WERS 88.9 fm Artist Interview: Elvis Perkins In Dearland

December 28^th, 2009

ElvisPerkins03 Elvis Perkins pulled in front of the WERS studios, touring trailer in tow, with a big, goofy smile on his face, waving to the members of Dearland who stood on the other side of the bullet proof sheet glass window, cracking up at the sight of Perkins' exaggerated enthusiasm on that rainy day in Boston. Elvis Perkins in Dearland (consisting of Perkins, Brigham Bough (Bass), Nick Kinsey (Drums) and Wyndham Boylan-Garrett playing everything else) kicked off a six-stop tour of the east coast in Boston ending in Brooklyn. Following his performance, Perkins spoke with WERS.org…

WERS: Are you excited for the tour; it's kind of a rainy day to start off.

Elvis Perkins: It is kind of a rainy day to start off. But it's always exciting to start a tour, rainy or not.

WERS: You seem like a demure, chill guy, how do you get amped up for a show?

Perkins: [Laughs] It's early yet. One really shouldn't be approaching rock and roll at such an hour.

WERS: Yeah, don't musicians wake up around now?

Perkins: Well that's the thing; I woke up at 6:30am and drove all the way from upstate New York. I'm a little out of it and feel a little bit like the weather. But have no fear, by tonight I'll be on fire.

WERS: I've read that you really don't like the term singer/songwriter, and I'm wondering what you think the relationship is between writing, performing and going into the studio.

Perkins: Yeah, I don't know. I was going to say I don't think about it, but of course, I do think about it. And, that's something I said like five years ago without really giving it much thought, and it's funny how much it comes back to haunt me. At this point I've had a revelation and I want nothing more [than] to be a singer songwriter.

WERS: You're going to play all the cafes and open mics now?

Perkins: I want to do them. I think we're going to do a tour of open mic nights across the country.

WERS: I read that you were getting into the Yellow Bird Fund, and you wanted the proceeds to go to the World Wildlife Fund. Why did you choose that one?

Perkins: World Wildlife? Well, there are so many different ones you could choose from. There's so much sadness and imbalance on the planet, but it seems to me particularly troublesome that the rest of the animal kingdom, we divorce ourselves from it. We're all in this thing together; they have no way of speaking English, or Chinese, or Russian or anything. So they can't really voice their suffering, which I think is one thing that humans have an advantage, and we've got opposable thumbs and all that, and we can voice our suffering. And since they can't, they need more help to get a square deal, which, I think, since we've taken over, they haven't really been getting a square deal.

WERS: You grew up in Hollywood. What it's like to be in your own spotlight, especially since you've only been on the scene a couple of years.

Perkins: Right. Um… I don't know if I've hit the limelight yet, do you think I have?

WERS: Maybe you have. When you went over to the Starbucks did anyone recognize you?

Perkins: I didn't go to the Starbucks, just down into the liquid dungeon here, and nobody recognized me down there. In the dungeon I get recognized very infrequently. And I think anybody who steps into any lime light, or lemon light, or cumquat light, or… I was going to say lime light, but I've already said that. You realize that it's not quite what we've made it out to be or what we think it is. So it's just another human experience, you know? And this one just happens to be better lit, I guess.

WERS: So before anyone goes to the show tonight at he Paradise, what should they know about Elvis Perkins in Dearland?

Perkins: Oh gosh, the less they know the better. You can know too much, which I think is mostly the case, and certainly with me. I know we need information to weed and figure out what we're going to do with ourselves because there's so much of it avalanching onto us at all moments. But maybe, somebody will be relieved to know that they only need to know the address. And if I could give it to them I would, but I can't, so I won't, but its paradise.