El Perro will release their debut album, Hair Of, early next year on Alive Records. Details on the record are pretty scarce at this point, which is fair since it’s August, but a lead single, “Black Days,” is streaming now, and there are West Coast tour dates already in progress. For those who’ve been keeping up, the band formed in 2019 by Radio Moscow guitarist/vocalist Parker Griggs were all set to head to Europe last Spring to make their debut there, playing alongside the likes of Colour Haze and doing festivals and blah blah pandemic. This is their first tour — and they’re out with Spirit Mother, who are awesome — though they’ve done shows here and there on the way.

I was fortunate enough to hear a few demos from the band and to interview Griggs to talk about starting the project — at that point I was happy just to learn who else was in the band — and the boogie runs deep, the fuzz runs hot and the funk am delic. “Black Days” would seem to represent the different sides of the band well, and if this is a ‘Single Edit,’ one can imagine where they space it out amid the expected classic-style shred.

Info and what may or may not be the Hair Of cover art came down the PR wire:

EL PERRO – debut single available now for streaming everywhere!

Debut album “Hair Of” due early 2022.

EL PERRO is a brand new band led by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/producer Parker Griggs. The band’s sound contains elements that fans of his band Radio Moscow will recognize, but this is rock music with a new, fresh spin and feel. El Perro takes heavy psychedelic rock as a starting point and adds the additional instrumentation of a second guitar and a percussionist, pushing the music into more syncopated territory, spiced with Latin rhythms and hints of Funkadelic-style grooves. You could say that El Perro plays psychedelic funk rock, and you wouldn’t be wrong.

In late 2019, hungry to do something fresh, Parker Griggs decided to put together a five piece band, with members including former Radio Moscow drummer Lonnie Blanton, bassist Shawn Davis, and guitarist Holland Redd. With the addition of a percussionist the El Perro sound and style coalesced.

EL PERRO USA Summer Tour with Spirit Mother:
• August 10 @ 7th St. Entry — Minneapolis, MN
• August 12 @ Reggies — Chicago, IL
• August 13 @ The Cooperage — Milwaukee, WI
• August 14 @ The Washington — Burlington, IA
• August 15 @ The East Room — Nashville, TN
• August 18 @ The Whittier Bar — Tulsa, OK
• August 19 @ Deep Ellum Art Co. — Dallas, TX
• August 20 @ Eighteen Ten Ojeman — Houston, TX
• August 21 @ The Far Out Lounge & Stage — Austin, TX
• August 24 @ Launchpad — Albuquerque, NM

El Perro is:
Parker Griggs – Guitar/vocals
Holland Redd – Guitar
Shawn Davis – Bass
Lonnie Blanton – Drums
Blake Armstrong – Percussion

https://www.facebook.com/elperrotheband
https://www.facebook.com/AliveNaturalsoundRecords/

El Perro, “Black Days”

El Perro, “The Mould”

Not much is known at this point about El Perro. Pages on Thee Facebooks and Instagram went up on Wednesday afternoon and there’s a short teaser on the latter with a floating logo and a righteous riff, but not much else to go on. A new band getting together is cool, don’t get me wrong, but the reason it’s news is because the brains behind the outfit happen to be those of Parker Griggs, founding guitarist/vocalist of heavy psych blues and speed boogie masters Radio Moscow. Griggs has assembled the new outfit as a means of exploring some influences beyond what Radio Moscow does, specifically looking to bands who blended funk and heavy and/or psychedelic rock in the early ’70s like Cymande, Black Merda and others in the sphere of what was called Black rock at the time, as well of course as the work Jimi Hendrix was doing a few years prior.

He’s gotten a full four-piece together and they’ll play their first three shows as a weekender at the start of November, beginning as support for none other than Brant Bjork in Las Vegas at a gig presented by Vegas Rock Revolution, and continuing through two subsequent nights in Costa Mesa and Los Angeles. Griggs, of course, is no stranger to touring with Radio Moscow, but it’s early days with El Perro, so probably best to start out with the weekender rather than hit the road for a month right off the bat. Makes sense if you think about it, especially as no one has heard any of the material in question.

There are songs, though. About a set’s worth. I’ve heard two demos from the band with the working titles “New One” and “Sitar Song” and the percussive groove is met by Griggs‘ spacey shred and bluesy vocal delivery. It’s a different vibe from Radio Moscow in that it’s a little more jam-ready — at least “New One” is; “Sitar Song” is a tight two and a half minutes, but damn that’s a funky two and a half minutes — and as Griggs notes, a little more based around the groove rather than the frenetic movement of his longer-running outfit. I’ll take it happily and look forward to more in 2020.

It’s a short interview because, well, Griggs isn’t really Mr. Chatty and the band hasn’t played a show yet, but if you’ve got a few minutes, he talks about putting the band together, what he’s going for with the sound, the upcoming shows and how El Perro relates to Radio Moscow in the grand scheme of Griggs‘ style.

Please enjoy:

Interview with Parker Griggs of El Perro

 

A brand new cosmic and groovy music ensemble formed and led by Parker Griggs of Radio Moscow. We are here and we’re coming to GETCHA!

First shows!

November 1st in Las Vegas @ Counts Vamp’d with Brant Bjork

November 2nd in Costa Mesa @ The Wayfarer with LOVE (revisited)

November 3rd in LA @ The Viper ROOM with Deathchant

Stay tuned for more news coming soon!

 

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A post shared by EL PERRO (@elperrotheband) on Sep 25, 2019 at 11:53am PDT

El Perro on Thee Facebooks

El Perro on Instagram