John Gourley Quotes

Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best John Gourley Quotes. The wide variety of quotes available makes it possible to find a quote to suit your needs. You’ve likely heard some of the John Gourley Quotes before, but that’s because they truly are great.

There’s something about Detroit, man: there’s a serious vibe there. It could be that blue-collar, working-class-mentality person who lives out there. There’s just something about it. It reminds me of Alaska. Texas has the same thing. Detroit is a little heavier than both.

John Gourley

‘Feel It Still‘ came around pretty much as organically as you can put a song together.

John Gourley

My dad would come to pick me up from high school in a beaver-skin cap, big gloves, his parka and everything. It was so funny to see him show up – his beard all frozen from being out with the dogs.

John Gourley

A country is an individual in the world that represents a group of people, so I decided we would name our band after a country, and Portugal happened to be the one that popped up.

John Gourley

I think there are really great movements happening in Portland. It’s nice being in a place that supports itself and stands on its own.

John Gourley

I bought a book with guitar tabs and forced myself to learn. I would go to school and then come home and sit in my room for hours figuring out the songs.

John Gourley

I grew up in Alaska, okay? My dad graduated high school and went straight to the mountains. He had $300 and staked a claim. He didn’t even have enough to put a title on the land: just had the records that he bought before he moved.

John Gourley

Money messes up everything. It ruins art. The second you start putting price tags on this stuff, it’s… Art isn’t for just the wealthy. It’s for everybody to enjoy.

John Gourley

I love running and good running shoes.

John Gourley

Nike is obviously more sporty than Adidas. I always associate Adidas with Beastie Boys and Run-DMC.

John Gourley

We went to Japan and stayed an extra day just to go shopping. New York is one of those places where we never get that. If we’re there, we’re working.

John Gourley

To me, sci-fi has the most amazing style.

John Gourley

Mental health is personal for our whole band. As touring musicians, self-care can quickly become make it or break it on the road.

John Gourley

Right after we recorded ‘Satanic Satanist’ and ‘American Ghetto‘ here in Boston, we decided we’d grow our hair out. This is – was – like the Beatles thing. I wanted to see these pictures later in life.

John Gourley

The reason I got into music was obviously because of bands like The Beatles and Pink Floyd, things like that.

John Gourley

There are some athletes who I feel like are just looking for likes, and then there are people who are just real.

John Gourley

I love Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who are from New Zealand, living in Portland.

John Gourley

The whole band is from Alaska. It’s like growing up anywhere else.

John Gourley

I’ve always been into thrifting. I’m a fan of finding unique pieces and having them tailored or altered.

John Gourley

It’s so perfectly Alaska to be like, ‘Dad we’re going to the Grammys,’ and for him to be like, ‘Oh, well that’s great, Johnny. All right, gotta go back to work.’

John Gourley

I want to share music that we grew up with for this generation, the music my parents shared with me.

John Gourley

My dad just decided that he wanted to race sled dogs, and when he did that, he took us out of Wasilla, and we never really went back.

John Gourley

We’re just nerds that play music. Because we get played on the radio and have a Vitaminwater ad with Aaron Paul dancing on a treadmill, people are going to say we sold out. I don’t write music for that. I write music for me.

John Gourley

As an artist, you can’t expect a producer to just bring you a record. If you walk in and say, ‘I want Kanye West‘s ‘Power,’ it just doesn’t work that way.

John Gourley

Growing up, the only acts that came to us in Alaska were the big ones. The Mariah Careys.

John Gourley

Portugal is like Ziggy Stardust. The period is there, so you know that it’s not the country, it’s Portugal. The ‘Man’ states, ‘He’s the man.’

John Gourley

My favourite piece of music is actually ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon‘ as a whole. For me, it’s the most perfect and brilliant example of rock song writing.

John Gourley

The worst gift I have ever gotten on Christmas is going to see Tim Allen in ‘The Santa Clause.’

John Gourley

Great musicians need great producers. The Beatles had George Martin.

John Gourley

We started playing music because of the Wu-Tang Clan.

John Gourley

Whether it be tour posters, album packaging, videos, stage design, etc., the visual aspect of music is very important to us.

John Gourley

Basically, great directors know how to combine music with the scenes that they are working on.

John Gourley

I’ve never been to a beach party before. We have gravel-pit parties in Alaska.

John Gourley

I see a lot of people say you just make the music you wanna make and just love what you do, and that is what we do, but I wanna write the best songs we can.

John Gourley

I’m just not into the shady side of the music industry. Give credit where credit’s due.

John Gourley

We tour, we do the distance from friends and family, not really knowing how to connect with people on the same level. I’ve understood now, as much as we tour, we live day-to-day, so our lives are much different than the people who stay at home and go home every night.

John Gourley

There’s no making art for art’s sake. You’ve got to make the best art you can.

John Gourley

You can never predict a hit.

John Gourley

When we were kids, my favorite thing was coming to upstate New York where my family is from and hanging out with my grandparents‘ friends pre-Internet and them asking if we had stores or ‘Do you have TV in Alaska?’

John Gourley

Getting nominated for a Grammy is as high as it gets for us.

John Gourley

It’s really hard to escape where you were brought up. Not that I would ever want to escape it.

John Gourley

I feel like every album we make, that’s our debut album.

John Gourley

We grew up in Alaska and will rep The North Face all day long.

John Gourley

You can never really know what a record’s going to be.

John Gourley

We’ve always done what we do, and we go out and try and get better with each record we make.

John Gourley

Portland is where all the fringe groups went to escape. Where the outliers brought that DIY, punk rock attitude and made the city their own.

John Gourley

Levis are my go-to. Plain crew necks and jeans.

John Gourley

If you don’t have negative experiences, you have no way to gauge the positive ones, and you have no way to deal with it.

John Gourley

That’s really important in a producer – a producer that can step up and play a keyboard, play a bass, play a guitar, and help you with things instead of just saying, ‘I think this could be better.’

John Gourley

My dad just left high school in ’69, went to Woodstock, and after half a year of college for architecture, just took off for Alaska. He bought a van and went straight into the mountains and built a cabin.

John Gourley

John Gourley Quotes

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