Elvis Perkins - London, UK - Winter 2007
By: Matt Tomiak
Presley. Costello. Elvis Crespo ('a Puerto Rican Merengue singer'- cheers, Wikipedia). Erm, the early 00's UK metal band Elviss. To that rock pantheon of Elvises / Elvi (What is the plural of Elvis, anyway?) we now introduce Mr Elvis Perkins.
A couple of brief biographical details. Yes, Elvis is his real name. And secondly, he is the son of Anthony Perkins, the American actor most synonymous with his iconic role in 'Psycho.' Although that latter fact is indisputably way beyond merely 'fascinating', we won't dwell upon it here - suffice to say that it's more than a bit surreal, and a tad disconcerting, to be sitting opposite a man who so strongly resembles Norman Bates.
Elvis joins us in a North London café fresh from opening for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and The Cold War Kids with his backing band, Dearland. Or, as will soon transpire, not so fresh...
"I wish I'd been more present for it - I'm a little under the weather. A singer's never happy when he's got throat problems. So...it wasn't my ideal moment, especially being the first time ever playing in London. But surrounded by the other groups we were playing with, and I think my band was on top of it. We just played a really, really great show in Paris the night before, so it was a slight downer after that."
Ah, a London baptism. So how did you react to our capital's notoriously reserved audiences?
"I guess I was maybe surprised at how they weren't as reticent as I thought they might be. Not feeling great about the whole thing myself as it was happening, I think in retrospect, with their applause and whatnot, was surprisingly warm."
There's one track on your forthcoming debut album, 'Ash Wednesday' entitled 'Mayday', which eschews the prevalent US folk influence in favour of some Beatles/Kinks-ish proto-Britpop. Just how big an inspiration is British music for you?
"I'd say the Beatles are up there, and I love The Zombies. But I'm no more a fan of that stuff than I am of whatever you feel like identifying more in my music. It is the only sort of electric song on there....it just kinda happened that way, it wasn't really intentional."
And what of your contemporaries- is there anyone you genuinely identify with or admire amongst your peers? There's a touch of the Bright Eyes and the Rufus Wainwright lurking in 'Ash Wednesday', isn't there?
"Um....I don't consider myself very tuned in to what's going on, and I don't really know what Rufus and Bright Eyes have in common..."
Erm, well...what about their singular, idiosyncratic approach to music (not to mention their singing voices)? A unique, highly personal vision, perhaps? That grand, orchestral, full sound they often tend to produce? And an underlying element of political subversion despite mainstream recognition?
"Well, I respect what those guys do, but again it wasn't a conscious decision to make something that sounded modern. If anything it was more of a decision to make something that sounded like it didn't belong to any time in particularly, but especially the time we're in now."
You don't sound particularly enamoured with contemporary alternative music.
"Hmmm....I'm trying to work out myself what my relationship is to modern music, and I feel like I've learned so much from people who aren't my contemporaries. I don't know if it's like a defence mechanism or a competitive thing...I often feel - I'm not sure why - that what my contemporaries are telling me is less valuable than what the Old Masters were telling me. It's not as fresh as it once was. It's getting harder, as John Lennon once said, 'to be someone!' Or to say something. I think there's an increase in chaos all the time. As time goes on, as more people flood the planet, it gets harder and harder to make sense of what we're dealing with."
The lyrical inspiration for your music is undoubtedly highly personal (many of the tracks on 'Ash Wednesday' reflect upon the September 11 attacks, in which Perkins lost his mother.) Almost 6 years on from 9/11, has the gap in time been sufficient for you to deal with the loss from a new perspective? Or is there simply no buffer that can ever allow you to deal with an event of that magnitude?
"My relationship to the information changes and my relationship with reality changes over time, as does anybody's. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to make real sense of the utterly senseless, but perhaps it's less....less in the forefront of the mind, less debilitating."
How do you feel location affects the songwriting procedure? Elvis grew up spending time in both L.A. and New York City, and has latterly spent a length of time residing in Providence, Rhode Island. How did a fairly itinerant big city upbringing treat you?
"Perhaps I would have felt more of the culture staying in New York- I moved to L.A. with the family when I was 4 years old or something. Culture is a lot harder to come by in Los Angeles! Not the most vital place, you have to look a lot. I feel like I've done my best thinking, existing and best writing for that matter outside of the city. I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a while. That was a fruitful time, as has time spent in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which is pretty secluded. The problem recently is having no fixed location, since we've been driving round the States for the past 7 months straight. Having no real time or space does hamper the process."
Indeed, Elvis' forthcoming American tour schedule is fairly imposing- an old-fashioned slog across the great nation. Any trepidation?
"I'll sort of take it as it comes, we've got a long road ahead of us! But my album comes out in a week, so it'll be out when we're playing, and we'll be headlining those shows, which we haven't really done much of. So I think it's going to be a different experience altogether, even though we will be re-treading ground and even playing the same clubs we've just played in with other people. So it'll be interesting, and probably tiring, as it always is! Over here, we've had the luxury of sharing a bus with The Cold War Kids. Even though I'm not well now, I fell better rested and it seems like a little less work!"
You've had a substantial amount of support online, in particular from independent blogs. How important is non-mainstream media backing to a new artist like yourself?
"I'm not that aware of it - I stay away from the internet when I can! I don't frequent blogs, and I only ever know that me or someone in the band have been mentioned when a friend or an agent or manager has said something about it. In that sense, I'm not really the most qualified to know- but it can only be good to have support."
The next few months obviously look pretty busy, but what has the past year served up? Any particular highlights or memorable events?
"It's hard to keep track of when anything was- there's been really little time to reflect. I don't know if its how my brain works, or if it's a conscious choice that I forget making, but I'm not really a storyteller outside of the songs, which is slightly curious and slightly troublesome sometimes, as it seems to be the widespread means of modern human communication, is the sharing of stories. So when you say 'highlights', that for me draws an immediate blank! But I can say that we've been supremely lucky to have toured with My Morning Jacket (at the end of 2006) and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, World Party and all the rest."
He may have one of the most intriguing back stories in music, but you get the feeling that, given time, the world will come to appreciate the sensitive, thoughtful Elvis Perkins in his own right.
Artists in this article: Elvis Perkins