Jeremy Porter & The Tucos

Jeremy Porter & The Tucos
Jeremy Porter & The Tucos (Photo: Doug Coombe)
Background information
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Power pop, alternative country, cowpunk, alternative rock, punk rock, heartland rock, pop rock, indie rock, rock and roll
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Magwheel Records (Toronto 2010–11) New Fortune Records (Detroit 2012–present)
Associated acts	The Replacements Cheap Trick Uncle Tupelo Gram Parsons X Hüsker Dü Two Cow Garage Lucero
Website	www.thetucos.com
Members	Jeremy Porter Patrick O'Harris Gabriel Doman
Past members	Jason Bowes

Jeremy Porter & The Tucos is an American rock and roll band from Detroit, Michigan. The band is composed of Jeremy Porter (guitar, vocals), Gabriel Doman (drums, vocals), and Patrick O'Harris (bass, vocals). Their sound has been described as a combination of classic American powerpop and alternative-country with elements of punk and Rockabilly. The band is often compared to The Replacements,Cheap Trick,Uncle Tupelo and X.

Jeremy Porter & The Tucos were formed in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, Michigan, in November 2010 by Jeremy Porter when he needed musicians to play on a Christmas song he had written for the annual Suburban Sprawl Music Christmas Compilation. Jeremy recruited drummer and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Doman (The Hotwalls) and bassist Jason Bowes (The OffRamps, Fidrych, Culture Bandits) to round out the trio for the recording session. The lineup would remain intact for four years.

The band's name is based on the character Tuco Ramirez, played by actor Eli Wallach in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and was an alternative to a suggestion by original bassist Jason Bowes, who proposed The Mortimers, after the Lee Van Cleef character when the band found that a punk band from Poland had already claimed it.

In 2011, the band released their first single Night On The Town b/w Ain't My House Anymore on the Toronto, Ontario-based record label Magwheel Records and started playing regional shows across the upper-Midwestern United States. Their third show was a coveted support slot for Jesse Malin & The Saint Marks Social at Small's Bar in Hamtramck, Michigan. That same year they made their first appearance at the Hamtramck Blowout, now known as the Metro Times Blowout, a music festival featuring mostly Detroit-area bands, and crossed the border into Canada for their first shows in Toronto, Ontario, Montreal, Quebec, and Wakefield, Quebec. The Canadian shows and a previous run of Midwestern USA shows were a double-bill with Toronto/Newfoundland singer-songwriter David Picco (Jetset Motel).