Dive into the small but densely populated world of Sydney songwriter Perry Keyes on his new album 'Jim Salmon's Lament', featuring lead single 'Iris'.
Harnessing the old adage of 'three chords and the truth', Perry has constructed his new album around the stories of a single family and the troubles of one generation wreaking terrible havoc on the next. He was motivated to write the album when his father passed away three years ago.
Written from the heart as well as Perry's inner-city past growing up in Redfern and Waterloo – where he still lives and writes – 'Jim Salmon's Lament' encapsulates the suburban isolation of growing up rough.
“I started thinking about the families I grew up with and a particular family that lived in the James Cook [Housing Commission] flats, a brother and sister,” Perry says.
“I thought I would write about the dad, because I was pissed off with narcissistic blokes where everything they do is fuelled by self-interest but every time it got to mentioning the kids I would start writing a song about them, so I realised that the centre of it was the brother and sister. That was the grace in the record.”
Drawing deeply on his own experiences, Perry captures a gritty vision of life on the streets for tracks such as 'Girl In The Crystal Cylinder Hoodie'.
“Out the back here in the flats in Waterloo they used to have a row of laundries and they were where people would sleep rough and use drugs,” Perry recalls.
“I went out one Sunday afternoon and there was a boy and a girl, probably no older than 14, shooting heroin against the wall of one of them and I’ve got a basket full of clothes. The girl looked up at me, I looked at them, we had that moment where I was about to say something – I don’t know what I was going to say - she looked up at me and said ‘don’t worry, we’ll clean our mess up when we’re finished’.”
Though Perry jokes about people thinking 'here he comes again writing about his single mums and kids on heroin', he knows that's where the stories and the truths lie.
“It’s like Martin Scorsese making gangster movies - they’re my favourite Martin Scorsese movies,” he says.
“I don’t mind that he’s doing a different version of it each time, as long as you notice the differences and you notice the way a character has changed or the subtle shifts in their situation.”
'Jim Salmon's Lament' is available 5 October.
Perry Keyes Tour Dates 2018
Sat 6 Oct - Camelot Lounge (Sydney)Thu 29 Nov - Lefty's Old Time Music Hall (Brisbane)
Fri 30 Nov - Smith's Alternative (Canberra)
Fri 7 Dec - 48 Watt Street (Newcastle)
