Artist Spotlight: Meet Porter
Can you tell us more about "Tout Est Pardonné?"
Markus: I have to expand a little, if I may. The song is our 4th single release from the album "GENOSHA", which will also be released on vinyl as a whole in 2024. The whole album is based on a comprehensive premise in which we depict our own fictional world, but one that is very similar to our real world. Basically a small parallel universe. However, here we have the opportunity to illuminate the story of individual characters who all live in this world and have to struggle with the adversities that prevail there. For this song, however, we have made a crucial exception to the rest of the concept. At the moment, we have to observe in a very real way that totalitarian and fascist structures seem to be consolidating worldwide, even here in Germany. As a band, we can't just bang out some fantasy lyrics, we want to set an example for tolerance and democracy. That has always been the basic note in our lyrics, but on "Genosha" it is now more concrete. Our core conceptual questions are "what kind of world do we want to live in", "how much freedom is enough to feel truly free" and "how much coercion leads to a life determined by others". These are very important questions for us at the moment, as fascist parties such as the AfD are enjoying unexpectedly high levels of popularity in Germany.
"Tout Est Pardonné" is our answer to this. Musically, we lead the listener a little astray with this airy, melancholic song. By our standards, you might even hear almost cheerful tendencies here. But: we have borrowed the lyrics almost entirely from the German resistance fighter against the Nazis, Sophie Scholl, from 1943. In the face of her certain death - the fascists had sentenced her to death by guillotine - she showed incredible courage and said extremely strong, important words. This song is about courage. About remaining human in times of pure inhumanity. It is a warning in today's times, which are preparing to allow what has happened, the unimaginable, to be seen as forgettable. But it is also about the indispensable hope that can endure even in the darkest times of human existence - must endure if we all want to stand a chance against the senseless barbarism of unscrupulous dictators and their stooges. Sophie Scholl believed to the end that barbarism can be overcome, that sheer evil will not outlast all time, that freedom is attainable for all.
How did you approach the arrangement and composition of the music for "Tout Est Pardonné?"
Lars: The songwriting process usually starts with me improvising on the guitar. It's a jumble of riffs and chord progressions for quite a while. At some point, an initial idea emerges that sounds to me like it could be the basis for a new song. It was exactly the same with Tout est Pardonné and I ended up in the rehearsal room with the rest of the band with the riff that now makes up the chorus of the song. Then the actual songwriting begins. Because our songs are never really built around a single riff, they always have different parts that tell a story with dramaturgy in their sequence. We also improvise a lot in this phase of songwriting, usually as a band in the rehearsal room. From this point onwards, everyone contributes to the process with their ideas for the flow of the song and, of course, with the categorisation of their instrument. Markus and Volker provide the driving groove on "Tout est Pardonné". With his lead guitar, Frank emphasises the moods that the song is supposed to have at various points. Above all this, Raimund's "catchy" melodic arcs provide what primarily stays in the listener's ear.
In "Tout est Pardonné", the riff in the intro is so strong that it can also carry the chorus well. But we also needed a part that emphasises the vocals with the lyrics, a classic verse part really. That's how the part came about in which, apart from the vocals, only the bass and drums play. This gives the song a nice "storytelling" character at this point, which actually sounds very carefree with the subsequent lead guitar playing. Originally, this guitar melody even filled the entire verse section and ran parallel to the vocals. In the end, however, we decided to split the verse into two parts. So the vocals have their place first and then the cheerful-sounding guitar melody. We thought both were so strong that vocals and guitar shouldn't "fight" with each other. The following part, as an introduction to the chorus, actually seems so threatening because of Frank's lead guitar alone. Without that, the chord sequence would actually be quite friendly. But this way it is a fitting transition to the chorus, which is so important in terms of content.
Markus always has a lot of very good lyrics in the drawer, so we can see which lyrics might fit the music while a song is still being written in the rehearsal room. And so the lyrics and music usually influence each other quite early on in the songwriting process, because neither is available in a final version at that point. However, during the entire process of creating "Tout est Pardonné", we weren't sure whether it would work to combine these strong and important words by Sophie Scholl with the positive musical energy of the song. We were all the more surprised when the finished song gave us goosebumps when we heard it.
With all the songs for the album "Genosha", there is one thing that went differently than usual. In the middle of the creation process, due to the illness of our singer at the time, which had a very negative effect on his voice, we had to start looking for a new singer, which we fortunately found in Raimund. Raimund already had all the songs in a demo version complete with lyrics. He then took on one song after the other without the other band members giving him any instructions. As Frank's melodic guitar parts are always very much orientated towards the vocal melody, he also had to rework "Tout est Pardonné" after Raimund's new vocal parts were finished. Thanks to our own studio, which we now have, we were then able to put "Tout est Pardonné" together piece by piece into what it is now, independently of external producers and the costs involved.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for this song to life?
Markus: In earlier productions, we never had full control over the sound and also too little idea of how to really record songs, to be honest. And as with many other bands, there are translation errors and different views between the band on the one hand and the producer and mixer on the other. On top of that, many producers often want to put their own stamp on the band and their sound, and that's not always what the band wants - especially when they've been around as long as we have and have a very clear idea of where they want to go.
Thanks to our guitarist Lars, we have been in an extremely comfortable position in this respect for some time now. Over the last few years, Lars has familiarised himself more and more with things like audio engineering, sound design and recording, so that all recording processes are now in his hands. With the exception of the basic tracks for drums and bass, which we recorded in the specialised Goldsoundmusic studio near Dortmund, everything was done in Lars' own studio. So we didn't have to explain our vision to anyone externally or describe in complicated terms how PORTER should sound on "GENOSHA". And what can I say, the whole thing turned out exactly as we had imagined. On the one hand, we've finally put an end to being dictated to and on the other, the "Genosha" songs sound the way we always wanted them to. For the first time really. You could say that the sound of Porter 2024 is finally as grown up as we are.
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
Markus: Basically, we've already mentioned that above. It's very important to us that our lyrics have a meaning and aren't just decorative accessories for the melodies. But it is also very important that this can only be an offer from us. To like PORTER songs, you don't necessarily have to pay attention to the lyrics and we are also very aware that many people don't pay any attention to them. That's okay too. But if you do, you'll get something out of it, I think. And since "Genosha" may not be a classic concept album, but it is nevertheless based on a concept in terms of content, you can spend some time with this world in which individuals are struggling to find their place and are confronted with very specific social problems that we are perhaps all more or less familiar with.
This concept is also strongly supported visually by the cover artwork. All the singles and the album itself feature images by the great Berlin photographer Jürgen Bürgin, whose photographic approach is basically very close to the messages of our lyrics. In our eyes, the two complement each other perfectly.
Are there any upcoming projects or releases that you're particularly excited about?
Lars: We are particularly looking forward to the release of our "latest" song. We haven't decided exactly what it will be called yet. There are almost 8 years between this and the other songs on the album. We went back to Goldsound Studios to record the bass and drums there in order to revive and capture the special "vibe" that surrounds the recordings of "Genosha". We will draw the line under the Genosha project with the release of the entire album on vinyl. This will be another very special moment that we are all looking forward to!
