exPorter is an alternative rock band based out of Southern California. The band's lineup consists of brothers Alec and Destin Cavazos on Guitar-Vocals/Bass-Vocals and friend Henry Kish on Drums.
The first lineup of the band was originally, and un-officially, formed in 2014 in Santa Barbara, CA. Alec and original drummer Jessica Lord had played together in different bands with other local kids but never had luck locking down a full-time bassist. In the closing show at Santa Barbara's Skater's Point in 2014, Alec asked big brother Destin to step in and once the three were on stage, the chemistry was there and a band was formed. Destin agreed to join the new band with the official sign off in 2015 under the name "adj." (short for adjective). adj took the first initials of the band as a clever marketing angle, but it soon became clear that the name "adj" didn’t work as people were expecting to see "a DJ" at their shows.
In 2017 Destin and Alec took some new demos into the studio and came out with the "Hidden City Sessions" and a new name, Porter. '17 was also the year that brought change on drums as Jessica (or Jess if you prefer) had to take a hiatus as she focused on getting into college. To road test some of the new songs, the boys recruited neighbor Owen Dawson on drums. However, drummer turmoil set in yet again as Owen started to look into colleges. Another name controversy also set in at this time as the brothers learned there was already another band named "Porter" based out of Mexico.
2018 solved all band issues by introducing current drummer Henry Kish to the lineup and a new band name in exPorter. "ex"Porter cause they all essentially were in a band named "Porter". In October 2019, exPorter released the single "Nightmare" to celebrate Halloween. On Halloween day itself, exPorter released its first official EP - "Bored". In May 2020, exPorter's single for "Carsick" was featured as the Localize It pick of the week on their hometown radio station, KJEE.
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In January of 2021 during the pandemic, Alec and Destin took their annual Jensen's show and turned it into the "Jensen's Project" that included a fundraiser, mini-doc and live album to support the great Santa Barbara guitar shop. The project introduced two new songs which were then recorded at Hidden City Studios as a double single release - the first of which, "Elizabeth" was released on May 4th, 2021 with a premiere on May 3rd on KJEE. The single, "Lassie" was released on May 31st and was selected as the KJEE Localize It pick for June 21st. The songs received additional airplay across the country and both ranked on the Sub-Modern Alt Specialty Singles Chart for a combined six weeks, three of those weeks in the TOP50.
Based on the positive feedback of the two singles, the boys took more material back into Hidden City Studios and focused on recording their debut album. With studio owner Lanam again helping shape the recordings, 10 songs were finally mastered in early 2022 and their debut album “NoBrakesNoBrakesNoBrakes” was released on May 25th, 2022. The feature single “Your Boyfriend (Suckup)” received great reception and was featured on several playlists and radio shows, peaking at #24 on the Specialty Chart.
The band writes and performs original songs along with covers from influences Blink 182, Green Day, Smoking Popes, the Pixies and others. The boys have been performing since 2012 and have played at several Santa Barbara venues including SoHO and Jensen's Guitar Shop. exPorter has also performed at local festivals including the Santa Barbara Haunt, SB Solstice, and the Carpinteria Avocado Festival.
exPorter has also toured California having played venues including SoHO and Music Alley (Santa Barbara), The Tiki Bar (Costa Mesa), and Milkbar (San Francisco), Strummer’s (Fresno), The Casbah (San Diego) and The Pourhouse (Oceanside). In addition to headlining their own shows, exPorter has also performed in support of several acts and in October 2021 the band was stoked to open for one of their favorite bands Hinds (with Hearty Har) at SoHO.