Saturday, August 18 – 10:30PM Stage 2
Jody Porter, known for his impressive guitar playing abilities and Brit-pop style, first garnered attention in the early 1990′s fronting and writing songs for the then London-based group The Belltower. The band created quite a buzz for itself abroad — including features in Melody Maker as well as scoring multiple NME singles of the week. After topping the English charts, the band moved back to the States, eventually breaking up in 1996.
Later that year, Porter was asked by a friend, Adam Schlesinger (who briefly played bass guitar with The Belltower), to join his newly-formed band, Fountains of Wayne and support their eponymous self-titles Atlantic Records debut. In 2003, they received 2 GRAMMY nominations for their RIAA certified gold album, “Welcome Interstate Managers” released by Virgin Records.
During this time Jody began writing and recording what would eventually become “Close to the Sun”, a refreshingly unconventional rock record that recalls early David Bowie, Revolver era, Beatles and The Pretty Thing, while moving guitar based music in a forward innovative direction.
Jody’s debut release, “Close to the Sun” bridged the gap between the atmospherics of TheBelltower and the guitar-driven, power-pop of Fountains of Wayne. His premiere solo effort was co-produced Michael Tudor, Gordon Raphael, and JoPo.
