Fernando Perdomo joined Preston Frazier for a Something Else! Sitdown that explores his
ambitious new album ‘Self,’ what he learned from Todd Rundgren and what life’s like on the road with Marshall Crenshaw:
PRESTON FRAZIER: Fernando, Self is an engrossing work!
FERNANDO PERDOMO: This is one of the most unhinged and diverse albums I’ve ever put together. It’s definitely me, trying to definitely find out who I really am, hence the songs. But I’ve done a lot of different styles of music and I’ve done a lot of different things. I found myself in a little bit of a personality crisis and I thought, “Why not put it all in one record?” My absolute idol is Todd Rundgren. He did pretty much the same thing on a record he put out 50 years ago this year called Todd, because that record has everything in it. You could say the same thing about A Wizard, A True Star. You could say the same thing about a lot of different records that he did, where one minute it’s a song that you hear on the radio, and then one minute it’s prog – and one minute it’s instrumental, It’s like some type of weird jazzy thing.
His new tour started last night and for the first 90 minutes, he’s not playing a single hit. People are eating it up!
PRESTON FRAZIER: I’m a big fan of your music, which I found via Bandcamp and Patreon. I think I have all of your prog-rock albums – including the fantastic tribute album that you and Dave Kerzner did for Yes. Your latest release combines some familiar elements with something new.
When did you come up with this concept for Self?
FERNANDO PERDOMO: I guess it started with a cathartic week where I had a bummer gig. I felt like I was not being represented properly because I know what I’m capable of, and I just felt like I was being limited to what I could do. That same weekend, an old friend of mine sent me a picture of me from 2002 where I look completely different. I was in a band at the time called DC Three that was almost signed twice to Atlantic Records, and we were all on diets, and we were all getting custom jeans made. Girls dug us a lot. I was 100 pounds lighter, and I just saw that picture and I’m like, “Oh man, whatever happened to that guy?” Immediately, I wrote the song, “Searching for Myself.” I thought it’d be hilarious if I wrote a song about a missing person and that person being me. I immediately dreamt up the video. I thought of like, printing out these missing persons pictures, putting them all over the city and performing the song around them, and then eventually cutting my hair like that guy and saying, “Yeah, I found him.” That was really the impetus of the record.
Now, that was about six months ago. I started writing the record and I did a couple more pop songs. There was even a song that didn’t make the record, because it’s a song that I recorded from way back. I decided I wanted it to be all new material. And then I said, “Who am I? Who am I as a musician?” The thing that Todd and I have in common is that we’re both record producers. As a producer, I’ve worked with a lot of different styles and have to wear a lot of different hats. During my 25-year career as a professional artist, as a recording artist, I’ve been known as a singer-songwriter. I wanted the record to have a little bit of everything. There’s an acoustic guitar instrumental called “All of Us Under the Same Moon,” which I really enjoyed putting that one together. Then there are pop tunes like “Optimist Prime,” “Searching for Myself” – which are ballads because as a singer-songwriter, I love doing ballads. “Absolute Silence” and “Everything Leads to Now” are mid-tempo songs.
I really wanted to go all out on the second side. I decided to do my first-ever vocal prog-rock epic. It’s nearly 20 minutes. It’s got 16 tracks of vocals. I got really inspired by a band called the Free Design. They stack harmonies; they’re a family group, four singers. The way that they arranged and stacked harmonies really inspired me on this one. It originally started as an acoustic guitar in improvisation, then I started overdubbing on it. Eventually, I added electric guitar and Moog synthesizer, and it’s a full-on prog-rock track, but it’s got all these vocals. I know my limitations. I was given a baritone bass voice, which is very rare in prog – especially the prog that I’m really into, because I love high tenors. Guys like Ian Anderson, they’ve got a great voice, but you never hear him really like layer it into beautiful stuff. He’s always aggressive.
I really wanted to make it sound pretty and, and also menacing at times. And there’s some points in that song that are hard to get through. But in general, it truly is one of my biggest achievements in my personal musical journey.
PRESTON FRAZIER: The song “Self” is also a journey. It starts in one place, almost ethereal and kind of mellow, and it just goes and goes and builds and builds. It is truly a wonderful piece of music.
FERNANDO PERDOMO: Thank you. I hope people get that and understand it’s truly just a representation of me. I hope people approach it with open ears, because some of the greatest prog albums of all time have been ones with everything. Even prog bands have had easier listening stuff on albums along with crazy stuff. It’s not all just math. Well, Yes did it for a little while with their four sides with one song each …
PRESTON FRAZIER: That album should have been two sides – but that’s another story.
FERNANDO PERDOMO: It’s all good, but you know, all my favorite prog bands, there’s “gateway drug” songs, entry points to the band’s music – then they go, “Now, we’re gonna hand you something absolutely fricking nuts.” And speaking of sidelong epics, I’m sorry, “Close to the Edge,” that’s pretty amazing. But “The Ikon” by Utopia is 30 minutes long and absolutely nuts.
PRESTON FRAZIER: The sequencing of Self makes it perfect for a vinyl release.
