Rising Stars: Meet Trevor Portz of Golden

Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Portz.

Hi Trevor, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hey everyone—my name is Trevor Portz, and I’m a heavy metal musician who grew up in Denver (or more specifically, Arvada). Though I’m not exactly a household name—nor are my bands—I’ve been playing for more than 20 years, and still love writing, recording and performing as much as ever. So what’s my story?

Where to even begin?! It’s interesting looking back on your life and trying to determine what’s interesting enough to share with other people, haha.

My Denver journey began back in the early 80s, when my parents relocated to Lakewood from Houston, TX. My dad was a chemical engineer, and after bouncing around a bit (including to London, where I was born), Colorado came calling. Not too long after the move, my parents built a house in Arvada, which would become my home city for the next 18 years.

Overall, my childhood was pretty ideal. I had plenty of friends, did well in school, had a supportive family… what more could you ask for? I loved riding my bike, building Legos, listening to music, and just being a kid (even though I wonder how much I fully appreciated that at the time!)

Music has always been a huge part of my life. My parents had music on all the time; typically the 60s/70s rock they grew up with, or the current rock and pop hits. My uncle Dan was a bass player who had been in prog bands in the 70s and 80s, and my uncle Kevin was a music nut. (In fact, I still have a mix tape Kevin made me, that says “Prepared for Trevor Portz- so he can learn to rock & roll.” It has tracks from the Stones, Dylan, Bowie and many others.) So I was surrounded by music, and I ate it up.
Even from a young age, music captivated me in a way nothing else did. I had a Fisher Price record player, and while Ernie singing “Rubber Ducky” was certainly in regular rotation, so too was Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” (my first favorite song), The Beatle’s “Love Me Do,” and whatever else I could snag from my parents. I was so enthralled with music, and it was clear early on that it would play a critical role in my life.

Even though I wouldn’t get the bug to actually learn an instrument for several more years, the first band that had an impact on me beyond just the songs was the Stray Cats. Damn, did I think they were cool (and honestly, I still do). I wanted a pompadour so badly! I must have played my parent’s “Build for Speed” LP a million times. Fun fact, I finally saw them live in 2019 at the Greek Theater, and it was as impactful as it would have been if I’d seen them in the ‘80s.

But the most pivotal moment in my musical journey came in roughly 1988. My dad, who had seen Kiss with my mom on a lark in 1975, noticed that “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park,” Hannah Barbera’s bizarre foray into making a hard rock/superhero movie, was going to be on late-night TV. He recorded it (yep, that was what we did before streaming), and my brother and I watched it the next day. Everything changed. Kiss was beyond anything I’d ever seen or imagined. They weren’t just a band, they were truly larger than life (that’s for you, fellow Kiss fans). That’s when I knew I wanted to be a musician. Obviously, the image I had of what being a musician really meant then was pretty far from reality, but we’ll get to that later.

Not long after my first Kiss, I started exercising my creative muscles. Now, I still hadn’t learned how to play an instrument (I didn’t have the drive or patience just yet), but I did start writing songs. They were silly, and often just slight rewrites of songs I loved (minus the innuendo I didn’t yet understand), but doing so tapped into my emerging creative side. My buddy Jamey and I started our first band—the appropriately metal “Exorcists”—and created a whole fantasy world for ourselves. We designed stages, drew album artwork, wrote loads of lyrics… you know, everything that except playing any real music. But in our eyes, we were on the way to being the next Ratt, W.A.S.P. and Bon Jovi.

Did I mention my obsession with 80s glam metal? Kiss opened my eyes to a whole world of hair and riffs. While it looks dated now, nothing seemed cooler at the time. Plus, the songs were catchy as hell.

Big jump ahead to high school, when I actually started applying myself musically. It all started in chemistry class at the beginning of my senior year. This long-haired dude named Jorden—wearing a Samhain shirt—walked in, and I just knew we were meant to be friends. We struck up a quick friendship, being two of the only metal dudes at my school. Up to that point, I didn’t really have many metal friends; not only did he like music I hadn’t even dabbled in (he listened to Megadeth, Sepultura and Iron Maiden. Anthrax was about the heaviest thing I’d ever heard, and only randomly). But even more importantly, he could ACTUALLY PLAY BASS. Sure, he was in jazz band at school, but he’d actually been in a real band! They even had a promo photo (made all the more amazing by the fact that all members were wearing matching Megadeth shirts, haha.) So when we started talking about starting a band, I knew I had to get my act together. Dreaming about a mythical band was cool, but actually learning to play was paramount.

