Check Out Chris Perkins’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Perkins.

Hi Chris, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Music started for me as far as I can remember. When I was young, I saw my sister perform in a music showcase and kept telling myself I wanted to do that until I was literally on a stage doing exactly that. I grew up playing guitar and branched out into various instruments that I taught myself to create a one-man band. I’ve been professionally producing, writing, and releasing music since 2018 and it’s been uphill. I’ve been lucky enough to perform in different spots around the world and start to build an international audience. Last year was exciting because I released my debut EP, “A One Night Only Event” which was a wild ride since it was 100% created by me. I am an extreme creative and very hands-on, which means that every bit of content that comes out (whether it be a song, cover art, music video, or promotional content)  I directly or heavily influence it. It’s a beautiful process because I’m handling like 20 jobs at once but I’m learning about every single avenues and roles of the music industry simultaneously.

It helps too that I’m currently enrolled in Berklee Online so it’s just real-world experience and application of the knowledge gained throughout my course load. I’m getting more and more confident about what I’m doing and who I am as an artist, which has allowed me to experiment with genres as frequently as I have leading up to my latest summer single, “Pineapple” which preludes my upcoming EP. “Pineapple” is about reaching this high point in life where you’re finally at peace with what all it took to get there that you’d do it all over again to reach this point if you had to start over. This song is such a breath of fresh air from my other songs and even involves me rapping, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while with my own music outside of previous groups I’ve collaborated with. I view this song as a perfect transition into this next chapter and story that my future music will tell.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve been very lucky and fortunate that this journey has mostly been smooth …well, outside of me being a procrastinating perfectionist. The hardest obstacle to overcome was to stop myself from holding onto my songs and continuously tweaking them until they were viewed as “perfect” even though it’s such a subjective ideal. If I had been more consistent with my previous music releases instead of waiting years between my first few singles, would I have gotten farther? I’d like to think that this personal struggle as more of what makes me unique. I turned it into a challenge to shorten the length my account is inactive for. This led me into content creation to figure out how to stay relevant in an ever-evolving era and keep entertaining people while I fine-tune what I’m working on behind the scenes.

Thankfully, I’m getting to this beautiful place where I’m better and faster at finishing songs that now it’s just a matter of getting them out to my audience and building a lasting connection with them. It’s always a roll of the dice if the latest song will resonate with fans or not. But I’m very much aware of the risks and struggles of having a versatile discography, that not everyone will be a fan of what’s currently being promoted and that’s okay because it’s all trial and error while I just do my thing. I’m in this for the long run, so I plan to keep creating and performing for as long as I can.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a producer/musician/one man band who specializes in creating pop-rock music. With my diverse musical background, I try to incorporate additional genre influences into my music such as funk, rap, R&B, and folk. I’m mostly known for singing and playing guitar since it’s the main instrument I play during my live shows to my backing tracks. I try to switch it up and will play different instruments on my newer songs the more I get confident with playing other instruments on stage. With the livestream show I put on last year to celebrate the release of my debut EP, in almost every song I switched instruments from piano to drums to bass and thus creating a new experience that I haven’t seen many artists do. I’m very proud of the lyrics in my songs because these are true stories that I want others to grasp onto and be able to connect with. With my latest singles, “I can’t say I miss you…” and “Pineapple” they’ve been performing better than previous songs as more people are telling me how much they resonate with the music or how they enjoy the lyrics which is a sign that I’m getting better and improving my storytelling in my lyrics.

I’m also proud of my music videos because I’ve directed and edited my last few and helped direct my upcoming ones. It’s an accomplishment to learn about filming techniques and video editing and to be able to freely explore that since I have no constraints. What sets me apart from others is how unpredictable I am as an artist because you may think you know my next move, but that may not be the actual case.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’ve been blessed with good luck because I have a very supportive audience of friends and family that’s growing and allows me to continue diving deeper into this journey. I’m lucky to have gone through all the experiences I’ve gone through because they helped me discover who I am, travel around the world, and perform internationally.

When the pandemic hit, it allowed me to take the time to really explore myself as an artist and lock myself in my room studio and create a bunch of songs so I’m lucky to have had a positive experience and that I get to continue moving forward full steam ahead. Some artists had to stop during the pandemic, but I was one of the lucky few to keep pushing forward since my presence is mostly online and I used that time to grow with Livestream performances, content creation, and meeting a bunch of talented people who’ve helped teach me many things about this journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/chrisperkins
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechrisperkins/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itschrisperkins/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/itschrisperkins/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DJReplayReplay
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thechrisperkins?lang=en

Image Credits
Joshua Hays Jr.