeremy Porter & The Tucos A few words with Jeremy, of Jeremy Porter & The Tucos. The Tucos are Jason Bowes on bass and Gabriel Doman on Drums. Jeremy writes the songs, plays guitar and sings.
Leicester Bangs: Tell us a little about yourself, and your band. Jeremy: Well, I am from Marquette - a small city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. I grew up listening to The Beatles, the Stones and the Beach Boys, went through a metal phase and eventually discovered punk and country. I moved to the Detroit area in the late ‘80s and have been playing in bands down here since - SlugBug, The Offramps and others.
Jason and I were in The Offramps together, and then Fidrych for a couple years. Those bands sort of petered out unceremoniously, but the desire to play has kept us on stage together. Last fall we needed a drummer for a song I was contributing to a Christmas record and I reached out to Gabe who was interested. That turned into a few songs, some gigs and 8 months later we’re recording and touring!
LB: How did you start out making music? Jeremy: I grew up in a musical house. My mom played a little guitar and piano, and I had a guitar at a pretty early age. But it was more just always having records around - going through my parent’s records. Listening to those old Stones and Beatles records, Beach Boys, Dylan, Eagles. Then I got into Kiss and The Knack and Cheap Trick on my own. I suffered through some guitar lessons and had a little ambition, but no discipline. Then around 6th grade summer I screwed up - got caught drunk or egged the vice-principal’s house or something. I was grounded for the whole summer. Out of sheer boredom I picked up the guitar again and haven’t put it down since.
LB: Who did you grow up listening to and how do they influence what you’re doing now? Jeremy: Well, I suppose it’s a big melting pot of all these years of listening to music. After growing up with the 60s and 70s stuff I mentioned earlier, I went through a metal phase. I still like some classic metal, but that stuff was always out of reach for me as a musician. Then I heard The Clash, and for the first time I could feel a connection - songs I could play on the guitar and not sound like a complete hack.
Shortly thereafter I heard The Replacements and Hüsker Dü and that stuck even more. It had the energy and song quality of The Clash, the distortion and power of metal, and most importantly the melodies and hooks I’d heard and got addicted to from my parent’s Beatles records. It was perfect, and I latched on big time. As the 90s came and went I got into classic country – Waylon, Cash, Haggard, then Gram Parsons. Uncle Tupelo made a big impact.
So that’s where I’m at today. That’s where this band’s sound was built. A culmination of the power pop of Cheap Trick and Hüsker Dü, the alt-country of Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. Some of our stuff leans to one side or the other, some is closer to the middle.
LB: Tell us about your latest release. Jeremy: Our new 7” is called Night On The Town b/w Ain’t My House Anymore. The A side is a power pop tune and the B-side is a bit twangier. It’s out on MagWheel Records and the included download has a bonus 3rd track, or you can just get the downloads.
LB: Do you get out and play your music live, and if so, what can an audience expect at one of your shows? Jeremy: Yeah, we play out regularly around the Midwest. Our shows are high energy and rambunctious, but we like to bring it down a bit sometimes too. We have a pretty diverse set of songs and often just wing it once we get going.
LB: What aspects of playing and recording music do you most enjoy? Jeremy: I really like the songwriting process - the lifecycle of a song from writing the first chords through recording, release and the stage. It’s rewarding to hear a song you wrote on a record.
I also really enjoy playing shows, especially road shows. I love going to other cities, seeing new clubs, meeting new people, hearing other bands. I love traveling – even outside of music – so that is a great combination for me. I love a dive bar with good sound and burning lights and a few new faces, when the band is really clicking. That’s about as close as I can get to escaping reality for a few minutes.
LB: Where can people find (and buy) your music? Jeremy: You can get the new 7”, CDs. etc. directly from MagWheel. Downloads are available on iTunes and Amazon, too (links below and top left).
