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“Rose Perry – An Anti-Hero tale of Smoke and Puzzles”
By Jackie Lee King
Photos by Niva Bringas
Rose
is resting; or rather, catching up on her beauty sleep. Reconvening
from the road she comes to the phone, after my wakeup call, and
playfully tells me that she’s only wearing an AC/DC t-shirt and
ruminating about homework. Ms. Perry, her alter ego, is a graduate
student at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario (Canada), but transforms
into a rock avenger (vox, guitar, lyrics…among other things) in the band
Anti-Hero.
Perry collaborates with fellow rockers Nic VanHaverbeke (bass & rhythm
guitar), Jesse Tomes (lead guitar), and the decamped Matty Cole
(drums). Their current drummer Todd Stewart joined up with Anti-Hero
and is a rock veteran that brings over 20 years of experience (older
than some of the band members) to the band. Stewart has performed with
bands Ripped and Mary5e, and had no problem learning a
dozen or so songs on the road so that Anti-Hero could continue their
tour.
Finding a solution to a predicament comes naturally to Perry as she
continually amasses a fair amount of knowledge about the music
business. A D.I.Y.’er (Do-It-Yourself) till the end she has a
determination to convey Anti-Hero’s message to the masses. In doing
this Perry draws inspiration from many avenues, foreign and domestic, in
making a name for her in a patriarchal industry. She took a cue from
one of her hero’s, Ani Difranco, by forming Her Records, named
from the disbanded group she use to tour with, to help promote
Anti-Hero.
Perry gets her music fortitude from fellow Canadian Alanis Morissett as
well as Madonna and the Chicago based Veruca Salt. Other musical
influences can be found in the names of her three cats; Johnny Rotten,
Sid Vicious and D'arcy Wretzky. Perry admits that she has some
embarrassing CD’s in her collection, but is not ashamed of them. “I like
Michael Jackson. It’s a shame that he is going to be remembered for
other things instead of his music. I think he is a fantastic performer
and a great song writer.”
When asked about her own music, Perry sorts though the labels, punk
being one of them, assigned to Anti-Hero and identifies the band as rock
and roll. “I tend to write more about social issues. Punk is political,
we’re social. Everybody hears something different…I just consider us a
rock band”
Anti-Hero has a simple rock and roll formula that has been billed as,
“The 21st Century’s Answer to Nirvana,” but that’s not the
only comparison that they have heard. They’ve been akin to everything
from Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, The GoGo’s and
Joan Jett.
Perry claims that she got her musical taste from her mom. “I was raised
on rock and roll. The first song I ever listened to was Deep Purple’s
Smoke On The Water.” Sounding like a song in her response she
inadvertently channels a vocal likeness to one of her comparables, Joan
Jett. “A lot of people say that, but if you look at my mom SHE
kind of looks like Joan Jett,” says Perry denying relation to Jett.
Anti-Hero’s debut release Unpretty is riddled with social
rejection and self loathing, but don’t be fooled by the subject matter
it’s more of catharsis than complaining. These songs are meant to be an
empowerment to the listeners to gain strength in sharing of experience.
Perry quips that she’s only a size 3 in the title track of the CD.
Being an outcast is a central theme in Anti-Hero’s music: Heck it’s the
subtext to the phrase “Sex, Drugs
and Rock n’ Roll. Channeling those feelings of rejection is primal in
forming a band, but Anti-Hero’s message goes beyond the typical perks of
standing up and expressing your angst. “We aren’t just another rock
band – We’ve got a message, we speak out for what we believe in, and we
want to make a change,” says Perry.
One of the things that she believes in is keeping pure, (get your mind
out of the gutter, and it’s none of your business); i.e. Straight Edge.
“I don’t feel that you need those substances (Drugs and Alcohol) in
order have a good time or to get though the day…my way of dealing with
my problems is to take my music and to make it a positive outlook for
other people. ‘Yes I went though this shitty experience, but here’s what
I learned about it.’ And hopefully people can identify with what I’m
saying.”
