Evil Friends

This is the title track and lead single from Portugal The Man's Evil Friends long player. The record was produced by Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, who is known for his work with Gnarls Barkley as well as helming albums for the likes of Gorillaz, The Black Keys, and Norah Jones.

Portugal bassist Zachary Carothers told Artist Direct the song took a while to come together. "We initially wrote it, and it just wasn't right," he explained. "We'd gotten to a lull in the studio where we working on a bunch of other things. It's weird. We just craft some songs on any given day. It was missing a hook, lead line, or something. We had gotten to a different studio in LA We had been at Brian's studio pretty much the whole time for a couple of months. "Then, we went into a really old school super sixties-style studio," Carothers continued. "It's a really amazing place with tons of vintage gear. We all went into different rooms and said, 'If you were going to make the hook or important part on your instrument, go off and do it on your own.' That guitar riff reminded me of something Nirvana would play. It's angsty, upbeat, and punk rock. It was pretty fun."

The music video was directed by the band's pal Michael Ragen in their home state of Alaska. Carothers told Artist Direct: "We were watching some nineties or early '00s hip-hop video. I think it was DMX or Ruff Ryders. We liked that whole crew idea with everybody on motorcycles. It's that crew vibe. We thought it'd be rad to do something in Alaska. That's how it started. We had him buy a shi--y camcorder with night vision, bought some ski masks and clothes, and got a bunch of friends together. It was really fun. We filmed it about a half an hour from where I live at the end of this road. There are some abandoned missile silos up there."