Portnoy

For the German band info please visit our homepage www.portnoy.at...)

1980

The music scene in the Austrian city of Graz is on the ropes, having taken a hammering from the absolutist mafias of jazz, Heavy Metal and folk music. And what's on the menu? Uninspiring virtuosity, toe-curlingly embarrassing regurgitation of long-serving musical styles, stomach-churningly ingratiating folksiness. Paralysis everywhere. Heimo Mitterer listens to Return To Forever, Weather Report and Gato Barbieri...

1981

Slightly delayed, New Wave and the Neue Deutsche Welle finally reach Graz. Mitterer listens to music by the Buzzcocks, XTC and Fehlfarben for the first time - these are crucial experiences that lead him to burn his jazz records and to form Portnoy (named after the protagonist of Philip Roth's novel Portnoy's Complaint) still one of the most dazzling bands on the local music scene - idiosyncratic, controversial and enormously influential. After the first gigs the band, in which each member was only allowed to play the instruments he wasn't able to handle, gains cult status. During the following four years Portnoy polarize their listeners, constantly leaving their audience in a state of disbelieving amazement. Portnoy are on one hand deeply loved and acclaimed, on the other hand they are profoundly hated and at their rare but always unique gigs they are pelted with chicken bones (not always cleanly picked). Armer Jesus ("Poor Jesus", based on Falco's Amadeus) becomes a pre-paschal hit on the music scene.

1983

Mitterer is a wreck - physically due to the excessive consumption of various legal and illegal substances, and musically due to the fact that continuous development in the original line-up seems impossible because of the technical deficiencies of the band members. Mitterer disbands the band and during the following four years he withdraws into the self-imposed exile of an ivory tower from where he observes the various music scenes up and down the country, and, occasionally interrupted by some live gigs, produces demos galore, which, distributed among the hoi poloi on cassette tapes, boost anticipation of the first official release of Portnoy. But alas - this turned out to be a complete flop.

1990

The vinyl single Why Do You Dance Alone is released - a horrendously abortive attempt to crawl up to the neck into the mainstream ass. Frustrated by his own spinelessness and afflicted by self-doubt Mitterer again withdraws into the above-mentioned ivory tower. But he continues to produce demos, among them the legendary Dada-Collage based on texts by Hans Arp, Kurt Schwitters and Hugo Ball.

1993

1993 sees the release of The Principle Of Lust - meanwhile a classic. In The Principle Of Lust Mitterer presents himself as a mature songwriter who, with a reliable sense of style, skilfully plays with and switches between various genres, from the late 60s psychedelic rock to the grunge tendencies of the early 90s. Critics mention Portnoy in the same breath with The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd or Nirvana. But the live realisation of these highly complex and playful arrangements is doomed to failure, and reactions from the music industry fail to meet Mitterer's high expectations. A typical example:"Unfortunately the market won't necessarily grow just because one does things that haven't been done so far. If you honestly ask me now what the chances are of selling enough units to satisfy both of us, I honestly can't give you an answer. Nevertheless, try to retain your willingness to take risks and remain true to your music if you're convinced you're on the right track."(Sony Music, Vienna)Frustrated and afflicted by self-doubt Mitterer withdraws once again into his ivory tower but keeps on producing.

1995

The second album The Invention Of Solitude is released - but the music industry still refuses like a horse at a fence. Mitterer finally draws a line under his botched career and yet again withdraws into guess where?, constantly interrupted by physical diseases, musical self-doubt and private catastrophes, he gradually produces new material which is released as The Anatomy Of Melancholy in 2003.

2003

The Anatomy Of Melancholy - an opus magnum, a dark masterpiece that puts you under its spell from the first to the last second. It shows Mitterer at the height of his compositorial creativity. The musical and lyrical spectrum of the songs reaches from fine-spun ballads to ear-splitting clashes. And behold - Mitterer finally finds birds of a feather who are capable of realising his musical ideas in live situations. Portnoy play a few acclaimed gigs, but then Mitterer, born 1963, falls into a persistent midlife crisis and once again decides to quit making music. But as he is famous for being a master at withdrawing from withdrawal he produces various sampler contributions for the small but perfectly-formed label Pumpkin Records. These contributions can be downloaded in the menu News/Live.

2006

But the man simply can't keep quiet. In exhausting night sessions Mitterer records a new CD entitled The Dust Of Ages on which he covers songs by some of his heroes. He covers them in the best sense of the word, as the results have almost nothing in common with the original versions but are new and illuminative interpretations of classics such as the Stones' 2000 Light Years From Home, Frank Sinatra's My Way, John Denver's Leaving On A Jet Plane or Prince's Sign Of The Times, as also of largely unknown or shamefully neglected artists like Robyn Hitchcock, Patrik Fitzgerald or Daniel Johnston. With grandezza Mitterer succeeds in liberating these songs from the Great Songbook of rock history from the dust of ages.