He plays six instruments and created a debut EP last year in his Clifton Springs bedroom. LUKE VOOGT speaks to young one-man-band Guy Perkins about his unique talents and plans for the future.
Playing five instruments was never enough for Guy Perkins.
A fascination with a Game of Thrones song and a quest for a tattoo drove the 19-year-old to develop his latest musical talent.
Since hearing the Rains of Castamere – made famous by the notorious Red Wedding episode – Guy longed to play violin.
Four months ago, Guy and a mate were searching for a place to get inked when they came across an opportunistic buy.
“We rocked up and the parlour was closed, so instead we went to the Cash Converters down the road,” he says.
“I saw this violin and it was cheap – $100 bucks with a hard case, bow and everything.”
Guy has been practicing since and has even added violin to tracks in his debut EP, which he released last November.
He played guitar, bass and drums, and performed vocals for the four-track EP, recording it all in his bedroom, despite having access to a studio.
“Some of the songs I recorded in the past sounded as good in my bedroom, so I decided I’d save some petrol,” he says.
“It was a pretty long process; it took a lot of trial and error.”
Guy started his journey to musical mastery at eight years of age when his cousin gave him his guitar.
At the time, his mum – a skilled pianist – started teaching him the piano.
“Once you get your head around a piano you can sort of get your head around the basic structure of all music,” he says.
Guy grew up surrounded by music. His uncle – a traditional Japanese musician – gave Guy three guitars and let him use his studio when he visited Japan.
Back in the Bellarine, friendly competition with his muso mates helped him expand his repertoire.
“All my Bellarine Secondary College friends have got their own musical careers now,” he says.
In his high school years, his friends would play for him on stage and he was happy to return the favour.
“A lot of times I’d be playing drums in a friend’s band or bass,” he said.
“I just slowly got better and better.”
Guy was a regular at Bellarine gigs, meeting local talents like Ambrose Kennedy Smith, who plays harmonica for alternative outfit King Gizard and the Lizard Wizard.
He carved a niche for his indy pop-rock across the Penisula, playing live at the Queenscliff and Anglesea Music Festivals and Festivus in Ocean Grove.
Guy moved to Melbourne recently, to study a bachelor of audio, and plays regularly at CBD bars and pubs.
“I’m very lucky, getting to study what I love and live off it, it’s kind of what everybody dreams of,” he says.
Guy is working on his first full-length album, which he hopes to have out by the end of the year.
“This one is a lot more nitty gritty, heavier and dark than my last one,” he says.
“In terms of song writing it’s a lot more mature. The EP last was kind of childish – I guess – I wrote a lot of the songs when I was 15 or 16.”
He is looking to outsource some the work this time to his musical friends, and hire a string section, despite his latest musical talent.
“The violin’s going well but I’m not that good yet,” he says.
“I’d definitely get someone professional for the album.”
