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Sebastian Portillo | Funky Pop Music

The Songwriter, the Performer, the Producer, the Freak.

Sebastian is what many people would call a freak. His love for art and music inspires him and the people around day by day giving birth to modern pieces of art. He's a songwriter, a performer, a producer, a painter, an inventor, an extreme idealist, a visionary, a worker, a passionate board game player and a writer. In his work, the words, the artworks, the ideas, his philosophy and the music melt into each other and transport a unique story which is part of a larger tale. His music is hard to define in terms of categories. It is fresh, clearly post modern and at some point avant-garde and demanding. With the main elements of Funk, Pop and Soul he uses heavy distorted guitars, dirty Rhodes, pianos, Hammonds and analog synths. He loves when his voice is drowned in a myriad of effects. Not that he would have to use any of them to hide imperfect pitch or the unpleasant timbre of the voice. His vocal performance is astonishing. In acoustic sets he's able to touch his audience unlocking deepest emotions and convey the plot of his compositions in a capturing way. He's influenced and inspired by artists like Jamiroquai, Lenny Kravitz but also Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Radiohead, John Mayer, Donovan Frankenreiter, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, Morcheeba, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, The Jackson 5, Daft Punk, Justice, Norman Cook, Oasis, Redhot Chili Peppers and many other artists while contributing with something unique to the genre. He's classified as a popular artists; mainly because of his sense of catchy melodies and musicality. Nevertheless, many of his original pieces break the norms and conventions in terms of sonic and lyrical aesthetics. His foible for epic dimensions, science fiction and fantasy wraps Sebastian and all of his work into a mystical veil that, sometimes, gives you the feeling that his genes contain remains from another planet. To understand his complex personality one must uncover the man behind and scratch the surface. After discovering his talents at a very early age, he spent his childhood and teenage years hurrying from rehearsal to rehearsal. He was born on the 25th of June 1981 in Biel, a small town with about 60'000 inhabitants in Switzerland, as the only child of his Spanish father Luis Portillo Almagro and his Swiss mother Dora Portillo Zbinden. Growing up in three languages because his grand mother immigrated from France during the Second World War, Sebastian developed a strong sensibility for acoustic environments and speaks the three languages fluently already as a young child. Percussion, drums, piano and then later vocal and Jazz choir sessions where part of his daily business beside school. Later, at the end of the 90's, he was successfully performing as the lead singer of his high school band Lines in the Sand and as a solo singer in the Jazz choir of the conservatory in Biel or the many live gigs organized by his High School music teacher. Sebastian wrote lyrics and composed a great part of the music for the band. It was focused on college rock and inspired by the bands Nine Days and Live but spiced up with ingredients of grunge, post grunge and metal artists like the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Metallica, Dreamtheater and many others. The band performed mainly original material and were booked nationally.

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Page 2 of 2 They were starting to create a buzz as the High School times were over and, alas, the young constellation of ambitious musicians split up with the wind of change. In the same year, Sebastian was admitted at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (Paul McCartney University) in 2001 where he studied Popular Music and Sound Technology. There, he graduated with a distinction and met Sir Paul himself. Sebastian played at local venues and bars in Liverpool. He met also local technical staff that was working for the Atomic Kitten tour at the time and gathered valuable experience in the field helping out for live shows. He worked creatively and played with people like Siri W lberg (Sissi Wish, Norway) or Sandi Thom (England). England and Liverpool greatly influenced his style and perspective on developing a professional career in the music industry. After he returned to Switzerland he was focusing on songwriting and production while playing local gigs with an acoustic guitar for extra cash. He also worked as the front of house engineer on the tour for the band Carnation, a Swiss british pop rock band that won a best newcomer award from the national radio station which secured them a fixed place in the radio stations at that time. Shortly after, Sebastian met the international producer Tom Jackson who liked his compositions right from the beginning and decided to produce a promotional EP. They sent it to contacts in Germany. Unfortunately, at that time the companies Sony and BMG were planning the merger and the music business was undergoing hard times. Many quite renown artists did not receive an extension of their contract and the big companies did not want to invest in newcomer artists without a solid online fan base. Tom and Sebastian became good friends and Sebastian promoted his songs to as many people in the industry as possible. Finally, the management company of hit artist Lou Bega (Mambo No.5) engaged Sebastian to write a song for the FIFA World Cup in Germany. The song with the title Goleo was considered for an official international release. Sebastian persisted in his songwriting skills and more and more artists were interested in his music until he positioned one of his songs, Summernacht(Sony Music), in the top 100 of the Official Swiss Music Charts in 2004 for 14 weeks with its peak at position 41. Still ambitious to pursue his career as a recording artist, Sebastian seized the opportunity in 2006 to participate in a TV show called Superstar on the Swiss national TV channel 3+ where he performed original material and was exposed to a large audience weekly. More than 200'000 people watched his live performance while he was competing for the production of a record, which was the reward for the winner. The show and the new connections that he established with the people woking in the media opened new perspectives for Sebastian. Even if he did not win the competition, he won valuable experience and new support from a constantly growing national fan base. What followed was some hard work in the studio. Sebastian was using his songwriting and production skills to produce a self made album without budget. Writing, performing and producing the album with an Apple Powerbook G4 , Pro Tools LE, a Tube Microphone from his friend Tom Jackson, some pre Amps and his Instruments, he gathered his musical vision on a 14 track album which was going to be his debut album Utopia. Unfortunately record labels and distribution companies were too busy to promote a new act and Sebastian decided to found his own record label (Portillo Records) and to contact shops and retailers directly. It is only after the release of Utopia in 2008 that Sebastian's professional career as a recording artist started. Now bookings were coming in more often. The acoustic guitar was exchanged by the electric one and the one man show developed to a full band setup with drums, bass, keys, saxophone and Sebastian at the front singing and playing guitar. National radio stations joined in and brought 5 out of 14 tracks on air. Radio Montecarlo's music director went even further when he wrote Sebastian a personal email after receiving the record. He congratulated him for the result and compared the music to the young Lenny Kravitz. Now, since 2008 radio Swiss Pop, the biggest Swiss music channel, still has two songs in rotation. During all this time, Sebastian was still busy as a songwriter and producer for local bands and artists. He also wrote and produced more and more music for radio stations and TV shows. In 2009 he became the manager of Soundimension Studios (Switzerland) and worked mainly as an engineer for Hip Hop, Ragga, Reggae, Rock, national and international artists like Junior Kelly, DJ Ker and other local Sound Systems or DJ's. He also collaborated on new material with his fellow band mate, producer, and drummer Mirio Bhler, for the production of a second studio album. In 2011 he founded AR&P (Attic Recordings & Productions) and works along with Latino Pop, Pop, Rock and Electro artists like Emidee, Royce, The Company, DJ Slice, DJ Tomcat, Fast&Ruthless and many more. Currently, Sebastian is in the process of releasing a brand new album that will gather epic ballads and funky pop tracks in the form of an exciting interstellar musical journey.

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