FERNANDO PERDOMO: I am hoping for that. The label wants to release it on compact disc first. Hopefully, it gets the demand for vinyl because this is an album that would sound incredible on vinyl and look incredible on vinyl. I love the cover. This is a great story: I was in New York City doing some showcase shows with Carmine Appice for the Appice Perdomo Project. I was staying with my friend Rick Aguello, who was a pretty famous photographer. I was one of the last people that stayed at this apartment above his coffee shop before the renovation, and he had this mirror and I saw it, and I took that selfie and I immediately texted to him, I’m like, “Rick, I need your help. Come take this picture properly.” And he says, “I can’t do that any better, man.” Wow, that was a magical moment for Fernando the photographer. I’ve never taken any photography classes, but I’ve had some amazing moments. Billy Sherwood of Yes just shared a photo I took of him, I’m honored. I’ve always loved photography, but that cover for Self is special because it’s like a selfie and this spectacular mirror, which looks really cool in the CD.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Browsing through your Bandcamp site gives me the impression that while your albums are diverse musically, you are typically a one-man band. Is that the case for Self?
FERNANDO PERDOMO: That’s one of the things I definitely wanted to push on this record, because a lot of people don’t realize that my albums are one-man band records mostly. I’ve had some guests on the Out to Sea records, and I’ve done some stuff with other musicians, but I really feel like I shine the most when I’m sitting there just creating and putting out my own personality. Now something funny is happening. In the video for “Who I Really Am,” I’m playing different characters. I’ve literally named every band member of my band. So I’m playing all the instruments. There’s this guy named Emmett Rhodes, who I played bass on his fourth record. And I’ll never forget when I asked him, “How’d you do all those incredible backup vocals?” He said I just named everybody. He created a persona for each person in the backing chorus!
I’m inspired by Emmett Rhodes, Paul McCartney, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, Jason Faulkner, John Bryan, Eric Matthews. There’s some incredible one-man bands. I even produced an incredible one-woman band named Nicole Marcus. It’s an art form that’s barely ever discussed, even though Prince did it. The idea of one person playing all the instruments, I’ve been doing this since I got a four track when I was 12 years old. So I’m 43 now. It’s something that comes second hand. I’m a producer and I’m very hard on vocalists – and I always say, I’d never hire myself because I know my limitations. But there’s a thing about like American Idol, the voice culture versus the singers that we grew up with. While these people are technically insane, you don’t really feel anything.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Grammy-winner Zach Ziskin mixed the album?
FERNANDO PERDOMO: I met Zach Ziskin in 1998. I was fresh out of high school. I show up to a place called Tobacco Road, and I see this band playing, and I swore to God it was like Roland Orzabal. One of the greatest singers, guitar players I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And I instantly became a fan. And the band was called Passion Seeds, and the singer was Zach Ziskin. Then he put out his own record, almost got signed. He decided to go into production and engineering, and that’s what he is done for this time. He’s got a Grammy. He’s done work with Ariana Grande; he’s done work with a lot of different people. But he gave me my first ever Pro Tools lesson, and he also showed me how to do what I do. He’s my guy who does all the mixing work.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Yeah, it’s, it sounds fantastic. What did you use for keyboards?
FERNANDO PERDOMO: Well, because of Dave Kerzner, I got addicted to the Nord stage sounds so that I used that for a lot of string sims, Rhodes, some of the piano sounds. I’ve got a Mini Moog; I’ve got an RP Pro Soloist. I got really addicted to Reface CS by Yamaha. Also the CS 80 CS Evangelic keyboard, and I use this for a lot of sounds – a lot of the more weird simple sounds that are on the record. And this thing is amazing. Guitar wise, a game-changing moment happened during the pandemic. And that was my big gift to myself: a 1970 Martin D-28. I’ve always been a Gibson guy. I have a Gibson Country Western, which was my main acoustic forever. I had a Mexican Martin, which I liked. I was always chasing the sound of my favorite acoustic guitar sound of all time from the first America record. This guitar is my rock when it comes to writing. It’s the basis of every song on the record, this guitar.
PRESTON FRAZIER: You’ve been on the road with Marshall Crenshaw for his anniversary tour.
FERNANDO PERDOMO: How about that for anti-prog? He likes having another guitar player and so, again, me being diverse – when I got my first car, I found a CD called My Truck Is My Home in the player. It’s a live compilation of Marshall’s. What a great live album. It’s great driving record. And there’s even a freaking amazing ABBA cover on it. So I’m driving around and going, this is my new favorite guitar player and this is my new favorite songwriter and this is my new favorite lyricist and I’m gonna love this guy for the rest of my life. Hanging out with him as a friend, it’s fricking amazing. He’s the coolest guy, he’s the nicest guy and he’s hilarious. I love the guy, you know, and the band is tight. We have Derek Anderson of the Bangles. He was the bass player in the Bangles for the last 10 years, and then Mark Ortman of the Bottle Rockets on drums, who’s his drummer/tour manager/MVP. We have a blast together. It’s really fun. We’ve become a family.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Fantastic! Any final thoughts on Self?
FERNANDO PERDOMO: I got distribution through Cherry Red. They’re all good people. They are all good people. They’re Yes’ management. Buy independent music, especially in the prog genre, because we could use every cent: Capes are expensive. Do you know how much it costs to get a cape dry cleaned?! I’m not terrified, because no matter what happens with this record, I went for it. This is being unfiltered. This is who I am.
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