Ten Questions With David Perron

On occasion, I will hone in on an artist/band etc and do my best to track down their work. In this case, the artist was Tilth. Which in turn led me to David Perron’s exceptional label, Round Bale Recordings, and the Tilth release, Rock Music, which I promptly ordered on vinyl.

A few days later, a package arrived in the mail, and along with the record were some promo codes from the label. Many of the artists I had never heard of, but the music was exactly what I was looking for.  In this case, most of those releases were quiet in nature, but I would soon come to find out that this is a label that puts out music they enjoy. Whether it is guitar-driven ambience or something much more aggressive.

With this in mind, I felt like I needed to contact the proprietor (David Perron)  to both say thanks and to gain more insight on the label/approach to music. Hence the 10 questions, but before I get to that,  we both discovered that we were tangentially connected.  It seems as if both of us were writing reviews for Foxy Digitalis (early/mid 2000s) and we both had fond memories of the promo packages that were sent to us. They were a treasure trove of discovery and there are artists who I still listen to today because of those promos.

Additionally, David hosts the radio show, Free Form Freakout on KMSU and is also behind the FFFoxy Podcast (which is also broadcast on KMSU). If curious about the name, it harkens back to the Foxy Digitalis days when the Podcast was connected to that site/label/zine.

With that in mind, let's get on with the questions

1. When did you realize you had a passion for music? In what ways has this passion manifested itself?

DP: I got into listening to and buying music at a pretty young age, probably around 4th or 5th grade. Growing up in a small town in the middle of the Midwest before the days of the internet, there weren’t a lot of places that you could find out about music, but I recall a neighborhood friend and me took to heavy metal pretty intensely primarily through magazines like Hit Parader, MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, and the almost comic book-like appeal of bands like Kiss, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest. Later, we got into more of the thrash metal bands of that mid-80s era and other bands that straddled the line between punk/hardcore/metal. I think it was just fun to discover stuff that most kids our age weren’t into at the time, and that seemed a bit dangerous or challenging to a certain degree. My tastes and interests have changed considerably over the years, of course, but I still find a lot of enjoyment in discovering new music and sounds that I haven’t heard before. This passion, I guess, for music discovery has led me down a variety of different pathways. Aside from just being an avid listener and buyer of music, I have also worked in a record store, written for a few music blogs and zines, booked shows, and I currently co-host a weekly radio show, produce a bi-monthly podcast, run a small record label, and play in a couple of bands. 

DDLS:  A friend's brother had this massive collection of 70s hard rock and allowed us to peruse it (really a typical story). Which from there led to record stores, zines, concerts and eventually a label (RIP)/music making. I do wonder how folks get into music today – as much of the community is gone or harder to access.

DP: I’m sure, like pretty much everything, that the discovery and “community” aspect has shifted almost entirely to different online platforms like, say, Reddit, Discord, Rate Your Music, Bandcamp, social media, and various streaming services, etc. I will say from dropping in and helping out at our local record store semi-regularly that there are a surprisingly large number of young people getting into browsing the bins and buying physical media, which is fun to see.  

2. What is experimental music to you?  What is ambient music to you? Drone? Is there a difference between experimental and ambient/drone?

DP: I do feel like “experimental music” has become almost a meaningless descriptor at this point; however, I’ll admit that I’m still in the habit of using it regularly and would describe it VERY broadly as something basic like: music that uses unconventional song or compositional arrangements, instrumentation, and recording methods to push existing boundaries within a genre. I realize that the definition is lacking in many respects, but I’ll roll with it. There are now plenty of conventions when it comes to what gets classified as experimental music. For example, I’m thinking of music that utilizes things like, say, tape loops, field recordings, sound collage, homebuilt instruments, noise, and, yes, sometimes ambient and drone sounds. The emphasis on pure sustained tones, I guess, is what distinguishes ambient and drone music, but that is certainly present in many works that I would say are experimental. Alvin Lucier and Pauline Oliveros’ work immediately comes to mind. My short answer to this question is perhaps that there are differences between experimental and ambient/drone music in my mind, but sometimes they overlap. Feel free to insert a Venn Diagram!!  

DDLS: lol solid points all around.  Maybe musical labels shouldn’t matter – otherwise folks might miss composers like Eliane Radique or John Luther Adams. Both of which have changed how I view music. For a long time, I was intimidated by composers because it felt like a separate thing not for me. When in reality it was just another angle.

DP:  Yeah, these labels can certainly be both helpful and hindering. I feel like my experience is maybe somewhat similar to what you’re alluding to. The idea of composers initially seemed a little too buttoned-up for my interests. As I kept listening to more music and connecting the dots, I eventually encountered all sorts of amazing composers and sound work. It was through groups like Tortoise that led me to the minimalist composers, Steve Reich and Philip Glass; through Nurse With Wound, I arrived at Pierre Henry, Ghédalia Tazartès, Luc Ferrari, and others. That OHM+: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music: 1948-1980 box set that was released in the early 2000s also proved to be an important ear/mind-opening collection. 

