Dallas Perkins - Emergent Behavior - Reviews      


MusicDish.com

Review by Ben Ohmart

Anymore power needed from a 3 man band (with the occasional, additional guest musician), and you'll have to try King Crimson. Dallas Perkins handles guitars and voice, while James Doyle loudly works out on drums, and Les King takes up the bass. Together - with the help of studio multi-tracks - this is a heavy duty trio giving off heat like the best overactive Ford, loudly proclaiming discreet and power-hungry vocal/lyric collaborations.

'My head is clear / just like my conscience, resting / below Los Alamos. She won't hide. All of / her fears befriend the time in seven years. I / can't hold back. None of my tears burst. / History won't flow back in / time for me.' (That's how the lyrics are printed.) This is from the metal-bouncing 'Below Los Alamos,' sprouting great guitar overdubs from main man Dallas. He'll often change his own personal character, going gritty one day, hard and unrelenting the next, sometimes surprisingly supple, intriguing or soft-spoken.

Sure, it's a short cd, but it's a real Mary Poppins suitcase, considering all the damn loud lights they cram into the case. 'Eden Girl' is one of the longest tunes, a 5 minute guitar wash of Perkins pyrotechniques. Mike Russ helps out a bit on the backing vocals, but mostly it's electric rock barking on hard cider. 'Can't wake up this morning / Adam blame the Eden girl for ending life / Will the stained glass window light / bathe me in fire? / Yeah, in fire. Can she wash away, now, / wash away the crime?'

There are a couple of instrumentals, one beginning the cd by the name of 'Cut Out,' and one truly funky 'Reprise,' right on the heels of 'Eden Girl' which is my favorite, short though it is. Mainly because it reminds me of the current trash-thrash brand of progressive metal pitching through the universe on other cds at this very moment.

Lyrically, the songs tell of lost love, betrayal, high concepts deflated well past sea level, told often with a humor that is grim and unrelenting. A perfect share with the power chord pants that strut and fret the Dallas Perkins stage. Raw rock that's been left out overnight.

Bottom line: the hard stuff; for those into more intelligent words (and don't mind digging for them).

TheOrchard.com

Website of the month goes to Orchard artists DALLAS PERKINS BAND for their terrific and aptly named site, www.Dallasperkins.com.

These L.A. rockers have constructed a slick, yet easy to navigate website that puts all of the pertinent info about them such as gigs, articles, photos and other promotions, at your fingertips and deftly drives fans to their timely news.

The website even landed them a slot in Guitar World Magazine's Surf City column this month. Guitar World writer Brian Stillman said the "website shines" because they didn't overload the front page with too much information and viewers are immediately alerted as to upcoming shows. He also highlighted the free downloadable music on the site and he liked the fact that the artist farms out sales to other sites rather than fulfilling orders themselves.
Kudos to Dallas Perkins.

Dallas & his Emergent Behavior rip out a smokin' vibe here. Some extremely high musicianship and production values present with this act. Despite the flavors that seem to be approached, I detect a unique sound with more of a West coast hint than anything. Dallas, keep 'em coming!