Bio

The Washington Post describes Porter Block’s music as, “catchy melodies and buoyant harmonies…a vocal blend that occasionally brings to mind Barenaked Ladies and a collection of lyrics that are mostly upbeat and innocent.” Performing Songwriter adds, “The New York City-based band’s driving beats and catchy choruses are what rock ‘n’ roll is all about.”

Peter Block and Caleb Sherman grew up just blocks apart on New York City’s upper east side, but never met each other until 2003 when their musical worlds collided. Finding they resonated as songwriting partners, together they created the quartet Porter Block.

Peter Block grew up in a musical house – his mother was a Chamber music graduate in piano – and his initial venture into music was contributing musical shorts for advertisements and films, eventually forming his first band, Tripasaurus vs Blockhead in 2003. More recently, he collaborated with ADM from the Lordz of Brooklyn, and Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips of LUNA. Caleb Sherman made his band’s first record with legendary producer Bernard Edwards. He then went on to lend his production talents to artists in Nashville to New York. (Her and Kings County, The New Black)

Knowing how important the recording environment is and aware of how much time they would be spending there, the duo built a live recording space in The Carriage House in Brooklyn. The Carriage House was designed for the comfort of recording and mixing, built to get great sounds and filled with retro equipment, including strips of soundboards instead of a traditional console.

The new effort by the duo is titled Pueblo A Go Go, a haunting trip through the small desert towns of west, viewed through the windshield of a slow moving car. The visuals are vivid and the stories are full of characters that have lost something or are running away, with a poignant theme of loneliness. The title track sets the mood, with its upbeat, but spooky description of abandoned pueblo communities, bartenders and strippers aimlessly walking down a blacktop looking for a long defunct dance club. “Wipe It From Your Eyes” is a sweet sparse story of domestic dispute and unrest, the music is almost a lullaby contrasting with the solemn lyrics, “If it gets any worse, someone’s gonna phone it in.” “True Enough” is a song which firmly sets itself in a southern California landscape where ” the desert sun sits high and heavy on a petrol dripping sky”. And the two star-crossed lovers kiss “beneath a palm next to the meth shack” continuing the blend of a simple country shuffle love song with somewhat disturbing images of modern urban decay.

Porter Block was a 2007 New Music Weekly AC Best New Group of the year nominee. They also contributed to the popular, Guilt By Association compilation alongside Devendra Banhart, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Mike Watt, Jim O’Rourke, among others. The band has toured the East Coast consistently for the last few years, independently and also opening spots for Deep Blue Something and road stalwarts The Samples.