3. With music, a musician may mean one thing, but the listener may take away something completely different. Does this really matter if the listener gets the “message” or not – or is it more about the journey or experience for everyone?

DP: I don’t think it is necessarily important for a listener to always “get” what the artist is trying to convey. Certainly, there are instances where learning more about the lyrics, background, and other factors that went into the making of a certain song or album can help you develop a deeper appreciation for the music, but I can think of numerous artists and albums that have moved me in profound ways that I have no idea what they were about or even how they were made. I love the music of the Tenniscoats, for example. Being that they sing in Japanese, a language that I don’t speak, I don’t have a clue what their songs are about, but the simple melodies and arrangements that they use, and the way that Saya and Ueno sing are so pure and direct that you can’t help but be swept away by their music. At the end of the day, I think people connect with music in all sorts of ways, and, yes, how we experience it and form those personal connections with it is what makes it meaningful.      

4. From my point of view, your podcast, Free Form Freakout, pursues more bombastic, psychedelic, electronic, noise, and so on than some of the music you release on your label, Round Bale Recordings. Is there a reason for this?  Or maybe I did not sample enough podcasts? Is there a particular goal or accomplishment you are trying to achieve (or have achieved) with your podcast

DP: I always considered Round Bale Recordings an extension of the podcast, as many of the artists that I have worked with on the label, I became acquainted with through the show over the years. I think all of those qualities and styles that you noted are represented within the Round Bale catalog, but I do think that in the past few years, I’ve been drawn to noisier, more abrasive rock and pop music, as opposed to more tranquil and ambient sounds, but that still finds its way into the show, too. I would attribute that slight change in focus to reconnecting with a lot of heavier rock and punk music through starting to play drums in a few bands that are making music in those styles, and wanting to seek out other new bands making interesting racket right now.

I have no particular goal with the podcast other than “digging deeper” into things that I’m curious about and trying to shine a light on artists and labels working more on the margins that I think are doing interesting work, but maybe aren’t getting much coverage elsewhere. I’ve been doing the podcast for 15 years now and have produced around 300 episodes. Beyond that, I’m not exactly sure how to gauge what I’ve achieved exactly, which probably speaks to a deeper character flaw on my part. Over the years, listeners have told me that they have gone out and bought several albums from things that they heard on the show, so that seems like an achievement in and of itself. The simple fact that I still get excited about creating the next episode may be the most important detail worth noting. 

5. Speaking of your podcast, I would say that I am very familiar with all the genres that you cover, but for the most part, there are a lot of artists/bands I had not heard of. I like to think I am pretty well-informed when it comes to this type of music, and I am always pleasantly surprised when I find other folks who are just as informed but even more so. I guess it's a bit like the old record store experience. Anyhow, my question is:  How do you find all this music?  What percentage of a week do you spend looking, reading about, and listening to music?

DP: I do spend a fair amount of my free time seeking out and listening to music. Since the podcast show is bi-monthly, I’ve developed almost a routine in how I go about listening and preparing for each episode, where I’ll spend most of my free time in the week leading up to producing the next show engaged in a lot of close listening, reading, and note-taking. After the episode is completed, I’ll take the next week to just do other things or listen to other music just to have on. This is just a basic snapshot; there are certainly other life variables and interests that impact how my time is spent in any given week or month, but this is the sort of general rhythm or pattern.

As for finding music, I do receive A LOT of physical and digital submissions from having done the show for so many years, so that alone could occupy all of my listening time. But, I also find out about music through reading certain blogs (Raven Sings the Blues/Dusted/The Quietus/Foxy Digitalis/etc), newsletters (Heathen Disco/Failure Of All Pop/etc), and magazines (The Wire), listening to podcasts (Punk This Week/Crucial Listening/etc), and skimming through the endless Bandcamp updates that fill my email inbox. Since I stock and sell music in a small section at our local record store, I also pay close attention to new release lists coming out through distributors like Midheaven, Forced Exposure, and The Business. And, I still like to go to record stores and spend a little time flipping through the bins and seeing what I can come across.       

DDLS:  I really need to get back into going to record stores. Almost everything I do in that realm is online. Though I try my best to buy direct (or as close to) from the artist/label. 

6. And in regards to the label, can you tell me more about it?  Back in the physical media days, labels seemed to matter more. What are your thoughts? 

