Portland is an old town with good bones. It’s a place of four true seasons, with hot summers and freezing winters. The cold filters people out of Maine: if you can’t handle it, you leave. The town has become much more cosmopolitan in recent decades – they say it has the most restaurants per capita in the US – but it still has the attitude of a working port. I grew up just outside the city, in a place called Falmouth, one of those names borrowed from Cornwall. I’ve travelled a lot but always knew I wanted to raise my kids here. There’s a classic approach to life in Portland; we’re a little bit out of time – and happier for it.
The exterior of the State Theatre, on Congress Street © Tara Rice
Portland’s music scene has definitely influenced my work at Bandcamp, an online record store where fans can buy music and merch directly from artists. It’s different from a big scene like London or New York. You know the artists and they know you, which is really what Bandcamp is about.
I’ve done a bit of touring myself, having moved from Chicago, where I studied, to Atlanta to play with a band called DPOM (Dirty Painters of Maine) in 2003. We were old friends from Portland and paid our way by painting houses. I learned what it’s like to try to pay your bills with music – partly that it’s not for me! – but that’s why I feel so passionate about offering a scaffold to help great artists to emerge.
