A Few Minutes With The Tragic Thrills’ Zach Porter

Allstar Weekend funded what would have been its third full-length album via Kickstarter in fall 2012 and was more than halfway through recording the tracks when Porter realized the tunes just didn’t feel like Allstar Weekend songs. So Porter and his bandmate Cameron Quiseng (bass) said goodbye to the Allstar Weekend moniker, which was associated with a rise to fame by being contestants on Radio Disney’s “Next Big Thing” contest.

Porter and Quiseng have been performing as The Tragic Thrills since fall 2013. The guys teamed up with former Sandlot Heroes’ Chris Morrison (lead guitar) and Ans Gibson (drums), as well as Gabe Rudner (keyboards) about six months ago.

Although The Tragic Thrills and Allstar Weekend can both be considered pop-rock, the new band’s sound has moved away from teen pop and closer to indie rock/alternative.  

Earlier this month The Tragic Thrills signed with Razor & Tie imprint Washington Square, which is re-releasing the act’s self-titled debut Sept. 30.

The Tragic Thrills is currently on the road with Air Traffic Controller. Pollstar caught up with Porter before the evening’s show in San Francisco Aug. 6.

How’s the tour going so far?

It’s great. We just had one show so far, so it’s kind of just the beginning. We’re in San Francisco tonight. I really like their set … It’s cool to tour with a band you like the music of. So far, so good. I think it’s going to be a really cool tour. We’ve never [toured] the East Coast so I’m excited to see what that’s all about.

How did you come up with the new band name? And can you talk a little about the decision to change it?

I started writing songs that became the songs on The Tragic Thrills record. We were really excited about them but we just felt uncomfortable calling them Allstar Weekend songs because it was almost false advertising. I wasn’t interested in writing those type of songs any more and I just decided it needed to have a different name otherwise it wouldn’t feel right.

What does the new band’s name mean to you?

I guess the way I think of it is it’s kind of the idea of sacrificing consequences. … A lot of the music’s about things in life that make you happy but [there is a] price you pay for it sometimes and whether that’s worth it. I guess it’s about balance.

How has your sound as a band changed from your time in Allstar Weekend to Tragic Thrills?

It’s totally different now. … Just like anything else, as you grow and you learn more about music, you change your taste and style. The Tragic Thrills is much more communal. Even if I just wrote the song by myself, I really like the idea [of] the band working it out and collaborating on things and making it better. On stage there are a lot of dynamic changes and things we do together as a team. We all kind of add a different flavor. It’s fun because everyone’s a pretty good player so we can all vibe off each other and not do the same thing every night.

How long have you been playing with Chris Morrison, Ans Gibson and Gabe Rudner?

About six months ago. We played a couple shows with [Gabe] about a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago. We always got along but he was [doing] other things at the time and couldn’t really commit to being a band with us. About six months ago, he was able to commit and now he’s with us and he’s pretty awesome. He adds a lot to the band and he’s a really talented keyboard player.

Chris and Ans are from Pennsylvania. They were in another band that we played shows with before. They were really into what we were starting to do, so they flew out, played a couple shows with us and we really, really clicked. So they’ve been a part of it ever since. It’s cool, it happened really fast but we all jelled right away.

You started playing in Allstar Weekend when you were pretty young. Do you think growing up in general may have influenced your sound changing?

Yeah, I was 16, 17 in the early stages of that band and I’m 24 now. So it totally has to do with that. I’ve always liked the genre that I guess Tragic Thrills is [categorized] in now but I never really thought of it as a viable option. I was 17 [when I started playing with Allstar Weekend]; we didn’t really know what we were doing. … Things fell into place and we became a band. It didn’t really matter to me at the time, the sound … It was a natural progression like anything else.

I actually wrote a Pollstar.com post in December 2012 about how fans had funded Allstar Weekend’s new album via Kickstarter and at that point you were just beginning to record the songs. So, what happened to that album? Did those songs become Tragic Thrills’ debut?