DP: As I mentioned previously, I consider Round Bale Recordings an extension of the podcast show. It was started back in 2015, simply as a way to release an album by the group Tilth. I got to know the members, Nathan McLaughlin and Cody Yantis, through the podcast and enjoyed the solo music that they were making. If I remember correctly, they started corresponding and sharing their music with each other by discovering one another through the podcast too. They started this collaborative project called Tilth and did their first live performance together in Mankato at a show that I booked for them. A bit later, they had their second album recorded and basically ready to go. I had been entertaining the idea of starting a label and through some discussions with Nathan about the function, the art, and the ethics of DIY labels, Round Bale Recordings was born, with Tilth’s album Country Music being the first release. I’ve since slowly released music by other artists that I discovered mainly through doing the podcast and other local artists whose music I wanted to support.

Technology has definitely made it easier for artists to record, release, and distribute their music, which, from a DIY standpoint, I think is great in many respects. You don’t need anyone else to legitimize what it is you’re doing; you can just do it. However, it has also created a strange and vast musical landscape where all these artists are essentially out on their own, and even for the most avid music fans, it’s quite challenging to keep track of it all. I think why I still find labels to be so incredibly helpful is that they can connect you to certain artists, scenes, communities, styles, perspectives (etc.) that you might not have discovered otherwise. Additionally, there are certain labels whose curation you come to trust, and you'll check out anything they release because you know it’ll be something interesting at the very least.

DDLS: Looking back on this question, it seems a little rude – especially asking a label owner, why do labels matter.  What I should have asked is how have you seen labels evolve over the years and what role they play today – which you expertly answered.  And you are exactly right, more so than ever, labels are curators.

      DP: No, I think it’s a valid question, and it’s one that I have asked several label owners over the past few years on the label feature episodes of the podcast.

7. I know you said that there isn’t much activity there at the moment, but do you have any plans now or in the near future to release more music?

DP: Yeah, I mentioned to you before doing this interview that I have really scaled things back with Round Bale Recordings. This was primarily due to taking on a new job that involved a lot more time on a computer, and since the majority of the time running a label is honestly spent sending emails and keeping track of spreadsheets, I really had to question how much of my life I wanted to spend in front of a screen.  

For now, I have a new tape release coming out from Yuasa-Exide, the prolific Minneapolis-based DIY home recording project of Douglas Busson and his revolving cast of contributors. I put out a double full-length release from them last fall that was fun to work on and seemed to connect with some people, so I was excited to work with them again. That’s the only thing that I can mention at this time. I’ll likely put out a couple of things next year, but that’s about the pace and output level I’d like to keep it at for now. Unless I fall into a big pile of extra cash, but I don’t anticipate that happening any time soon!

DDLS: For anyone reading this, the Yuasa-Exide release is out now.

8. How do you feel about happy accidents in music versus composition?  Does one matter over the other?  Or to put it another way, how do you define a musician?

DP: I’m personally drawn to happy accidents and all sorts of informal ways that music can be created. Over the years, I think I’ve probably been more drawn to music that has been made by people who have had little to no formal musical training at all, but create music that is unique and compelling all the same. I think it’s tempting to define a musician as someone who possesses some technical proficiency on an instrument or can read sheet music or something like that, but at the end of the day, I’d like to think of a musician as someone who can create, perform, and execute musical ideas or something along those general lines.   

DDLS: I have recently gotten back into making music and embracing that I am not a musician. For too long, I let that label stop me. At the end of the day, what matters is if you are making something that is important to you. 

DP: As someone who hadn’t played in a band and hadn’t performed in front of an audience until their 40s, I couldn’t agree more. I tinkered with making music on my own in the basement for many years, with not much of anything to show for it, but in a strange yet weirdly natural set of circumstances, I found myself playing my first show in front of a fairly decent-sized audience on a New Year's Eve night a few years back now, and I haven’t stopped making music since. The act/process of creating music with people that you enjoy spending time with is worthwhile in and of itself. It’s also just fun to make stuff, even if those things are very primitively made and hold limited appeal by most people’s standards.  

9. What are you currently listening to?

DP: Since the podcast and radio show tend to be a reflection of what I’m listening to during any given month, I’m going to take the lazy route and suggest that readers click on the links and peruse the playlists for those. I will say that I have been on a bit of a Les Rallizes Dénudés kick over the past few months, and that new Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band album has been on repeat in my car’s CD player for the past month.

10. What is your favorite comfort food and why?

DP: Honestly, I don’t think I have a favorite “comfort food” that I turn to. There are specific meals that I only have on certain holidays or family gatherings throughout the year that I look forward to, but aside from that, the one constant that I find some comfort in is coffee, because it is so much a part of my daily routine.  

DDLS:  Gotta ask, how do you take your coffee and light roast, medium roast or dark roast? Personally, I am dark roast and take my coffee black.

DP: Dark and black, like a fresh oil change each morning.

Photo by Daniel De Los Santos, East Beach Sargent, TX