So I did it. I started practicing. Being very impatient, I sort of skipped a lot of fundamentals, opting instead to start writing songs that were beyond my abilities, and figuring out the technical details after the fact. (Honestly, I still do that.) We played a ton, wrote a ton of songs, and met an awesome group of similarly minded metal heads in the Denver scene. We were all young and super energized; we just wanted to play the most brutal and intense music we could… and loved every minute of it. It was a primitive mix of death metal, black metal, thrash and punk—everything we listed to at the time. Whereas a lot of extreme music was borne of anger at society, we honestly weren’t all that angry. Politics and all that weren’t really top of mind for us. We just wanted to get people’s attention… and being shocking, especially lyrically, did the trick. We only played a handful of shows over the couple years we were together, but those years were lifechanging. I learned that writing songs was an absolute necessity for me. It was a drug, and I was 100% hooked.

I ultimately moved away from Denver in 2000, heading out to NYC for fame and fortune. (Well, that and the fact that my girlfriend—now wife—was moving there to go to school.)

The New York years were interesting. I wrote a ton of material, from hard rock and punk to black metal. But I really struggled to find other musicians that I wanted to play with. So I kind of became the dude who writes and writes, but never actually releases anything. Sure, there was an EP here and there, but without a label or any real interest in actually playing and touring, they pretty much just disappeared into the ether. I don’t regret any of it—songs that would become the foundation of my current bands came from that—but it does bum me out that I wasn’t more ambitious.

In 2010, my wife and I packed up our things and moved to Los Angeles. 10 years of NYC life were great, but I’d gotten burned out at work (advertising), and needed a change. LA was a total reboot. Almost immediately, I decided to turn things around musically, meaning, producing SOMETHING. After a few false starts with other musicians, I realized that technology had evolved to a point where I could just do things by myself, and without spending a small fortune. My first step into the solo waters was a project called Bite Wound. It was sort of grindcore/death metal, with songs about everything from current events to me almost passing out from fever on the way to work. Write what you know, I suppose! I released an album and a couple EPs through Bandcamp and iTunes, and while they didn’t exactly make any waves, I proved to myself that I could actually do things on my own. That was the shot in the arm I needed.

Based on the “success” of Bite Wound (meaning, the fact that I successfully finished it), I decided to finally pursue something I’d had in the back of my mind for many years. I dug out old demos and a story idea I had for what would ultimately become Ashen Horde—my first foray into modern blackened death metal. I spent ages writing, recording and mixing the songs at my home studio, and finally deemed it ready for release. I pressed up CDs and sent a bunch of copies to magazines and music review sites. Amazingly enough, people took the time to listen to—and write about—my little album. The craziest part? They actually liked it. Suddenly, people were willing to give me money for music I’d created. Every CD sale or download purchase blew my mind. Sure, it was small numbers, but it didn’t matter. It’s not to say I would have given up if the thing had been hated, but it didn’t hurt when it came to feeding my ego and ambition!

Ashen Horde continues to this day, and I still love everything about it. We’ve expanded to be a full band, and I’m fortunate to work with some amazingly talented people that actually seem to want to play music I write. We just wrapped up recording our 5th album, with the music for a 6th already written. That alone blows my mind. We’ve released LPs, 7” singles, cassettes, and a personal favorite of mine, a 10” record (to celebrate 10 years of our debut album). Are we world-renowned metal superstars? Not even close. But I’m able to write and release the music that I love, always trying to do something new and different. The fact that people respond positively to it is insane.

In 2018, I started a band called Abhoria. The idea was to do something more “traditionally” black metal, since Ashen Horde had drifted from that. I also wanted it to be a band that could play live. The members of Ashen Horde live all over the place (our drummer, Robin, for instance, lives in Australia… gotta love modern technology), so it hasn’t been a realistic option. Hopefully that changes soon, but until then, Abhoria fits the bill. The four other guys are all brilliant musicians and great friends… and, oddly enough, all live in the Denver area. Turns out my old home city just keeps pulling me back.
After recording our debut album, I shopped around to a bunch of labels, and we were fortunate enough to sign to well-respected US metal label Prosthetic Records. Another ridiculous milestone that I still find surreal. Thus far, we’ve done two albums for them. We play live when we can, and did a multiweek tour all over the Midwest and West Coast in 2024. We’ve shared the stage with some amazing bands, met some great people, and had more fun that you can imagine.

So what’s next? More Ashen Horde. Abhoria Album #3. An album I wrote called “Lost Beacon,” with a brilliant singer named Mark Sunshine (Unida, Riotgod.) [That one is more or less progressive metal, leaning into the melodic side of things that I haven’t fully indulged in a long time.] I’d also love to do a straight-up rock band. Who says there’s age limit on rockin’!? It’s all for the love of rock and roll.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have definitely been struggles, but I’m not entirely sure that’s the word to use given what some people have been through… “hurdles to overcome” is probably more accurate. Perhaps the most obvious for me has been trying to balance my creative life [that doesn’t exactly pay the bills] with a regular job that [usually] has. It can be exhausting. People ask how I find the energy to write and/or play almost every day, and I tell them it’s often all about force. That’s not to say I don’t love it while I’m doing it, but believe me, many days are just about making myself play even when all I really feel like doing is watching TV.