It
is one thing to record a CD, making that message available to the masses
though internet and record stores, but better way to spread the news is
to perform your music live as much as you can. Anti-Hero had already
performed around their native London and received a slew of awards and
accolades. It was now time to up the anti and take on the U.S. on a
regional tour. The band obtained P2 visas so that they could
legitimately and legally perform in the U.S. Once the process was
completed, “We booked anywhere that got back to us and was willing to
give us something.”
Coordinating the gigs from her native Canada wasn’t always easy, but
Perry wanted to do things the right way. “We’re too honest,” she
admits. “Anti-Hero could be like a lot of other bands that cross the
U.S. border illegally. I had to start booking in January and we were
supposed to have all of our dates submitted by the beginning of April.
We picked up some shows along the way and then things would fall apart
and then we would get new shows. It was a complete mess, but somehow we
did it.”
Of
course they got lost, discovered Popeye’s Chicken, had
washroom/bathroom issues (as a pose to Johnny-On-The-Spots’) and even
got into a car wreck. These experiences educated them and helped them
along when Anti-Hero picked up a few dates on the Canadian leg of the
Vans Warped Tour. But life on the road was not all
school-of-hard-nocks for Anti-Hero; there were some times of fun and
hilarity. Some of the bright spots on the tour were St. Louis and shows
in the great state of Iowa. The band is anxious to return to these
places while adding more dates on future tours.
 They
had survived the wilderness of the U.S., but some places were wilder
than others. “I’ve never laughed so hard than when we were in
Michigan. We were in the van listening to the radio and a commercial
came on the station advertising guns. That would never happen in
Canada.”
Some people’s perception of Canada is that it is a frozen landscape just
like an episode of Northern Exposure. She animatedly states
that, “We don’t all live in igloos. I don’t like Hockey. And we’re
(Canadians) not gun crazy.” However, she did concede that most
Canadians end their sentences with the word ‘A’; it’s a clarification
thing. “If you are making a statement and you are asking for the other
persons input the ‘a’ implies that you want them to respond. It’s like
turning the conversation over to them, A?” I believe the American
equivalent of the phrase is ‘Know-What-I’m-Saying’.
But now I’m supposed to contribute something to the conversation. The
Canadian Catholic School girl has bated me with an ‘a’; and now I have
to respond. Perry asks me about other bands that I’ve interviewed and
if there have been any interesting conversations. I say she’s one of
the best and a great conversationalist, partly because we’ve been on the
phone for over two hours. I tell her about one interview where the
subject of Portuguese Lobsters comes into the conversation and then I
give her the ‘a.’ She follows up with her own animal adventure that
happened on the way to a recoding session for Unpretty.
“I’m
a city girl 100%, raised in a middle class suburban
area. So I was not exposed to wildlife or farming or anything of that
context. Nic, however, was raised out in the country. I was driving,
which was probably a mistake, and we’re just about there and there is a
whole slew of sheep out in the field. And I’m almost crying because
they look so ridiculous and I kept thinking how stupid their little feet
and faces were surrounded by all this fluff. I almost crashed the car
because I was so excited about seeing a sheep in person.”
I
would say that was an appropriate bedtime story, since it was past both
of our bedtimes and there was plenty of homework to do, on both sides.
Rose
Perry is the frontwoman for "London's Best Rock Band of 2006" (as voted
by SCENE Magazine) ANTI-HERO, as well as the sole owner and operator of
HER Records, a management company in which she offers marketing,
promotion, publicity, tour booking, and artist development services.
Her band ANTI-HERO has toured extensively across the US, Ontario, and
has played notable festivals such as Warped Tour, Wakefest, and
MEANYFest. Their critically acclaimed debut album, "Unpretty" is
available worldwide through Addictive/Fontana North/Universal Music. For
more information on Rose Perry and her band's accomplishments, please
visit
www.anti-hero.ca or
www.myspace.com/antiherocanada.
Jackie Lee
Niva with Perry (Below)
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