They were a collective, with a free-floating family of members and influences that encompassed graffiti and vintage scores as much as hip-hop or pop. That was all there was to hand. All Barrow needed now was a vocalist. A gaggle of hopefuls got the bus down from Bristol to audition. None chimed with his distinctive vision.
They got to talking and realised they had a mutual acquaintance in Utley. Portishead was progressing from pipe dream to flesh-and-blood pop group. Still, they in many ways remained at the baby steps phase. There was no record label interest. But Barrow was still working at Coach House and had use of the studio during downtime. He took full advantage. It was as an immediate sensation. In rave reviews could still make a difference and the music press was head over heels for Dummy.
In a summer dominated by Oasis, Blur, Pulp and the rest, it was dark and unfathomable. And in Gibbons it offered a bleak, twisted and completely novel vision of what a blues singer could be. Success thus arrived more or less overnight. Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic. Romantic Sad Sentimental. Sexy Trippy All Moods.
Drinking Hanging Out In Love. Introspection Late Night Partying. Rainy Day Relaxation Road Trip. Romantic Evening Sex All Themes. Articles Features Interviews Lists. Its past has always been unpleasantly divided, says Barrow, citing a book called A Darker History of Bristol , which recounts its history with slavery.
He shrugs, still unsure. Portishead have always been a political band on their own terms. By winter , Dummy was everywhere. Sour Times and Glory Box became top 15 singles. Or at least as mad as you. While 's Portishead explored a more bleak and aggressive variant of trip hop, 's Third — the band's first studio release in 11 years following Barrow putting it on hiatus — forwent the genre completely for a sound with influences as eclectic as krautrock , surf rock , doo wop , and John Carpenter soundtracks.
Ever since then, although the band has mainly kept active through occasional touring and single releases, statements from Barrow have maintained that a fourth album is still on the table. In , the band members also wrote and acted in a short film titled To Kill a Dead Man ; while the whole thing is available in the bonus section of their Roseland NYC Live DVD, footage from the film was also converted into the music video for the song "Sour Times", and stills of it were used in the album art of Dummy.
It did, however, also come with an opening disclaimer in which the band stated that they "had grossly underestimated how tough it is to write, design, act and perform a short film.
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