Yeah, that became Tragic Thrills’ debut. Like I said … we were mid-recording, we were maybe 70 percent done recording when we decided it wasn’t an Allstar Weekend record. We had the intention the whole time of it being an Allstar Weekend record and then it just sounded so different that it didn’t seem right.

The debut was originally released in October and is going to be re-released Sept. 30 via Washington Square. Why did you decide to sign with the Razor & Tie imprint?  

It just kind of fell into place. Our managers were interested in us doing something with them. We went out to New York and met with them, played for the label. Their office is really cool and everyone seemed really nice. It seemed like the right move for us. They seem like they’re a growing and developing label … A band of our size, it seemed like a good fit.

You’re the primary songwriter for the band. What’s your writing process like?

There’s not really a set way. Just that it takes me a long time. … A couple I’ve written fast but mostly I spread them over a long period of time where I revise and let things kinda sit, and think about them. I feel like that way you can add more depth … Whether I start with lyrics or music, it’s an idea I have that I think about for a long time and then I just kind of keep going and making it better as the right ingredients come to me.

How did funding the album via Kickstarter work out for the band?

It was really a relief there was no A&R, there was no kind of anybody on this record, which was definitely a unique process because it was still fully recorded, mixed and mastered in a professional way. Usually, when that kind of stuff happens, there are people behind it with opinions. So it was definitely a really cool thing to do. It made me a much better writer. It was refreshing and it meant more to me because I was really able to challenge myself in a really cool way.

It definitely was lucky to be able to do that because it’s hard to be able to make an album without anyone pressuring you to go a certain way. … That probably, not intentionally, was very influentially on the sound. It could have been a totally different record if it had been a different dynamic while we were making the record.

Why did you choose to work with producer Jason Lehning?  

I was a big fan of a lot of stuff he had done in the past. He’s a great engineer … He co-produced a Mat Kearney record that I really like the production on. So I just reached out to him through my manager and sent him some songs that I was working on. He was interested in working with me so I just flew out to Nashville for a couple days and we just vibed on each other. … We clicked right away. It was really cool.

Can you talk about the process of starting from scratch with a new band, having to play smaller venues than you did with Allstar Weekend?

I still feel like I’m in a transitional period of my life, for sure. It’s totally different. We’re really, really starting over in every way. But it feels right. It feels like there’s purpose to everything we do – and I feel like that’s the most important thing. So yeah, but it’s totally weird to be roughing it. We just did like a house party last night. It was super awkward and weird. Just things I hadn’t done since I was 17, just to kind of get from point A to B. But, I dunno, if I didn’t like the music and to play music, I’d probably hate it but because I’m doing something I believe in, it’s worth it.

It’s exciting to get the chance to start over.

Oh, definitely. All I wanted when we ended Allstar Weekend and moved onto this, was just a fresh start. Just to not have any stigma. I didn’t want anyone to have the wrong idea or expectation. I didn’t want to use Allstar Weekend in any way just because I didn’t think that was fair to any Allstar Weekend fans to say, “Like this band now too.” They don’t necessarily have to. I don’t know if I’ll ever get that full opportunity – but just the idea of having a total fresh start was really important to me. And to give the music a shot I think you have to start over.

Upcoming dates for The Tragic Thrills:

Aug. 15 – Houston, Texas, Warehouse Live – Studio          
Aug. 16 – Dallas, Texas, The Prophet Bar    
Aug. 17 – Little Rock, Ark., Revolution Music Room        
Aug. 19 – St. Louis, Mo., The Demo
Aug. 20 – Chicago, Ill., Schubas Tavern      
Aug. 21 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Hard Rock Cafe 
Aug. 22 – Arlington, Va., IOTA Club & Cafe         
Aug. 23 – New York, N.Y., Mercury Lounge         
Aug. 24 – Philadelphia, Pa., Ortlieb’s Jazz House    
Aug. 26 – Allston, Mass., Great Scott          
Aug. 27 – Kenilworth, N.J., 10th Street Live

For more information please visit TheTragicThrills.com.