We recently connected with Alex Perkinson and have shared our conversation below.
Alex, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
So, the main project that has blessed me with the beginnings of an underground following is “Community.” The term was coined by one of my favorite producers to work with, Stixx, and the premise of the project is pretty simple: make as many songs as possible with as many producers and other artists as possible, and make an album. Instead of solely focusing on projects where only a handful of producers are behind the instrumentals, the “Community” album series has taken more of a “collaborative” approach to putting out albums. I have released 3 Community albums so far, and as many as 25+ different producers can be found on a single album project. Also, in an attempt to make the community grow more and more, each following album has had more songs and more features than the project before it. In my opinion, this can physically show the growth of the “Community,” and how much we can evolve together as artists in music. I believe Community has gifted me with support because people like to support things they are apart of. Instead of putting out music where I’m the focal point of everything, creating a movement that puts EVERYONE at the focal point makes more people feel apart of something special, more people will want to support it, and I can just become the brains of the operation. I am working on the 4th Community tape right now, and I am shooting for 40 songs with probably 20-30 features. I am very blessed to have worked with very talented producers and artists, and I don’t see my efforts toward the Community wave stopping anytime soon.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My artist name is “Perk Tunes,” and my actual name is Alex Perkinson. I’m 22 years old, and I’m based out of Louisville, Kentucky. I was born here, and moved at an early age to southern Indiana. I grew up there, and moved back to Louisville for college at Bellarmine University. I graduated in 2023 with a degree in Music Technology, and I learned invaluable things while studying there. Shoutout to Professor Kincaid for teaching me many tips that were game-changing for my music production, such as depth perception of audio, saturation techniques to create cinematic moments, and the list goes on and on. I started music through an interest of learning guitar, as well as being a huge fan of The Weeknd. His “Trilogy” album spoke to me with its very intense emotion as well as masterful production from Doc McKinney and Illangelo, and it definitely nurtured my potential musicality. I was taking an introduction to guitar class in freshman year of high school, and once I realized that a written guitar melody could be sang and turned into a signing melody, I started writing my own melodies and started to sing. That led to making and writing my own first songs a couple of years later in 2018, and I’ve grown as an artist ever since.
For getting into the music business, I started an Instagram profile back in 2018 when I dropped my first album, “Summer Ends in August.” Shoutout Caden Sidebottom, his artwork was goated for that project, as well as many other projects, and he was also just a really great friend. I used to just go by “Perk,” but I came up with @perktunes on a hunch for my Instagram. Once I started releasing music on all platforms, I realized that there were other artists who already went by “Perk” and I decided to switch my name to “Perk Tunes” to be unique, and it matched my socials so it worked out fine. One day, I might want to go back to being just “Perk,” but for now, I’m Perk Tunes, PT, Perkio, Perkgang, whatever you want to call me.
For getting my name out there, I felt it has been a simple formula that more people need to use: reach out to as many other musical producers and artists as possible, and network as much as you can every single day. There are so many people out there on Instagram and other platforms, and almost everyone is open to hearing your music if you show them support first or in return. I have networked so much and have built my “Community” from those who gave me a chance, and I hope to reward them one day. As for my discipline, I am the only one who can make things happen for myself. These big Community tapes don’t write and release themselves, I have a lot of work and a lot of people to coordinate with to make my music happen. My discipline comes from the reality of how I have chosen to put out and create music. Also, my parents have put a lot of faith in me to make my dreams come true, so a lot of daily motivation has come from wanting to reward them for all of the love and support they have given me unconditionally.
I would say my music is underground hip-hop, cloud rap, etc. My genres range from rage to virtual hip-hop to hyperpop, but I really do dabble in most other genres too, since I work with a vast difference of producers. My own lane that I feel I have pioneered is “Rage Pop,” or perkrage, coined by a producer on Instagram, @adambeatbot. Basically, I sing in a screaming-manner with a blend of styles of Carti and The Weeknd. If you want to listen to one song that encapsulates perkrage, you should check out “OPEN THE GATES.” It is my favorite song to perform, all platforms.
I feel that I set myself apart from others because the way I release and create music is different than the norm. I feel that most people drop singles every now and then, and albums periodically, but my full-length projects have been dropping every two months. My projects are only getting bigger and bigger in terms of size and features, but the time in between projects has remained relatively the same. I try to make my work ethic stronger each day, and that’s needed to keep putting out Community tapes at this pace. Also, having more people join the Community each day makes it a necessity to put out music quickly so that we can make new songs with the new Community members, so there is never time to rest. We have a great wave created so far and we can only keep trying our best to make it grow more. It has been so much fun and I have grown a lot as an artist, as well as a person in this past year since starting Community projects.
Lastly, one thing my music provides for others compared to others’ music is the oppurtunies for anyone and everyone. My Community tapes make it so that any producer who gives me a chance can be apart of a big Communtiy project that can give themselves exposure. Who knows if and when the Community wave will get national exposure, and anyone to this day can hit me up and make songs with me for these Community projects. I feel that is the beauty behind it.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
In my opinion, the best thing society can do to best support artists is be open and supportive to those who are just starting out with their craft. I was not the same artist 5 years ago that I am today, and I had some people who were trying to discourage me from making my craft. All artists grow at different paces, and some people take more time to tap into their potential. Thankfully, I’m not the type of person to care what others think negatively, so I trusted the process and kept creating and growing. But, there must be others out there just like me who did give up when they had even more untapped potential. It stinks thinking that there are artists out there who are not building to the heights they can reach just because society can be harsh and negative for no reason at all. I think the creative sphere would be a lot more healthy and fluorishing if everyone was more respectful and supportive towards those just starting out and getting to where they need to go and learning as they go.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing the sense of purpose I can give to other artists. It is the coolest feeling ever to see producers who fully believe in the Community wave and being apart of it, even in its early stages right now. Their kind words of encouragement mean more to me than they know, cause there are some days when my motivation can lack. The support and positivity from the community can pick me up in an instant. I love my Community and the positivity we stand for. We have an awesome thing going and I feel I am very blessed.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perktunes/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC81uTDYReHEs7Y-EM2F0HgA
- Other: SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/alexperkinson/tracks Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1u9bY6O6UUAveX96WBXkKP?si=RJgIy9CDSoWLi2obc5Emkw Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/perk-tunes/1506204626
Image Credits
@robshotit_ @riskeveryday_inc