So why not pursue music as a living? I mean, that’s what I dreamed of when I was younger. If only it were that easy! Certainly there are a number of factors at play as to why that’s not been a realistic goal for me. First off, the music I play is not exactly mainstream. But even if it were, making a living playing music is HARD. As much as I’d love to just blame the rise of streaming or people’s preference for cut-and-paste pop, my priorities have also played a big part.

For many, many years, I really had no interest in touring, or even playing live. For me, writing is the thrill; that’s when I feel the most fulfilled. I also love recording—even though it can get tedious and frustrating—because it’s all about bringing the vision to life. On the other side, there’s a unique agony in finding band members that you like, that share your vision, that don’t expect to get paid exorbitant amounts for every show, etc, After a few failed attempts to find a band in NY, I got frustrated and pretty much gave up. The longer I avoided it, the more daunting and undesirable it became. Even though sites like Bandcamp have made releasing music to a worldwide audience easier than ever, if you’re not playing and touring, it’s quite difficult to get your name out there.

I finally sucked it up in 2023, scheduling the first-ever Abhoria shows in my old hometown of Denver, as well as Colorado Springs and Cheyenne, WY. Leading up to the mini-tour, I was a basket case; I didn’t sleep well for weeks, and had all but convinced myself that I was physically incapable of playing a full live set. Funny how, after a slightly rough first song, everything just clicked. I more or less remembered how to play, and as luck would have it, I actually enjoyed it. Weird. So Abhoria continues to play and tour, and it’s great. I’m under no illusion that it will ever become my full-time job, but I’ve come to terms with that. In fact, being able to live a double life of corporate guy by day and metalhead by night allows me to do things the way I want to, without the shadow of money hanging over my head. No artistic compromises, no inferior production… and no sleeping in a van on the road.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ll keep it shorter here since I rambled on for the earlier questions!

I guess I’m known for (and that’s a stretch) writing and playing aggressive, sometimes complicated, often chaotic, occasionally melodic heavy metal of the extreme variety. I don’t know what may or may not set my bands apart from others, but can at least say we don’t do anything to cater to trends or fads; it’s just the music we want to play.

While I play guitar, bass and occasionally do vocals for my bands (though less of the latter after vocal surgery a few years back), I really consider myself a songwriter first; those happen to be my tools. I won’t make any suggestions as to whether I’m any good at it, but can say that I love to write, and put everything I have into my songs. I write music that appeals to me, and if it happens to appeal to others, even better. One time, someone asked what my favorite album of the year was, and I replied with the one I’d released that year. He was like, “wow, that’s pretty egotistical.” I didn’t say it was the BEST album of the year, or even that it was on par with anything else. But think about it–it’s an entire album of songs that appeal 100% to me. How wouldn’t it be my favorite? Haha.

So when it comes to what I’m most proud of? Just the fact that I’ve managed to do what I love and keep doing so; no compromises. I still find it very surreal that I’ve signed record deals and released material on vinyl, cd and cassette. People actually buy them sometimes, too.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
For people who only know “work Trevor,” hearing my music is definitely surprising! I don’t really talk about it at work much, but it does come up. It’s always funny when someone who knows nothing about metal, or whose idea of extreme metal is Metallica or Rammstein, wants to hear what Abhoria or Ashen Horde sound like. While I truly appreciate anyone who cares enough to delve into my creative ventures, I usually advise they skip the music… no offense taken! I’ve definitely gotten some funny responses when “regular” folks follow through and check a song or two out. One coworker was convinced I was just putting on a metal persona to sell records. Joke’s on you!

In a similar vein, I supposed something that may be surprising to non-metal folks is that, for the most part, metal people are… normal. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but almost every metal musician I know is well-rounded, well-spoken, funny, caring, friendly, and generally not terrifying. People have a hard time separating the music and image from the actual person, which I can understand. For whatever reason, humans seem hardwired to stereotype. I mean, I have friends that would scare me if I ran into them in a dark alley, sure! But those same friends treat their pets like children, cry at sappy commercials, and would most definitely help an old person cross the street. I actually have a friend from work who keeps a running list of all the decidedly unmetal things I do, from drinking apple juice at lunch (ONE time) to watching a silly Disney sitcom called “Dog With a Blog.” I love to hike, bike, travel and play with my dogs. I just happen to also like playing abrasive, fast, complicated music with dark lyrics.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ashenhorde.bandcamp.com ; https://abhoria.bandcamp.com
• Instagram: @ashenhorde ; @abhoriametal ; @lostbeaconofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshenHorde ; https://www.facebook.com/AbhoriaMetal
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Ashenhorde

Image Credits
William Kerner; Nicolas Dodge