The Band Perry

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The Band Perry on Breaking Records and Those Crazy Bieber Rumors

October 2, 2011


When I heard The Band Perry broke the attendance record at the North Georgia State Fair on Thursday (Sept. 29), I wanted to know more. Was it a concert record for this year's fair? Or for all the big concerts that have ever graced those fairgrounds? And, by the way, are they or are they not in a music video with Justin Bieber? (OK, maybe I threw that last question in just because I could, but I like to get to the bottom of Music City rumors once and for all.) So here's what I found out. The band's show at the fair did break the concert attendance record because the 10,000-plus crowd was the biggest the fair has had for a concert since they started booking big acts back in 1988. "We've worked so many years and traveled so many miles to be able to perform on stage every night. So to have that many people turn out to enjoy country music with us is both humbling and exciting," Kimberly Perry told me. As for the Bieber video they were reportedly in, all they would tell me is that when Bieber was in Franklin, Tenn., recently to shoot a music video (allegedly for a Christmas song called "Mistletoe"), the band wasn't even in Tennessee. "It's amazing how Internet rumors get taken as fact so quickly," said Reid Perry. "The truth is, we've been out on tour and were on the road that day." But I do remember Bieber tweeting that he'd heard the final version of his collaboration with The Band Perry for his Christmas album -- and that he loved it. But when I asked Neil Perry for details on that, all he'd say was, "Stay tuned."

The Band Perry Reveal Their Celebrity Crushes


As three of the hottest newcomers in country music, the Band Perry members -- Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry -- are already becoming the subject of a few fan crushes, but the trio admit they've got a few celebrity dream dates of their own.

"Taylor Kitsch," Kimberly matter-of-factly declares to The Boot when asked who she'd most like to have join her for a night on the town. "He was in [the TV series] 'Friday Night Lights'. Great abs. People just laugh at me when I bring him up."

"She keeps trying to get him in a music video forever," Reid adds.

"If you get her talking about Taylor Kitsch, she will not stop talking!" Neil notes. "I think I know as much about him as she does!"

Whether Kimberly will ever meet idol remains to be seen, but she says the 29-year-old does fit into her one major relationship stipulation.

"I have this rule that I can't date anyone younger than me. I dated this guy in high school once. He was a month younger and I just couldn't do it. But the older I get, the looser that rule is," she admits.

Neil acknowledges he has celebrity crush on an older woman -- fellow musician Alison Krauss. "It's her voice. We saw her live on the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss tour and when Robert walked out I was like, 'lead singer for Led Zeppelin. That's awesome.' When Alison Krauss walked out, I was screaming at the top of my lungs."

The members of the Band Perry may have to put any relationship aspirations on the back burner. Their 2011 schedule includes time on the road with Tim McGraw on his Emotional Traffic tour, as well as a run of Canadian dates on Keith Urban's Get Closer tour.

The Band Perry Bring Headlining Tour to Nashville


Nashville's Ryman Auditorium may be among the oldest venues for country music, but the theme there on Monday night (Feb. 20) was nothing but new. The Band Perry broke in the Mother Church of Country Music's recently replaced stage with a slew of their latest tunes during the sold-out Music City stop of their Purveyors of Performance tour.

The sibling trio kicked off the show, which lead singer Kimberly Perry called a "musical narrative," with two new songs, 'End of Times' and 'Sweet Baby Love,' before playing their first radio single, 'Hip to My Heart.'

Next up were a series of cuts from their their self-titled debut album, beginning with 'Miss You Being Gone,' followed by a mash-up of 'Walk Me Down the Middle' and 'Lasso. The catchy 'Independence,' which Reid Perry told the audience is "one of our most favorite [songs] to do live," was next. To give it a little twist, the threesome peppered in a little of Tom Petty's 'Free Fallin'' in between verses.

'Jimmy,' another unheard song, preceded the "hopelessly single" -- as Kimberly put it -- group's recent two-week No. 1 hit, 'All Your Life.' The curtains closed behind the band as they gave their rendition of Chris Tomlin's 'Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone),' earning them their first standing ovation of the night.

