A Thousand Hours

The last three years have been huge for Sam Perry. Born and bred in the northern suburbs of Perth, he’s paved a promising path for himself, with a Laneway slot in 2011, playing support for huge acts such as Mutemath, Sampology and Dub FX, and more recently, has been involved in a tour that took him to Germany. “That tour was a lot bigger than I thought is was going to be, to be honest,” Perry chuckles. “I thought it was just going to be smaller venues, but we ended up playing in these huge entertainment centres and places like that. It was a really cool show, and it gave me a taste of how things could be. It definitely makes you feel pretty cool, you know.”

Perry recently released his single, Fever, a smooth, slow groove that was conceived as part of a whole new experiment for the solo artist who had, until that point, worked on everything by himself. “This time Matt [Mclean] from Lilt teamed up with me as a producer, and we went in with this completely different idea: I basically went into the studio without any equipment. I picked the microphone that I liked and I just went a cappella. He gave me a click track and an A chord and we just started moulding harmonies together. I was doing it dry on the mic and it sounded pretty dry and disgusting  hearing it back, but then we went through it and tuned it and worked on it in post-production. It was a great experiment and I loved it.”

Perry’s performances are usually part-improvised and part-rehearsed, and the difficulty he faces in not becoming overwhelming by the sheer possibilities he has at his disposal is vital. “Live, I know the loops inside out and I know what I can do. Once you learn that I can throw down a C or a C#, I know immediately what note needs to come out of my mouth next for it to sound right. I know if I track something and it’s out of key, I’m in trouble. It can get pretty frustrating trying to do new things; that’s why I’ve got everything I know I’m good at in my back pocket. You can go anywhere, and there’s no knowing where it’s going to go, so trying to stick with a style or vibe or feel is really difficult. It’s a headfuck. You know what they say, like, put a thousand hours into something, and you can come good – that’s basically what it’s like. I have the pedals, and it’s like home. I don’t go out that often; a Saturday night for me is like everyone’s out of the house and I’ll get a nice whisky and start learning more. It’s about absorbing yourself and knowing it subconsciously. I can’t read music, I’m not a musical mind-screwer – I’m just winging it and doing it the way I think it should sound, and it’s just great to know it’s coming across and people are liking it.”