Ryan Perdz Preps For Debut Album, Discusses His Songwriting

On Tuesday (May 26), Ryan Perdz was the special guest on our national radio show, Loudwire Nights. In addition to diving into his songwriting journey that started at a young age, Perdz discussed his upcoming debut album, Can’t Cry, out on Aug. 14.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“I’ve always loved music as far back as I can remember,” Perdz shared with Loudwire Nights‘ Chuck Armstrong.

“My family was doing karaoke in the house when I was like four, but I’ve always been drawn to rock. When I was like 10, I got really into grunge music. That’s why I picked up a guitar, honestly. Kurt Cobain, the [Red Hot] Chili Peppers, that’s who I really loved. And I just really resonated with the grunge dudes really early.”

Perdz was quick to say he’s not only into that style of rock and noted Led Zeppelin is one of his favorite bands of all time.

When he was just 10 years old, he got his first guitar as a birthday gift from one of his brothers, something that changed his life forever.

“They were always just playing stuff, Foo Fighters, constantly playing the Red Hot Chili Peppers,” he recalled about growing up as the youngest kid in the house.

“They’re all a lot older than me. He bought me a guitar and I just kept playing and stuck with it.”

As he thinks back on the earliest days of playing that guitar, he said the first song he played on it was, not surprisingly, “About a Girl” by Nirvana. It didn’t take long for him to realize music was something he wanted to be part of.

“I would say when I was 15 is when I started actually playing live,” Perdz said.

“After I started kind of performing in front of people and I saw how much people liked it, kind of in my mind I was like, yeah, I want to keep doing this. And my family was so supportive, my parents and everything like that. I stuck with it.”

Around the same time, he started writing his own songs, and a few years later, he began sharing covers on social media. Some of those, like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Bush’s “Glycerine,” garnered a huge amount of views.

“It went so mega viral that it’s like, it almost seemed fake,” he said specifically about his cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

“Because like, why? But it was cool. I mean, I just randomly thought of the idea and just did it. I was laying on my couch half asleep and was like, ‘I guess I’ll post another video today.’ And I just kind of tossed that one up.”

READ MORE: Theory of a Deadman’s Tyler Connolly Discusses New Music, Tour With Sevendust — Interview

As great as it is to rack up the views on cover songs, Perdz said he always wanted to share his originals, too.

“I always wanted to write my own music. That was a goal, always. Writing is kind of my favorite part of playing guitar. I don’t really practice scales or anything like that. I kind of just pick it up to write stuff.”

What Else Did Ryan Perdz Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• Whether he thinks there’s a difference between sharing covers and originals: “I feel like it’s all the same to me…I mean, it’s tougher for people to enjoy it for sure. If you’re a cover guy and then you post one of your original songs, get ready for a quarter amount of likes. That’s just how it goes. Just don’t get discouraged. People like what they’re familiar with, it’s nothing against what you write, it’s just people aren’t familiar with it yet … I’ve never been really too shy about sharing my own music.”
• What runs through his head when people compare him to Chris Cornell: “I hope people don’t think I say that and think that. I love Chris Cornell, he’s my biggest inspiration. When he passed, I listened to him like crazy because I was in high school. That sparked me to continue taking it more seriously when I really got into him, because he can take an acoustic guitar and entertain people like it’s a full band. That’s what I strive to do as well. But obviously listening to him so much, I take on some of his characteristics. I don’t think that I sound like him a lot, I think I take inspiration, for sure, from him. I don’t try to copy him or anything like that, but I really do enjoy his music. And if you listen to somebody, it’s going to show.”
• Prepping for his debut album, Can’t Cry, and his latest song, “Sour”: “The riff of ‘Sour,’ the verse, I had the guitar part for so long, just in my back pocket. And then I just had it and then stuck it together. And the chorus of it, I kind of started singing it in a couple of seconds in the studio and the melody of it, it just worked. It just worked.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below or the Video at the Top of the Page

Ryan Perdz joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, May 26; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.