Gourley was born in 1981 in Willow, Alaska, to John T. Gourley and Jennifer Van Ingen. He and his two siblings grew up in Alaska moving from town to town, wherever their father\'s contracting business took the family. Gourley\'s parents both competed in the Iditarod, and for a while the family lived in a remote "off the grid" cabin accessible only by dogsled. He grew up helping to take care of dozens of mushing dogs.\n', '

He attended Wasilla High School, but dropped out at age 15 to study at home and work in construction with his father.\n', 'Gourley joined four fellow Wasilla musicians: his best friend Zach Carothers and the three members of band Nice Guy Eddie (Dewey Halpaus, Joe Simon, and Nick Simon), to form punk band Anatomy of a Ghost in 2002. They toured across the country and released their album Evanesce in October 2003 on Fearless Records. The members wanted to pursue their own ideas, however, so the band split up in May 2004. Gourley and bassist Carothers formed Portugal. The Man.\n', '

In 2011 Gourley welcomed a new born daughter with longtime partner and bandmate Zoe Manville. \n', '

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