PORTICA put out second single Hate To Say on 2 September, after BBC Introducing played debut Firefly. The five-piece's first EP is due later this month.
A five-piece band with three members from Market Harborough released their second single on Wednesday 2 September, weeks after their first was played on BBC radio.
PORTICA put out Hate To Say on streaming services on 2 September. Their debut single, Firefly, was played on BBC Introducing Northants and Three Counties in August, and the band says it was also picked up by Jorvik Radio. The band recorded four tracks earlier this year at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and had them mastered by the engineer John Webber at AIR Studios in London.
The EP, Initial Public Offering, is due out later in September. The band describe themselves as independent and self-funded, and say they are now trying to build a following close to home.
You can hear both singles on PORTICA’s Spotify artist page.
Who is in the band
PORTICA told Harborough News its line-up is:
- James Allen, guitar, composing and lyrics. Market Harborough
- Mark Bickerstaff, guitar and composing. Market Harborough
- Dan Lodge, drums. Market Harborough
- Isla Jenks, vocals. Loughborough
- Dan Slipper, bass. Wigston
Three of the five live in Market Harborough. The other two live elsewhere in Leicestershire, in Loughborough and Wigston.
How the band came together
We asked how the group formed. This is Allen’s answer, in full:
Mark and I started jamming together for fun in 2024 with a shared love of guitar-driven indie-rock-country genres. We quickly progressed to sharing ideas and writing guitar pieces which we realised could be songs we would listen to. We just needed a band.
Mark had a separate side project with drummer Dan Lodge, and luckily he was interested in coming along. Even more fortuitously, Dan had been in a previous band with another Dan (Dan Slipper), so he brought him along too. The music came together very quickly. So then we needed a singer.
James suggested bringing Isla along for an audition - the daughter of one of his school friends. Her voice - aside from being brilliant - added a real edge to the songs and sound. And PORTICA was born.
So the band went from a two-person jam to a recording session at Rockfield inside two years, without a label behind it.
What happens next
Two things are in the diary, neither of them fixed yet.
- Gigs. The band say they are “currently looking at setting up our next gigs in November”. No venues or dates have been confirmed.
- More recording. They plan to return to Rockfield to record three or four more songs “this side of Christmas”.
We have asked to be told when the November dates are booked, and will list them once they are confirmed. Anything else happening locally in the meantime is on our things to do in Market Harborough page.
What it means for you
If you want to hear a local band before anyone else does, the two singles are out now and the EP follows this month. The practical points:
- Hate To Say and Firefly are both on Spotify now.
- The four-track EP Initial Public Offering is expected later in September. No release date has been announced.
- Live dates are being arranged for November, in a location the band has not yet named.
- Streams and follows matter more than usual here: PORTICA is paying for its own studio time, so there is no label promotion behind any of this.
Harborough News covers local clubs, bands, charities and businesses. If your group has something happening, tell us about it and we will look at it.
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