The original, 'It Burns for You,' apparently caused a slight rift between the siblings, as Kimberly revealed that Neil had to arm-wrestle her to get in the show's set list. Although, all was definitely forgotten by the time they hit the stage.

A cover of 'Gentle on My Mind,' in honor of Glen Campbell, led into the trio's version of Queen's 'Fat Bottomed Girls' that featured Neil on vocals, and their longtime concert favorite (but unreleased song), 'Sugar, Sugar.' 'Back to Me Without You' was the last fresh ditty of the performance. The set list came to a close with the smash hit, 'If I Die Young,' the title of which Kimberly cited as being ironic, because "you brought our band to life," she told the crowd.

The music didn't stop there, though, as they returned for an encore that included a medley of the new track, 'Night Gone Wasted,' and the Beatles classic, 'With a Little Help From My Friends.' The evening came to a close with the East Tennessee residents' second No. 1 hit, 'You Lie.'

In addition to their headlining tour, the trio can be seen on the road with Brad Paisley. Their next stop on Brad's Virtual Reality tour is Thursday (Feb. 23) in Madison, Wis.

New Band Perry Music to Be Produced by Rick Rubin?


The Band Perry will head back into the studio in May, and the big question is who will produce the follow-up to the family trio's platinum self-titled debut. Could it be Rick Rubin, the legendary producer behind albums by the Dixie Chicks, Adele and Red Hot Chili Peppers?

"He's really brilliant. He was really fantastic. We took a meeting with him a couple of weeks ago," Kimberly Perry tells The Boot. "He was basically half therapist, half producer. So we're excited."

However, Kimberly stops short of saying that the job is Rubin's: "To be determined," she coyly continues. "Keep your eyes out for that."

Regardless of the result, the meeting yielded some good advice when it came to letting go of any jitters about the 'sophomore slump,' the fear many artists encounter when trying to follow up a phenomenally successful debut. Reid Perry called a Rubin "a wise man," who told the siblings to merely look at the next album as the logical move. "It is the second album, but we've been doing this for 13 years, so it really is the next step."

In the meantime, TBP is climbing the charts with 'Postcard From Paris,' the fifth single from their debut album, which was produced by Paul Worley and Nathan Chapman. "We were going to finish with 'All Your Life,' but then we got on Twitter and Facebook, and everybody was asking for 'Postcard,' so we're doing that, which is good for us because it gives us more time in the studio," Kimberly says.

The Band Perry's Sophomore Album Is Halfway Done


It's been almost two years since the Band Perry released their self-titled debut album, but fans don't have to wait too much longer to hear new music from them. The sibling trio, comprised of lead singer Kimberly Perry and brothers Reid and Neil, are working hard to get album No. 2 completed sooner rather than later.

"We are about half finished," Kimberly tells Alabama website al.com. "We just cut the first six sides this past week, and are just in love with them."

With at least one of their names on all but two of the songs' writing credits on their first CD, the Perrys are having to be even more creative for their sophomore album. "We don't want to say the same thing twice," Kimberly maintains.

The threesome already have an impressive collection of accolades, including a CMA Award for New Artist of the Year. Their sights are currently set on the upcoming CMT Awards, where they are in the running for Group Video of the Year.

"One thing we love about this particular award show is that it is fan voted," Kimberly says. "In the Band Perry, we believe country music is the people's music anyway. So the fact they get to vote for this award is so cool."

To vote for the Band Perry, click here. The CMT Awards will air live from Nashville on Wednesday, June 6, at 8:00 PM ET on CMT.

The Band Perry are performing double-duty this summer, both as an opening act for Brad Paisley on his Virtual Reality World tour, and as their own headlining act.

Before the Band Perry, Reid and Neil Played Roadies to Kimberly

Sibling trio the Band Perry has seen loads of success over the past years, but before the band started, younger brothers Reid and Neil played a much different role. While Kimberly was still the blonde-haired beauty performing on stage, her brothers acted as roadies to their big sister.

