Peaking this week at No. 4 on the Bilboard Hot 100 with what the magazine calls 'the biggest rock crossover hit in five years' in the single 'Feel It Still,' Portland's Portugal. The Man is high on top of the music world right now.
Here are some of the highlights...
Bass player Zach Carothers and lead singer John Gourley on the band's Blazer fandom:
"You have to be [a Trail Blazers fan], man—we're from Alaska, and so we never had our own pro team in the city that we lived in, so we were, like, Mariners/Seahawks fans... I was more into hockey and never really got into basketball until we moved to Portland. One of our old members was just a crazy Blazers fan, and when they made the playoffs, he was like 'Come watch a game!' And it was like, 'Oh s***.' Instantly I was into it. It was so much fun... The community in Portland is just so awesome. I remember being in some terrible bar with a really low tiled ceiling when Brandon Roy made that last-minute, game-winning shot. People started jumping up and down; beer was going everywhere. Those ceiling tiles were all knocked out. The place was electric." -- Carothers
"That was one of my favorite times, because it was like before we had smartphones in the van. So we'd listen to the Blazers games on AM radio." -- Gourley
On the Blazers' chances this year:
"I feel like it's the same as every year. It doesn't matter how they do, we're gonna love it anyway. Everybody still goes to games." -- Carothers
On a potential collaboration with Dame D.O.L.L.A.:
"He won't call me back—I like anything Lillard does." -- Carothers
"Everything about him is kind of cool. He's like a throwback. There are so many athletes that just don't really have that social media presence or don't know how to be on camera, and he's just—he's got a Kanye [West] thing." -- guitarist Eric Howk
"He's super inspirational. I really like following [his music]. There are some athletes who I feel like are just looking for likes, and then there are people who are just real. Lillard is as real as it gets." -- Gourley