A Dirty Dozen with SHAWN PERRY – May 2019

According to a recent press release: “Country Rock Musician SHAWN PERRY has released the official music video for his pop-infused single, “LAWNCHAIR.” Shawn Perry is best known for his work on the MTV series MADE, his guitar and amp company VALKYRIE, and several past and on-hiatus music projects. Shawn also runs an independent recording studio (Rock City) and was a 2013 SCENE Magazine nominee for Music Producer of the Year. Shawn has appeared on VH1, NBC, FOX, and in several independent films.” We get Shawn to discuss new music, influences, and much more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Absolutely. I take great pride in double entendre, hidden meanings in pop culture references. If that’s something that your readers are really interested in I highly suggest combing through my back catalog not only for this project, but for my former bands switchblade Scarlett and The Loud, more Easter eggs than Avengers Endgame. On this single “Lawnchair” a few of the references are pretty obvious, there’s lyrical mention of Jimmy Buffett, Jack Sparrow and one of my musical heroes Sammy Hagar….aside from that there’s also a little musical reference to Ladysmith Black Mambazo and their 1990s lifesaver commercials in the verse. The whole song is a bit of an homage to the Dolly Parton movie 9 to 5 where they plan to kill their boss…hence the line “I think I might kill my boss today…nah” If you watch the music video, I just Superman punch my boss in the face and steal his Corvette 🙂 Much more PG than the elaborate slapstick cartoon murders in 9 to 5 🙂

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Well what got me into music is a pretty lengthy conversation but the long and short of it is I have always been a performer ever since I was old enough to speak. Pretty much every picture of me as a child or home video I’m wearing some sort of elaborate set of superhero pajamas or some costume that I put together myself to be a superhero or Luke Skywalker. So it starts with that. Then it’s probably being blessed with much older siblings who had fantastic taste in music. My sister bought me a Michael Jackson magic microphone thing that if I sang through it it would come out our home stereo and I used to saying “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” and Van Halen’s “Jump” at the top of my lungs, all while wearing some outfit that was my attempt to look like them… or the aforementioned superhero pajamas.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

I decided that I wanted to be a singer for REAL was the day that I discovered Queen. Which I know, I know… that’s the thing to say these days… it kind of pisses me off since Bohemian Rhapsody was such a big movie last year so now that probably seems like some sort of rehearsed answer, but I was on the Queen train ever since I was like 11. That’s always been MY BAND.  My brother had Queen albums in the house when I was little but I kind of ignored them at the time it wasn’t until I saw the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” in Wayne’s World and subsequently saw the music video – God knows how many times played in MTV for the next 3 months. That’s what really made me want to be a singer in a rock band and a whoop-ass, guitar player. the other big contributors at the time to really solidifying that life decision would be the Van Halen album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Metallica’s Black Album, Stone Temple Pilots’ Core, and The Black Crowes album, The Southern Harmonic and Musical Companion… I think even to this day if you’re familiar with that source material you can hear it influencing just about everything I write.

4. Who would be your main five musical influences?

Queen, Johnny Cash, Van-Halen/Sammy Hagar, P!NK, and Naughty by Nature… five is NOT enough!

5. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Right now it’s Snoop Dog! I am working real hard to get him on my next single! I would also love to cut a track with Brian May (Queen) or Pat Benatar, Ann Wilson or Joan Jett.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

It’s kind of if Jason Aldean, Van-Halen, Kid Rock, and NKOTB all threw a beach party with lots of tequila and fried chicken.

7. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

Performing, hands down. I also love meeting new fans, traveling and getting away with wearing white cowboy boots.

8. When you have downtime and are hanging out with your family, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and how often is there an acoustic sing along or impromptu karaoke night?

I’m usually the grill Master and the one who makes all the margaritas unless our former bandmate and song collaborator David is around and then he’s in charge of the blender. I actually love cooking for my friends, family and band members. We usually get pretty crazy with the food come WrestleMania or UFC time. As far as sing-alongs Are karaoke goes we don’t really do that… when we’re sitting around a campfire we are just trying to hang out. On the rare occasion that I go somewhere and much to my horror they’re having karaoke I try to avoid it. If the person running it happens to recognize me I usually go up and sing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” for my own personal amusement and to make every girl who wanted to sing it really angry LOL.

9. When was the last time you were star struck and who was it?

I don’t know if I ever have been properly starstruck… although I am sure it is bound to happen at some point. I usually just kind of treat people like people. I usually walk up to people and treat him like old friends that seems to work… I don’t know if celebrities really enjoy people like getting all weird around them, so no matter how big a star a person is I try to either treat them like we play poker together on the weekends or we dated briefly in high school but we’re still cool.

10. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

Actor, which have done a bit of of being the new “Steve Irwin.” I love animals so much it’s crazy I’ve even gotten in the cage with full-grown lions and tigers before because I’m clearly a deranged crazy person. Truth be told I am hellbent on being in a Star Wars movie… that’s gonna happen… (pulls out light saber and starts twirling).

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”, even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Being more cautious on trusting people that you get into business relationships with and or that you allow into your circle as players in your band or advisers – having the wrong person on your team can make your life real real difficult.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for anyone record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Any Prince record from the 80’s that man was a genius. I don’t know of the general public truly understand what a unicorn he was.

SHAWN PERRY LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Category: Interviews