portia sabin

What is your name?
Portia Culver Sabin

Where did you grow up?
in Hell's Kitchen, New York City

What was the first band you saw live and when?
I saw the Go-Gos with INXS opening for them in 1984.

What was the first album you remember buying?
I remember buying J. Geils Band "Freeze Frame", but i also remember having Hall & Oates "H2O" in the house and I don't know where I got it.

When did you first hear of Kill Rock Stars?
In 1993 i played drums in a riot grrl band called Socket Wench and we covered Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl".

How did you come to work at Kill Rock Stars?
I started by filling in for Maggie doing publicity when she was on tour with Bangs, then did production for a while and other odd jobs when necessary.

What do you do at KRS?
I am the president, which means i set budgets, help Aaron and Beth calculate royalties each quarter, and handle the business of the label. I also do A&R for half the bands.

What are you listening to right now?
Quitzow, Shy Child, Sholi, new Numbers (you are all psyched!), replaying karaoke night songs endlessly in my head.

What are you reading right now?
A new murder mystery author called Dorothy Simpson. Anna Karenina is next.

What album or albums do you recommend and why?
The Smiths "The Queen is Dead" and "Louder Than Bombs" because they will change your life.

What book or books do you recommend and why?
"Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond. This book essentially explains the geographical and historical conditions that allowed certain crops and certain groups of people to come to dominate the planet economically in the modern era. It is fascinating and easy to read, especially the chapter on which animals can be domesticated and why.

"The Classical Roots of Ethnomethodology" by Richard Hilbert. This is a little more academic of a read but the subject matter is really important if you're interested in why people do stuff and you're not satisfied with a psychological model that explains human behavior in terms of individual desires and needs. If you read it and want to talk about it or just want to know what ethnomethodology is, email me at portia@killrockstars.com.

"Horse Heaven" by Jane Smiley. Just an amazing novel.

What website(s) do you recommend and why?
cuteoverload.com for crying with laughter every time.
wnba.com - women basketball players still get paid a fraction of what men do, but this pro league has been around for 10 years now and represents real change in opportunities from when i was a kid. plus the players are inspiring and the games are intense! get season tix now!

How do you feel about the United States Postal Service?
Very good in general although the recent price hike is a bummer because all our CD mailings are now like 3 times more expensive. Streaming promos, here we come!

When was the last time you did karaoke and why?
Last Wednesday when we got together with Deerhoof, Numbers, Xiu Xiu, and one third of Erase Errata in San Francisco. it was hilarious and there were lots of little toy xylophones and stuff.

What is your best story from tour (yours or anyone else's)?
Tour is always SO FUN, it's hard to pick a best story. I think a lot of the really good times come from the people you meet, like when my band the Hissyfits was on tour with Earlimart in 2001 and we stayed with their friend Pete in Seattle. It was just a really fun night, complete with frozen burrito fight in the supermarket. Sometimes good stuff can be like a surprise upgrade to an executive suite by the hotel when they lose your reservation, or just getting to sleep in the loft in the van instead of sitting up!

What is your worst story from tour (yours or anyone else's)?
Everyone has bad stuff happen on tour, from the basic (not getting paid, breaking down, hours of tedious driving, no sleep, hunger, nothing but fast food) to the really bad (having all your equipment and/or van stolen, accidents). So to really stand out you need something crazy to happen. The craziest thing I remember hearing about was one of the bands I booked a tour for showed up at the venue address and there was a hole in the ground because the whole club had exploded the night before due to a natural gas leak.

I like to tour in general, so the worst things for me tend to involve extreme discomfort, like the night I sprained my ankle doing merch for Two Ton Boa in San Francisco and then spent the night on somebody's floor with their extremely smelly dog walking on me in the dark.

When was the last time you played music live, and was it in a freeform noise band?
I played drums in SMAWA two weeks ago at this crazy bar in the east village which was filled with ladies in nice summer dresses and heels and guys in crisp button down shirts tucked into pleated pants. SMAWA is a freeform noise band (musically, although not lyrically), so we expected to clear the place within seconds but actually a lot of the people stayed and looked mildly interested, so it was cool.

When was the last time you ate pizza, and what was on it?
Today at California Pizza Kitchen on 30th Street. I was SO EXCITED to discover a CPK in NYC. I am from here and thus have rebelled and love mall restaurants the best. I got the Tostada pizza and it was excellent.

What was the last live band you saw and when?
I saw Thao Nguyen and her band the Get Down Stay Down last monday night in SF. They were great!

Who is playing soon that you are looking forward to seeing?
Erasure on the True Colors tour and Team Dresch!!

What was the last thing you learned about that made you excited/mad/inspired?
The NY Times reminded me today of the massive difference in how people are treated due to class in this country in a story about two lawyers who stole $35 million from their clients. The NY Times referred to this action as "fraud". I can't help but think of the difference in language used (and jail sentences) when discussing poor people stealing from richer people.

What was the last class you taught/took/dropped out of?
I taught Anthropology 100 at Tacoma Community College in 2005 and several of my students had been to Iraq with the armed forces. Those people understood the concept of "culture" really fast compared to many others and had a lot to say about it, which was inspiring for me and gave me some new insight into possible (unintended) side effects of military service.

"I feel really lucky to work here in general! KRS has an amazing history of being a feminist, queer-friendly, artist-driven label and it's an honor to get to help keep it going and keep putting out awesome, challenging music. I love the people I work with too!"