Neil recently told Big Machine Records, “I was 8, Reid was 10, and Kimberly started her band and she needed roadies, so Reid and I, we said ‘You know, we’ll help you out for a little bit.’”

When sharing that funny tidbit, Kimberly adamantly insisted that her brothers were paid, while Reid and Neil laughed and denied any payment during their role as roadies. You have to admit, these close siblings are even adorable when they disagree.

After two weeks as hard-working helpers, Kimberly recalls, “…they caught the band fever themselves and so, like Neil said… they started their own little rock-n-roll band and they had this adorable little lead singer and keyboard player, and electric guitar player and their band would open for me and my guys all over the southeast.”

Fortunately for their dedicated fans, the Band Perry officially began soon after the siblings started traveling together. Kimberly jokingly recalls that it happened “when all of our heights kind of evened up.” We’re glad Reid and Neil caught up to their sister so that they could bring us great music such as their latest single, ‘Better Dig Two.’

The Band Perry Cover Billboard, Reveal Rick Rubin Was Their ‘Song Doctor’

By Amy Sciarretto
March 16, 2013
tasteofcountry.com



Billboard


The Band Perry –lead singer Kimberly and her younger brothers Reid and Neil- cover this week’s issue of Billboard, as the release of ‘Pioneer’ looms large. The trio details the road it took to get here, including how originally planned producer Rick Rubin was their “song doctor.”

The sophomore set makes landfall on April 2, with big expectations on its back, since the band’s self-titled debut was a breakthrough, platinum-plus success.

In the feature, the Perrys reveal their never-ending quest for perfection and how producer Rick Rubin, known for his work with rock acts (Red Hot Chili Peppers), metal acts (Slayer) and country acts (Johnny Cash, Dixie Chicks), was their “song doctor,” even though he doesn’t have a credit as an actual producer on the album. He was supposed to produce, but things didn’t quite work out, which the Perrys are candid about.

Kimberly, who called ‘Pioneer’ a “journey, it’s us going from point A to point B and every step along the way, and that journey led us to a new horizon and a new place,” and her brothers are ecstatic to get the record out. They worked so hard on it and have spent the past two years playing the same 11 songs and want to share new ones, as Kimberly says in the behind-the-scenes video clip.

Neil estimated that every song on the album was written and then rewritten at least four times until it was perfect, in their eyes and ears.

That’s par for the Perry course, as Neil admitted,”Literally after every single show, we watch the video of that show like a game tape to see what we can do better.”

They sound like football players looking to study and improve by watching footage of every down. Nothin’ wrong with that, Perrys!

For ‘Pioneer,’ the threesome hit the road, literally, on a sojourn to Rubin, who was supposed to produce the album. But it didn’t quite shake out as planned. “To begin the recording process, we took a road trip out to Malibu,” Reid said. “And during that time we wrote a lot of the music along the way, including at the Grand Canyon. We wrote the song ‘Pioneer’ in Santa Fe.”

They eventually made it to Rubin and he worked them. Neil even dubbed him “the song doctor.”

“Rick also opened up our minds to the spirit behind music,” Kimberly confessed. “He was a teacher in that area. There were times where we walked into the control room that he had tears in his eyes because the music so moved him.”

But the producer was no soft touch, challenging them on things like rhyme scheme. He also helped them refine their songs.

“He was kind of like an editor,” Reid said. “He helped us with rhyming words, for example. We rhymed a lot of words that he doesn’t find good enough. He really pushed us in that aspect.”

But his minimalist approach wasn’t what was needed to see ‘Pioneer’ through to completion. While Kimberly says that’s a quality that they love about the uber producer, she admitted, “We also knew that to accommodate all of the goals that we had, the best producer was Dann Huff.”

So they journeyed back to Nashville so Huff could help capture what TBP are like live on record, which was a key goal for the album.

Big Machine Label Group CEO Scott Borchetta acknowledged that the band “felt and expected the pressure” on their follow up, given the sophomore slump conundrum that often afflicts bands of all shapes and sizes. Despite a bit of a false start with Rubin, the label is stoked about the final product, with Borchetta saying, “They completely delivered.”