Blues for Mr. P

Electronic music composer Philip Perkins has worked in film and collaborated with a variety of West Coast avant-garde musicians, including the Residents and the Hub. The Pennsylvanian first started working with tape during high school, while playing in pop/rock bands. He directed experimental films throughout the '70s, including Crownfire (1973), Patchwork (1977), and Gila (1979), and co-founded the Eugene Filmmaker's Cinemateque in Oregon with Scott Fraser, among others. After graduating with a liberal arts degree from the University of the Pacific in 1973, Perkins studied filmmaking with David Foster for a couple of years, then moved to San Francisco, where he served on the board of the Canyon Cinema Cooperative from 1978-1981. During this time, Perkins changed his focus to making electronic music. With Fraser, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, and others, Perkins ran the Fun Music label, formed in 1979. His collaborations with the Residents also began that year. For the next five years, Perkins made videos for Ralph Records artists, and recorded and toured with the Residents. He went on to collaborate with conductor and vocalist Frederick Goff and computer group the Hub (Computer Network Music). Perkins has also received commissions for his radio works, resulting in "South Florida Remote" (1988), "Berkeley Remote" (1989), and "San Francisco Remote," which feature live musicians interacting with custom electronics. In 2013 a collection of Perkins' compositions for a mid-'80s AM radio show for morning commuters saw re-release on the Body Double label. The collection Drive Time was originally released in a small issue in 1985 and bore the same name as the show the pieces were made for.