Earlier this year, a progressive rock quintet from Madrid, Pervy Perkin, put out their debut double album called “Ink,” a record that counts 16 songs at total, clocking at 2 hours and 15 minutes. Many would say that it is a risky challenge, but the band answered it with courage, and accompanied with their talent and skills crafted a release that certainly counts as one of the “hottest” albums produced by a new coming artist in 2014.
We talked with drummer/vocalist Carly Pajaron and guitarist/vocalist Dante about “Ink,” as well as many other topics.
Your debut album titled “Ink” draws influences from many different music styles. How would you describe your music to someone who didn’t hear your music before? What artists do you think have inspired you most directly?
Dante: That’s a really hard question! How would you describe a painting without showing it? I think it’s quite tricky to describe music. Anyway, I usually describe the music of Pervy Perkin as a very vast universe where all genres have their place, where each song is a totally different “planet” on itself and where everything can happen. I could say that in general every song has “Metal” filter, and a progressive one, with odd time signatures, experimentation…things that we like and use quite a lot. But that’s not the case with songs of Ink as Falling from Earth or The Tree in the Sky for example, that are quite simple.
Pervy Perkin is a five-piece band. What in particular each one of you brought to the table while working on the songs from “Ink”?
Carly: Everyone brings his own vision for a certain part of the song or the composition, with a lot of cooperation, I mean, for example, if we are stuck in some part, someone will bring an idea that will make 5 of us move on and keep the good dynamic. It can be a riff, a melody, rhythm…
Anyone can bring an idea from other instrument for example, for me that is very common being myself a drummer I focus a lot on the bigger picture of the structure for example. Alvaro can make a fantastic riff in the moment, Dante has beautiful worked ideas, and Ugo was very clever in things that should and should not enter in a song, re-use ideas to make the song an entity. And now Aks and Alex bring their own vision, it is an overwhelming experience.
Did you map out any of the elements before starting to write “Ink”?
Dante: It all turned out pretty natural, actually. We just discussed what we wanted Pervy Perkin to be, that we will accept no limitations and that we would go as big as we wanted. We had a couple of ideas for songs that we wanted to be included in Ink, but almost everything was a result of the guys joining in Carly’s basement and composing and discussing.
Breaking down the album’s structure, it’s easy to notice that each one of you have parts where your instrumental work is really good. What is your way of putting these improvised instrumentations in an entity called song?
Carly: I think that the things that make the songs from Ink unique are the different vibes that each one give the listener, and we try to give some continuity to the ideas used within a song, that’s the key to keep the music fresh, interesting, and catchy in Pervy Perkin. Each one has its own genoma.
On future releases… I think that we are going to take a step further. May God have mercy on our souls!
“Ink” is a double album, but there is not a certain concept behind it. The first CD is titled “Book of Equinox” and the second “Book of Solstice,” and together they form “Ink”. How does the album title effect the material presented on the album? Give me a snapshot of the topics you explore on these songs?
Dante: “Ink” was a title we came up with because it is an instrument to write stories, our songs. Everything can be related to that title, and our first album was definitively everything. The “Books” were established to continue with that idea, and to avoid the CD1, CD2 kind of thing.
We explore many topics: obsession in “Of Echoes” and “Reflections,” social fight in “New Dawn,” Sci-fi in “T.I.M.E. Part 3” and “Asleep in a Wormhole,” huge opera about the change in one’s life due to a horrible happening in “Morphosis,” insanity and depression in “Memories of the Water,” facing a new life stage in “The End of the Beginning,” escape from reality and denial in “S!urm,” love in “3:11 AM,” or what I call a soundscape based on a vision in “Falling from Earth.”
So, what is with the name of the band? “Pervy” is not usually a term with good connotation, how does it reflect to the overall sound of the band?
Carly: Haha, well there is nothing with the name, what do you expect when you see a name like that? People just want to know what is behind that creepy name, and anything can appear, is a connotation for un-expectation I suppose… It is just like Red Hot Chili Peppers, and their sound has evolved through the years keeping that crazy name!
You had quite a few opportunities to present your work in front of live audiences. What is the general response you guys receive?
Dante: Absolutely amazing. Every gig we do, people would say that they loved our performance. “I’m not a fan of progressive/this kind of music, but you guys and your music are amazing”. That’s something we get a lot. We improve with every gig, and we always give everything we’ve got in the concerts. We believe that a concert should never be an artist playing his music and leaving. To see that, I rather listen to the album. A concert has to be an spectacle, an experience, and we seem to achieve that. We have been called “crazy” when playing, and for me, there’s no better compliment.
Are there any plans for hitting the road and touring Europe or North America?
Carly: As soon as we can, we hope to play in every single wreckage of the world, we only need the budget to make it and people hearing us and we will give the whole of ourselves live as we always try to do!
How do you sense the future?
Dante: Really good, actually. We are doing what we can, step by step, and we are getting amazing results. Now we are focusing on presenting Ink with gigs in different parts of Spain, and promoting the album worldwide. Also we are beginning to prepare material for the second album so we keep ourselves really busy (which I love).
Thanks for having us, it’s been a pleasure, be sure to give a listen to our first album, “Ink,” and follow us in social media (we are everywhere hahaha).
Big hug from Pervy Perkin!
Visit Pervy Perkin online:
Progarchy 