BACK IN THE DAY there was this local events duo called Invisible Friend Productions. They put on indie shows throughout town, showcasing local bands that they thought you should hear and throwing some killer parties in the later part of the 2000s through the early twenty-teens.
Robbi Perez and Chris Perez were the dudes who ran it. Never really knew for sure, but for more than a decade, I thought they were brothers. Until the other day, I was sitting with Robbi in the Barnes and Noble cafe at the Silverdale mall–talking about the new John Carpenter-style EP that just came out–and when I’d just about finished my Earl Grey, I asked ‘How’s your brother?’
“You mean Chris…” Robbi raised a quizzical eyebrow.
Yikes.
Turns out, not brothers.
This whole time.
That’s embarrassing.
Anyway… I just got done running the ol’ Robbi Perez Rabbit Hole on the interwebs. Six cups of coffee, a half glass of whiskey, two spliffs and a half pack of smokes later, and, man, it can be a pain in the ass trying to listen to music on the internet these days. Especially when you don’t subscribe to streaming services. On the plus side of that headache, I should now have some subliminal ideas of who to contact if I come across the need for travel insurance, new carpets, the newest and best version of frozen breakfast sandwiches, or cat food, or both. Or if I ever get the urge for a cruise I can’t afford. Or wonder what it would be like if Snoop Dogg rapped about a third-party restaurant delivery service.
Worth it. Hear me out…
Robbi’s got this new instrumental electronica EP streaming that started this whole thing. It’s a three-song collection called ‘Hard.’ And, yes kids, it goes hard. It slayed on Halloween. But, me being the old man that I am, I took a minute to get there. Google search: robbi perez music…Sweet, Soundcloud. I’ve got that thing in the buttons on my phone, let’s check it out. Pour another cup of coffee, link into the sound system, settle into the listening chair, and… the new album’s not there. Bummer. But as good a place as any to start, I suppose, and down the rabbit hole we go…
The Soundcloud playlist kicked off with one track of Robbi’s instrumental electronica stuff from 2018. Then some ads. But then… there’s like a tiny time capsule of Kitsap music with recordings from some of the bands Robbi was in back in the day.
First was a live version of ‘Black Casaer’ by The Chronicles, recorded at the Roxy Theatre in 2001 followed by some Veron Porter from 2002 before jumping ahead to a song from early Chyeah Chyeah and one from Patterns. Rad nostalgia with the right kind of ears. My brain started spinning on the question of what the proper words would be to describe that weird, beautiful thing that happened in the Kitsap music scene during that decade between the turn of the century and the twenty-teens…
The other day, Robbi posted a question to the metaworld about what a ‘When We Were Young’ Festival would look like with exclusively Kitsap bands. ‘When We Were Young’ is an annual music fest for the punk/emo/screamo stuff kids were listening to 20-some years ago. Hundreds of comments flew in response to Robbi’s question, creating a virtual multi-day line up of Kitsap bands past-and-present that would be at the thing. Huh, rad question, I thought… whoops.. rabbit hole…
Google search: robbi perez music ‘hard’… Sweet, Apple Music. I’ve got a Mac around here somewhere. I’m listening on my phone, but it can probably talk to the Mac, right? Sign in screen. Shit. What was that password? Dammit. Rabbit hole. Nevermind, got it! Sign in. Pour another cup of coffee. Let’s do this. Wait. “Click to preview album…” Huh? It’s only playing 30 seconds of each track. Crap. “Start a free trial…” Right. Crap. Back to the rabbit hole… Oh, sweet, Spotify, seems like everybody does that one. Sign up free. Cool… Brainlessly type in personal information, got it… select a few numbers, and… stoked, there it is! The EP is killer. I wish it were longer, but Robbi said it took a year to put just these three tracks together.
That on top of a full-time and then-some job. And side hustle stuff. And recently becoming a first-time homeowner… It also looks like Robbi put out five of these instrumental electronica EPs back in 2020, and has been really dialing in this new craft. It’s fun to think about this kid that used be singing and screaming and squirming and flailing around as frontman, ripping guitars and keys, in yesterday’s emo/screamo/indie bands now owning a house with a near-twenty-year career at Silver City Restaurant, staying up late, getting stoned after everyone goes to bed, and putting out these electronica albums. There’s some footage of the old stuff from back in the day down this rabbit hole as well. Not to mention Robbi’s impressive portfolio of photography and graphic design. Then, at the end of it all, there’s a playlist on Robbi’s spotify, curated exclusively from local bands and artists, called ‘Kitsap B A N D S.’ It’s 11 hours and 24 minutes of all local music… Check it out after you go listen to Robbi’s new EP.
Worth it. // NICK SLEDGE
LISTEN TO ‘HARD’ BY ROBBI PEREZ wherever you do the streaming thing: https://songwhip.com/robbiperez/hard2023
