Interview with Portobello Express: ‘I write songs and we switch bits of them out and put in other songs’

Vienna-based psychedelic blues rock band, Portobello Express, released their latest infectious single, ‘You Cry’, last month and are currently working on two new tracks for their next EP.

The band, whose name references their fondness for London and its 60’s music scene, comprises Happy Betty (vocals, bass and percussion), Danny Bianchi (bass), Patrick Slowhand (guitar) and Martin Luif (drums). Betty and Patrick are childhood friends who reconnected again in Italy as adults and became a couple. Betty is half-Italian and half-German – her dad is from Venice – and Patrick was born in Vienna.

Incredibly, when they started out five years ago, they were a party band, according to Betty: ‘We were playing for a friend’s birthday and it worked well, so we decided to just continue,’ she laughed. ‘We’re very tied to the British music scene.’

‘You Cry’ is a high-octane track that grabs you from the off and which Betty says she actually wrote a long time ago. ‘We never got to the point where we had the guitar arrangement,’ she said. ‘Three years ago, the lyrics and the rhythm were different and we abandoned it. One day, in the morning, I had the inspiration to change the bass line and rhythm. Patrick said “I like it” and came up with a nice guitar part. It was inspired by The Zombies, whereas the initial song was more inspired by The Beatles. I wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes, it’s about a person we know, this guy who complains he can’t find a partner but who is so selective and won’t compromise with love.’

As the song kicks off: ‘So many years you’ve been searching for the one who’ll take you as you are, you are the universe, you are her midnight sun, you are her lonely star.’

‘I write songs and we switch bits of them out and put in other songs’

Last year, they released the single ‘Highly Sensitive’, which Betty describes as ‘about me, I’m highly sensitive, unfortunately’. ‘You had a bass line, I remember you came up with the bass line and I immediately had the guitar riff for the verses,’ Patrick said. ‘We used the refrain from another song.’ Betty starts laughing and nods: ‘I write songs and we switch bits of them out and put in other songs. I wanted a song with heavy rock at the start, with big drums, like US rock band Ground Funk Railroad, so I said to our drummer “Please don’t hold back, use the double bass drum!”‘

The message of the song is clear, think before you speak: ‘Every time you open your mouth be sure you switched on your brain, millions of people, millions of faces, we are not all the same. Be kind, be nice and respectful. If you can hate, I can love.’

‘Me and Patrick are a very good team,’ Betty said. ‘Our bass player has been with us for 4 years, so we understand how to do a song together. We got ‘Highly Sensitive’ in the second take, we haven’t even played it live yet.’

They’re good friends with Australian transplants to the UK, Fendahlene, who I’d assumed they’d met when Ashley from Fendahlene was studying in Vienna (I interviewed them last month) but they actually met via Twitter: ‘It’s so funny, we were in the same city, going to the same concerts but we never met,’ Betty said. ‘Ashley and Paul are brilliant people.’

Next up is their new track, ‘Be Blues’: ‘We decided to rewrite the track, it’s more rock and bluesy now,’ Patrick said. ‘It became a different song that’s more fitting to our recent style. The old version had different lyrics, we re-arranged it at home today.’

‘The vinyl can only be 4 tracks so we’ll really have to pack everything in!’

The upcoming EP (a release date has not been set) will include the tracks ‘Highly Sensitive’ and ‘Be Blues’, according to Betty: ‘We want to make a vinyl and a CD with some bonus tracks,’ she said. ‘The vinyl can only be 4 tracks so we’ll really have to pack everything in!’

Some tracks have humorous back stories, such as ‘I Wanna Break You’ from 2018: ‘I wrote it about a friend of ours who is a bass player who was always talking about sadomasochism,’ Betty laughed. ‘I invented some lyrics as a joke in the moment.’ Patrick jumps in: ‘I started to play a riff and she started to sing exactly these lyrics.’ Betty starts laughing: ‘We were just jamming, thinking about this, it’s not offensive, it’s just a joke.’ By now, Patrick is also laughing: ‘It’s so funny, Betty said we can’t perform it, it’s embarrassing! But we kept it in and we sing it!’

It’s a big, punchy song: ‘You’ve got no balls to break me in two and now I hate you, I hate the way you touch me, too. We couldn’t play my sado-maso and now you have to pay your due.’

Austria has a big heavy metal scene, as well as some garage and 60’s bands, according to Patrick: ‘The underground scene is heavier, stoner rock is rather big,’ he said. Betty jumps in: ‘The 60’s scene is very small, there’s a bit of punk.’ She is a massive Foo Fighters fan: ‘I am a huge fan of grunge and bands like Nirvana and Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl is an amazing musician and person. His songs are heavy but very melodic.’ Patrick is less keen: ‘I’m not into modern music,’ he said. ‘I’m a 60’s/70’s purist, so bands like The Who, Deep Purple and The Zombies – they’d be amazing to tour with.’ Betty is thinking who she’d like to tour with: ‘Small Faces because they were making these high energy, rocky songs but with a soul voice. We perform their song ‘Wham Bam Thank You Mam’.’ For Patrick, his love of music started when he was 14 with The Who: ‘I saw them perform on TV and was completely blown away,’ he said. Jefferson Airplane have also been a big influence on Betty’s singing style.

One of the best gigs they’ve ever been to was 50 Years of The Who at Vienna’s Stadthalle in October 2015 as well as ‘Classic Quadaphenia’ playing with an orchestra at the opera house in Vienna in September 2016: ‘We were sitting next to Pete Townsend,’ Betty exclaimed. Pat looks at her: ‘He complimented you on your outfit!,’ he said. Betty is laughing: ‘Yes, I had a kaftan on with red, white and black stripes and hair clips with arrows, the symbol of the mod scene, and he said “Wow, this outfit is really great”, which doesn’t happen every day at all! I just said “thank you”, I was so shy! I still have the outfit.’

(Photo from left to right: Danny, Betty and Patrick)

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