Joshua "Josh" David Portman (born October 26, 1979) is an American musician who is best known for playing bass guitar for the rock band
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use o ...
from February 2012 to March 2017. Since 1994, he has played bass and guitar in a number of well-known punk/post-hardcore bands including
Near Miss and Staring Back.
[ Near Missat ]Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
Early life
Portman was born on October 26, 1979. His younger years were spent living in Madison, WI before moving with his family to Perry, GA upon entering fourth grade. At the age of twelve, Josh received his first guitar and has been writing, recording, and performing ever since. Initially influenced by the glam and thrash metal bands of the '80s, Portman later immersed himself in the post-hardcore and Seattle bands of the early '90s and then the "new school" punk bands of the mid-'90s. He has been a part of many bands that have explored all of these genres.
Music career
Early bands (1994-2005)
Portman's first band, Zero Racecar, was formed in 1994 in Perry, GA. He joined the band two years later at the age of fifteen and immediately began playing shows throughout Georgia, as well as Florida and the Carolinas. After graduating in 1998, he formed another band in Atlanta called Lancaster with ex-
Tsunami Bomb
The tsunami bomb was an attempt during World War II to develop a tectonic weapon that could create destructive tsunamis. The project commenced after US Navy officer E.A. Gibson noticed small waves generated by explosions used to clear coral reef ...
guitarist/current Nothington vocalist Jay Northington. The post-hardcore outfit disbanded after just a year together.
Staring Back (2005)
In 2005, Portman joined Santa Barbara-based punk band Staring Back. However, the
Lobster Records
Lobster Records is an independent record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It was founded by Stevan Lubarsky in 1991 in music, 1991. The label started with Bad Neighbor, a Montecito, California, Montecito-based rock band, with a huge local ...
group split up several months later when their lead guitarist/key songwriter Ryan Mendez joined
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use o ...
.
Near Miss (2006-2007)
In 2006, the post-hardcore band
Near Miss asked Josh to join.
He relocated to their home of Austin, TX and toured extensively with the band all over the U.S., including a spot on the Vans
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
that same year. Near Miss officially broke up in 2007.
Great White Lion Snake (2008)
After
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use o ...
went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2008, Josh Portman left his residence in Atlanta to finish his degree in business at
Macon State College. Wanting to still continue pursuing music and performing, he put together an '80s hair metal tribute band called
Great White Lion Snake at the end of 2008. Portman's stage name for GWLS is Jef Leppard. They can be seen performing all over Georgia.
Big If (2009)
On September 14, 2009, Ryan Key and Sean O'Donnell made a MySpace blog post that Portman will be playing lead guitar in their side-project, Big If. The side project was discontinued when Key reformed Yellowcard in 2010 with O'Donnell joining.
Yellowcard (2007, 2012-2017)
![Josh Portman 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Josh_Portman_2017.jpg)
In 2007, Portman was asked to fill the position of bassist for
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use o ...
when Pete Mosely and the band parted ways mid-way through the first U.S. tour for "Paper Walls." He finished out the tour with
Blue October
Blue October is an American rock band originally from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and is currently composed of singer/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye, bassist M ...
and
Shiny Toy Guns
Shiny Toy Guns is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 2002. The band is composed of guitarist/vocalist Chad Petree, vocalist Carah Faye Charnow, keyboardist Jeremy Dawson, and drummer Mikey Martin.
Their first studio ...
, performed on the iTunes only Yellowcard release, "Live from Las Vegas at The Palms", and continued with the band for a 15-day tour in Japan with
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...
. The band's next tour was an acoustic venture. After the acoustic tour, they went on "indefinite hiatus". Sean O' Donnell of
Reeve Oliver
Reeve Oliver is an American pop rock band formed in 2000 in San Diego, California. They have released two albums and several EPs and have toured with larger acts such as The Vandals, Yellowcard, and Switchfoot. They have been locally recognized a ...
became the bassist when
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use o ...
reunited in 2010.
After Sean O'Donnell left Yellowcard, Portman returned and was announced as the new permanent bassist on February 17, 2012 and he stayed with the band until the break-up in 2017.
Discography
;Yellowcard
* ''
iTunes Live from Las Vegas at the Palms'' (2008)
* ''
Ocean Avenue Acoustic
''Ocean Avenue Acoustic'' is an acoustic reinterpretation by Yellowcard of their fourth studio album, ''Ocean Avenue (album), Ocean Avenue'' (2003). It is the band's last recorded material with founding drummer Longineu W. Parsons III, Longineu Par ...
'' (2013)
* ''
Lift a Sail
''Lift a Sail'' is the ninth studio album by American rock band Yellowcard. This was the band's first album without drummer Longineu W. Parsons III, who left the band in March 2014.
Background
On March 13, 2014, it was announced that drummer Long ...
'' (2014)
* ''
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use o ...
'' (2016)
;Broken Trophy
* ''
Going to Pasalacua / Want EP'' (2020)
References
External links
* at confrontmagazine.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portman, Joshua
1979 births
American punk rock guitarists
Living people
Musicians from Atlanta
Musicians from Madison, Wisconsin
Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)
21st-century American guitarists