ex-pe-ri-ence: Pronunciation: ik-'spir-E-&n(t)s; Function: noun 
1 a : direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge
2 a : practical knowledge, skill, or practice derived from direct observation of or 
        participation in events or in a particular activity 
3 a : the conscious events that make up an individual life 
4 : something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through
5 : the act or process of directly perceiving events or reality 
PERRAN + EVENTS + KNOWLEDGE + SKILL+ LIVED
 
     
 
Perran's fascination with musical instruments began at age 4 when he was introduced to a set of drums he messed around with at his baby-sitters house. Ever since then anything musical has fascinated him. He got his start with a little keyboard his grandparents got for him in the 1st grade, soon to be followed up with his mothers nylon strung folk guitar in the 2nd grade. His first serious and formal study of a musical instrument began in the 4th grade with piano lessons from his grandparents. By the 6th grade he was playing trumpet with the school concert band and then he got a set of drums for Christmas, again from his beloved "Meme and Papa"  accompanied with drum lessons from his parents. As he excelled in music through the 7th grade Perran was promoted to 1st chair trumpet and was already playing the electric guitar while continuing to play keyboard instruments. He quickly followed this up with the French horn in 8th grade.

By this time the drums were driving his parents crazy and were stored in the attic, so he concentrated on the guitar by commandeering his dad's electric guitar, amp and acoustic guitars. Perran looked for new knowledge from anyone and everyone he could find that played, including friends at school, his dad, and his dad's best friend Richard Schier.   
Because of his various lessons: piano, drums, trumpet and French horn, Perran's guitar playing developed really fast through learning any and everything he could by example or by figuring it out by ear. Soon after the drums were rescued from the attic and traded for a really nice Gibson electric guitar, a 1982 "The Paul": a black walnut version of a Les Paul. 

When Perran was 14 he started playing Guitar and Bass in original and cover bands in clubs and studios, performing live and recording demos with his friends. It was at this time that Perran began to study dance with Helen Wilson, who at that time was a 50 year Broadway veteran as well as a stand in and body double for the likes of Barbara Stanwick and many other famous stars of the silver screen during the 40's, 50's and 60's. Here he formed a close bond with Renee Hilliard, Ms. Wilson's teaching assistant and star pupil. Renee spent a lot of her personal time coaching and helping Perran to prepare for national dance competitions where Mr. Wilson led her groups to a high level of success over the next couple of years. It was during this time that he learned the importance of team work, precision, staging, visual appeal, grace stage presence and above all else, classic professionalism.

Because of his skill, musical maturity, and stage presence Perran started writing and playing with older musicians and had his first professional club gigs and recording sessions for money by age 15. He also played frequently in school and his church. It was at this time he began  working for the areas largest music store for JD Lewis (who later went on to form Warrior Instruments, a highly respected high end custom guitar and bass manufacturer). Perran took advantage of the music store environment, working as hard as he could and JD took a personal interest in Perran. JD trained and taught him about playing, equipment, sales, and the pitfalls of the music business. JD also allowed him to trade licks with many musicians who came through the music store as well as being taught things by JD himself (who was offered a gig as a guitarist with ZZ Top at one time) and a local guitar phenomena, David Carter who also worked at the store.  

Perran was later given the opportunity to work with the Live Sound portion of the music store business, where Perran learned about PA, Lighting and Sound Engineering under the tutelage of Brett Noblett, Steve Casey (and many others) who have worked for some of the the biggest names in the music industry including Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, The Eagles, David Lee Roth, Lynrd Skynrd, and many many more. All of this led to a rapid rate of growth, due to his associations with numerous musicians engineers and technical specialists who were older, wiser and more experienced than he was. By the time he was 17 he was giving guitar lessons, working on and off for JD in the music store/sound company and spending his money on musical instruments and recording gear. Perran  spent virtually every minute he could of his day writing, recording, performing, studying music theory, advanced instrumental technique, composition, performance engineering and producing.

Towards the end of High School Perran "apprenticed" under David Carter. David was a force behind Wizards, a local progressive rock band. David went on to tour with several professional acts as well as record as a sideman on many outstanding efforts. David took Perran under his wing as his personal guitar tech, teaching him the intricacies of guitar, amp and equipment maintenance as well as recording and live equipment usage. Here he learned the importance of tone, tone from the hands and how it translates through gear. In addition to this valuable experience he gave Perran informal guitar lessons which was more than a thrill because he learned from one of the best rock guitarists he ever heard and really looked up to David.  

