Portal (band)
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Portal is an independent progressive metal band from Edmonton, Canada that originally took form in the Summer of 2000 as a studio project of lead singer and frontman Kenton Thomas. The group records under the Resonance Industries label, an independent record company and studio owned an operated by Thomas and members of the group.
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[edit] Etymology
The name Portal did not come into use for the project until writing was almost complete for the debut EP, A Taste of Things to Come... It was the last in a long series of temporary labels for the project, each of which lasted but a few days until a random word generator landed on "Portal".
The name Portal has slowly evolved in purpose and meaning to be a metaphor for the artistic and political gateways the band seeks to open.
[edit] Genre and instrumentation
Portal integrates the rhythmic elements and instrumentation characterized by various genres of music, including progressive rock, metal, trip hop, ambient, IDM, and various ethnic forms of musical expression. This includes baritone and seven string guitars, five string electric bass, a plethora of culturally diverse percussion instruments such as djembes, taiko drums, timbales and congas, orchestral instruments including strings and piano, and various synthesizer and sampler modules.
[edit] Music
Since its inception, Portal's principle musical aim has been to create artistically challenging rhythms and progressions for the benefit of its members, while presenting them in a fashion that will appeal to listeners of any level of musical education or experience. A prime example of this effort is the opening track of Portal's most recent release, Element. The aptly titled Severance explores a very unorthodox 13/8 time signature, but maintains a seamless groove despite its inherent complexity. Many other such examples can be found throughout Portal's work, and few songs, in fact, retain a 4/4 or 6/8 time signature throughout their duration, if at all.
Track two from Element, "Alone", employs a polyrhythmic effect in one section, as dual guitars play in 7/4 and 6/4 over the rest of the instruments, which hold a 9/4 progression until the guitars come back into phase with each other. It is these progressive rhythmic techniques that have earned Portal a place within the contemporary prog community.
[edit] Lyrics
Lyrically, Portal's influences are broad, but have a general unifying theme of social consciousness, touching on issues as varied as the fallibility of the developed world's lending institutions, the afflictions of unhealthy obsessions, critical thought and expression, and the ignorance of a sheltered and largely oblivious North American society. While addressing such issues, the band has embraced a number of notable causes and charitable movements, most recently the Angola Memorial Scholarship Fund (AMSF), which seeks to provide funding for the education of promising, yet under-privileged, Angolan youth, and Familias Saludables which works hard in Central America to stop the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their unborn children.
Portal is currently writing for their fourth album which, in pre-production stages has already earned the title Blood Red Tape. Inkeeping with the band's socially conscious lyrical focus, the album will explore various contemporary instances in which bureaucratic "red tape" has led to suffering and a stunted progress in human development.
[edit] Members
Portal has had but one consistent member since its inception, founder and principal creative contributor, Kenton Thomas. Kevin Hoskin has been the most consistent mainstay of the group's dynamic, both on stage and in the studio, taking a brief leave of absence during the recording of the band's second album, The Vast Expanse Diminishing. Kevin originally began as the group's rhythm guitar player, but returned to his native instrument, the bass, upon his return in 2003. He is currently on leave for an Audio Engineering internship in London (Ontario, Canada), replaced by bassist Andrew Gautier. Portal's other current members include Rosco Brooks (guitar) andBill George (drums), both of whom were added to the line-up early in 2004.
Former members of note include drummer Blair Fix, and guitarists Jeff Bolton and Arvind Rajan.
[edit] Discography
Portal's discography consists of three albums. Their debut release, 2001's EP A Taste of Things to Come..., was produced entirely by Kenton Thomas, and recorded by Thomas and bassist Kevin Hoskin. 2003's full-length follow-up, The Vast Expanse Diminishing, was a product of the band's winnings at the 2001 Kokanee Adopt-A-Band Challenge in their hometown of Edmonton, a four month Alberta-wide competition of independent rock bands. The CD was recorded, mixed, and produced at Homestead Studios in Edmonton.
Element, the band's most recent effort, was released in June 2005 and represented a return to the band's roots, putting recording, mixing and production largely back into the artists' hands. It consisted of remixes of a number of tracks from The Vast Expanse Diminishing, presenting them in a manner more in-keeping with the tastes and goals of the band's members, as well as a live track recorded at a venue called Red's in the world's biggest shopping center, West Edmonton Mall.
Portal's albums are catalogued like post-secondary courses, with The Vast Expanse Diminishing being the "introductory course", PRTL101. Element, representing a further development of the ideas expressed on the previous album, is catalogued PRTL102. PRTL201 ([[Blood Red Tape) is due for release early in 2007.
[edit] Other works
Portal and its members have contributed to the independent arts community of which they are a part, in a number of ways (outside of the band's work with their label). Portal provided the music for the 2002 independent film Lost Inside, and lent tracks to two more independent films in 2005, both still in post-production at the time this article was written. In addition, Thomas composed the score for the 2004 independent film, The Morrison Project. Portal members have also in the past, and continue to contribute to other independent acts, including The Gravity Collective, Toque, Dive, and King Muskafa.
[edit] Awards and accolades
Portal's first performance netted them a second place finish at the University of Alberta Battle of the Bands. Six months later, after the release of their debut EP, the band landed their slot in Kokanee's Adopt-A-Band Challenge and by that October had won the competition, securing more than $5000 in studio time and promotional materials. Later that month, Nothing, the first single from A Taste of Things to Come... reached the top of the Metal charts on GarageBand.Com, where it stayed for five weeks, and in December that same year, Thomas was selected as a finalist in the National Songwriting Competition of Canada for his work on Severance.
Four tracks from 2005's Element also made it onto Garageband's charts. The first single, "Alone", reached #1 on the Progressive Rock Charts in July of 2005, and "Insurgent Few (Live)" followed suit in January of 2006. "Severance", too, made the Progressive Chart, reaching 8th, and "Remnants" reached the #4 spot on the Hard Rock Chart.
Additionally Portal found themselves atop a chart in Poland early in 2006, Active Rock, as "Alone" climbed to the #1 spot and held it for two weeks. This achievement was of particular note for the band because (a) they have yet to tour to Poland, and (b) unlike the Garageband chart which is strictly for independent artists, Active Rock's chart boasts such major label acts as System of a Down, Sevendust, and Rapture.
[edit] See also
- Kenton Thomas
- Kevin Hoskin
- Rosco Brooks
- Bill George
- Blair Fix
