Thor Porter, Love is Enough, Drummer

Hi Thor, Welcome to Review Zoo and thanks for taking part.

Thank you for having me! It's an honour to be here!

What got you into playing Drums and how long have you been playing?

So for my 10th birthday, my Mum took me to the local music shop (Percy Priors) and offered me the choice of a keyboard or a 4-pad drum box. I chose the drums (obviously!) and used to play rudiments on it and record demos on a cassette player, through the built-in mic! My Dad was hesitant to buy me a kit until he was convinced it was a more, 'permanent' hobby shall we say?! After 2 years of beating on this thing daily he bought me my first drum kit (I believe the company was called 'Pulse'!?) which I set up in the conservatory and played 'til it literally fell apart.

I'd played in a few bands with friends in the village and after watching Junk DNA (Ben's old band! :'D) at The Arts Centre in Salisbury, decided that music was my thing and proceeded to fill my life with it! I've been playing drums on stage constantly since then and for 24 years, never had a break for more than a couple months.

Who’s your biggest Drumming inspiration?

For me, it has to be Travis Barker. Growing up watching him play, being overly inspired by his creativity and in awe of his stage presence and passion for the art. My good friend Pete gave me VIP tickets to the 02 Arena show with Matt Skiba playing guitar, a few months after I lost both my parents. I met Travis and told him my story and, upon entering the arena for the show, was pulled aside by the tour manager who informed me that Travis had asked if I wanted to watch the show from the side of the stage and he hoiked me over the banister before they played. I got to watch my idol from a vantage point a fan such as myself could only dream of! So for all those reasons I hold that dude in high esteem and he will always be the greatest to me. (If he ever reads this then "Thanks for everything!")

Favourite band?

If I'm being honest, it's Love Is Enough! It sounds super cheesy to say that but we write songs I really love and I'm so proud that I get to be a part of it. Outside of that though, I've been listening to a lot of Emarosa, just rediscovered Justin Timberlake's 'The 20/20 Experience' album and the grooves in that!! Insane! I have a massive soft spot for Hip Hop too and the 'Tha Carter II' album by Lil Wayne is a rap masterpiece (IMO).

Favourite album of all time?

This is a tricky one as I have so many! But I'm gonna go with Love Is Enough's debut 'Breathe'. I know it's not all out yet but that album and the process of making it changed me as a musician and as a person and it's from my heart! I love those boys so much and they have always been there for me too!

Please can you talk us through your kit?

Sure! So I use SJC shells, still reppin' the old school purple kit with the 12" rack, 16" floor and 18"x22" kick, after 14 years she's still going strong! I have a 20-ply Pearl Reference snare in a purple glitter finish and an SJC Goliath snare that currently needs some lugs replacing and will be my touring snare. I am endorsed by the wonderful dudes at Legado Cymbals, using the Royalty series running 14" hats, 18" and 19" crash and a 22" ride with the oversized bell. I am also endorsed by the amazing Los Cabos Drumsticks and they have such a great team! I use a Pearl Demon Drive pedal with a Low Boy beater, a gold glitter Pork Pie seat with a black crushed velvet top aaaand all my hardware is DW!

Which bit of kit would you not go without?

Sticks!!

In “Love is Enough”, I understand you play with In Ear Monitors as a reference, and play to a click alongside extra layered sounds. Please can you talk us through that?

Of course! So in our rack we have the IEM's and Ben's WIreless, Our Focusrite interface, Ben's Axe FX and the laptop. There are no amps on stage and everyone feeds into the interface. From there we send a premixed stereo feed to FOH if we don't have our engineer. I have full control of our IEM mixes and they are super consistent! If we do have our FOH engineer (Elliot of Elite Sound & Light) then we can send the guitar and bass for him to mix instead, which also doesn't affect our IEM's. We run everything in Ableton and all tempos, patch changes and lights are run by MIDI. That's it! Pretty straightforward!

Have you got any funny gig stories you can share with us?

Erm, when I was in a metal band I once borrowed a ride cymbal off a friend and I punched it inside out on stage, while he was watching! I don't think he found it as funny as I did though!

Do you play any other instruments?

Yeah I play bass and guitar! I love songwriting and the beauty of Love Is Enough is that I get to write. Not only that but my songs have been used! We all write equally and every idea gets tried and I think it's what makes us such a great band as we span so many genres, with Cam being the glue that holds us all together!

Which hobbies do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I'm a Graphic Designer so I enjoy doing a lot of artwork! Getting tattoos is another of my fave hobbies! I guess you can call that a hobby, right?!