By college age, Perran had played a ton of live gigs, done sessions, written dozens of songs, recorded hundreds of hours in his home recording environment, developing his instrumental skill in many styles, on many instruments He also recorded and gigged with professional bands of every type: Pop, Rock, Country, Blues, Jazz, Big bands, Hard Rock, Metal, Progressive Rock, Dance Bands, show bands and many many more. During this time Perran also studied and played off and on with Tom Johnson, a well known guitarist and band leader who had associations with Ted Nugent and played with Humble Pie (after Peter Frampton left) as well being respected Nashville Session Guitarist. Tom took Perran under his wing and helped him learn the arts of playing, performing and engineering as well as how to be an effective writer, sideman and session guitarist.

By his early 20's all of these experiences helped Perran when he moved to Nashville, where he worked in some of Nashville's most prestigious music stores, taught guitar too and honed his chops in original bands and played with musicians of the highest caliber and notoriety. Some of which include musicians who have played and produced with the likes of Tom T. Hall, Lorrie Morgan, Hank Williams Jr., Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Earnest Tubb,  Alabama, Steppenwolf, Jim Dandy, Angel, Bang Tango, Humble Pie, Atlanta, Kansas, Phil Keagy, James Brown, BB King, James Brown, Hard Knox, multi hit songwriter Bobby Lee Springfield, and many many others. 

During this time he met many of Nashville's elite, and began to do some sessions and live performing as a side man in addition to playing out with his bands "Destiny", "Alley Cat" and others. While doing sessions he would watch, learn and question the engineers and producers there, and as time went on he built a relationship with them in order to progress as a producer, as well as a performing and recording musician.

The most powerful defining time in his musical life was when he met the undoubted best guitarist he has ever seen, Bob DeArmit. Bob was capable of techniques and speed that are mind boggling and when Perran complemented Bob, he responded, "I am not really that good of a guitar player, I am more of a songwriter." This completely blew Perran away. Most guitarists who are very good are cocky and arrogant about their abilities and Bob was just the opposite, and stressed songwriting over instrumental prowess. At first this confused Perran, because Bobby was the most devastating guitarist he had ever seen (still to this day) and Perran knew you didn't get that good without taking the instrument seriously.  

Bob taught Perran that it was ok to strive for technical and theoretical domination over an instrument, but only as a means to find the music a writer hears in their head. Bob was an accomplished Guitarist and Pianist and taught that being the superior guitarist/ instrumentalist was about listening to the players around you so you and complementing them through the song, not by trying to make yourself look better. He also showed Perran that being an effective musician was about emotional delivery and above all it was about songwriting. Bob introduced Perran to some of Nashville's top players, and got his foot in the door at such places as the Country Music Hall of Fame Lounge, the Stagecoach, Bluebird and others. Here he played, learned from and worked with some of Nashville's top dogs.

Along about the same time Perran met John "Skully" Downing, a Nashville based Bass player who had stints with such country greats as Conway Twitty among others. Skully was heading a band called "Ragin' Fury", a progressive hard rock/metal band. Ragin' Fury played some really amazing music, extremely technical and complicated. Right away, Skully and Perran struck up a mutually admirable friendship. What became immediately apparent to Perran, was how driven to excellence Skully was. Skully studied very hard, every single day and that was inspiring to Perran, because he had never met anyone who worked as hard at music as he had before. To top it off, Skully was able to play things on his Bass, that most guitarist couldn't, and he didn't use a pick, he was a finger stylist.  They swapped licks, taught each other songs began writing together and started to form a side project with Kenny Earl (went on to drum for Manowar and others) until Skully had to return to Ireland where he was born. Shully had a rather profound impact in the year they hung out together and Perran has never forgotten him.

Since then Perran has gone on to be part owner in a recording studio and computer consulting company, has recorded and produced with countless artists and group efforts, and has been involved in the Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis and Philadelphia music scenes, along with many other cities across the country. He has written hundreds of songs, played virtually every type of music, won guitar competitions, played a massive number of shows, produced dozens of artists and written music for radio and television. Perran has thousands of hours of recording experience and close to 1000 gigs (audiences ranging from a handful to well over 30,000 people) under his belt. He now continues his legacy through his independent record label Rock Market Records, producing writing and performing songs in the Philadelphia area and abroad. He works with other professionals in addition to developing tracks for the upcoming "Kung Fu Cricket" and "Perran" albums.
     

 

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