Jacob Perkins & The Nobody

Setting off from his old puddle-stomping grounds in Oregon, Jacob Perkins went to New Zealand in 2004 with little more than his guitar, his girlfriend’s old boombox, an ancient pair of headphones and a pocket full of songs. Plugging the headphones into the microphone jack of the boombox and fitting together some percussion out of a jar of popcorn and a salvaged tambourine, he immediately recorded a dozen ditties over a found cassette of biblical readings. These lo-fi recordings now rest among hundreds of others in the growing archives, awaiting their multiple fates.

In 2006, a performance in Auckland’s Wine Cellar backed by friends from local bands inspired the name “Jacob Perkins and The Nobody.” With the Kennedy brothers from indie rock band “Surf City” on drums and bass, Sam from the country blues combo “Sam Prebble and the Bond Street Bridge Band” on fiddle and Luke Munn from electronica duo “The Ribbon” on keys, “The Nobody” became Jacob’s blatant tribute to the countless collaborative forces that influence his music.

By then, the old boombox had been upgraded to a portable digital 4-track recorder, friends from faraway places had sent instruments like melodicas and goat hoof shakers, and the barely soundproof bathroom studio was superseded by the great outdoors, where the first recordings of songs like “Bellbirds” and “Back Porch” came to their impromptu beginnings. And so the world became his oyster.

In 2007, another move brought Jacob to Indonesia, where he performed with Jakarta indie pop band “White Shoes and The Couples Company” and where the action packed streets of the capital city catalyzed the creation of his debut e.p., “The Birds & The Beasties,” which was independently released in early 2008. Born in a bird research field station in eastern Oregon’s high desert and since led by love to distant hemispheres, Jacob’s first e.p. is a gesture, a nod, a hi-five to home, in all of its manifestations.

As recordings for the album came together, Jacob also rekindled his passion for photography, animation and puppetry. By the time the album was complete, so was a self-made claymation video for his song “Last Transmission,” which was added to the CD. The video, which can be summarized as an epic about the afterlife, features shadow puppets made under the tutelage of puppet master Wayan Wija from the Indonesian island of Bali, and a handful of the archipelago’s mythical characters.

Following his traveling troubadour trend, Jacob is now tucked away on the Hawaiian island of Maui, in a hideaway shack overlooking the big blue, swimming with whales, picking pineapples and planning a U.S. tour for the Summer/Fall of 2008. He is also working on material for his first full length album, which will be accompanied by a full length claymation film planned for release next year.

http://www.myspace.com/jacobperkinsandthenobody