The Moshville Times - Headline Act: Cody Perez

Cody Perez is a new one on us, which is the entire point of these Headline Act articles. It’s great introducing you lot to these up-and-comers, and a bonus when we get to check them out for the first time as well! Take it away, Cody…

Simple things first – where are you from?

I am from Portland, Oregon in the United States. It is a smaller city that is known for microbrews, tons of wineries and strip clubs and lots of weed shops. Our city motto is “Keep Portland weird” and believe me when I say, the city keeps it weird.

How long have you been playing as a solo act?

I started this solo project in February of 2020 right when the US was first dealing with the pandemic. I had a lot of extra time on my hands to work on music and I was going through a ton of personal issues so the creative juices were definitely flowing. I put well over 40 tracks together over just a few months of writing. Not all of the songs were fully fleshed out songs but I came up with a lot of solid ideas to work with.

What are your influences?

I have so many influences for music. The ones that I would name that closely resemble the style of music I am doing with this project would be Daughtry, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Three Doors Down, Stone Sour, Hoobastank. A lot of radio rock. I like music that speaks from the heart and if I can relate with the lyrics and I feel like the song is talking about something I have felt or I have dealt with, those are the songs that inspire me to write music and drive me.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

I would say the music I do is music from the heart and music that heals and inspires. I like to take the listener through a rollercoaster of emotions with peaks and valleys and in the end leave them with some hope and inspiration. I would say my music is like medicine for the listener to help them heal and make them feel something.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

I write lyrics about things I am going through or things I have witness those close to me going through. I like to write from the heart and put it all out there. To me, its very therapeutic and part of the process of healing when I am able to write about it and put my words and feelings into a song. Specifically with my solo project, the lyrics are very personal. Sometimes I write vague enough so that the listener can have their own interpretation of the song and its personal to them. Other times, I am just putting it right there in front of your face.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

I have not done any live shows with my solo project. I don’t have plans at this point to do live shows but maybe sometime in the distant future if the demand was there. I want to just release music. I have plenty of years of playing live shows with Amerakin Overdose and various projects before Amerakin Overdose was a band. I have been playing in bands since I was 13 years old and I started playing shows when I was 19 years old. I am 36 years old now. I can’t count how many shows I have played but with Amerakin Overdose, we have played over 1000+ shows. We have been lucky enough to open for a number of national acts and we have played a number of large festivals across the country and we have done a number of tours over the years across the states. The live shows for Amerakin Overdose are chaotic. You never know what to expect not only from the band but the crowd. There have been so many crazy stories over the years. Things I would prefer not to mention to avoid getting into any trouble ha ha. But we put our all into the live show. We entertain and you can ask anyone that has witnessed a show. No one show is like another show we have done. We consistently like to change it up and have new tricks up our sleeve.

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What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

Amerakin Overdose played a large festival with Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, All That Remains and many other large acts. We were one of the opening acts and things got very wild. We started the show by tossing out a cow’s bloody heart into the crowd. I picked up two cow hearts from the butcher shop and as soon as we hit the stage I had the heart dangling from a huge butcher knife and I tossed it at the crowd. Shortly after, a bunch of smoke bombs were set off on the stage and the smoke hit me hard and affected my voice as I am trying to sing. Things got really hot on stage and I rushed to the side and dumped a bucket of what I thought was water over my head. It turned out to be the other cow heart and there was still a bunch of blood that dripped off of it. I realized what I dumped over my head and I started choking and coughing grossed out. Later my brother Pete (the other vocalist in Amerakin Overdose) set his percussion kit on fire and stage hands had to come put out the fire with fire extinguishers. Things just got very wild. The crowd was singing along to every song and made so many brand new fans after that.

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

I have my own home studio where I do my preliminary writing. For my drum kit, I have an electric Roland TD25. I have Schecter Diamond Series guitar. I use Protools for my DAW. I use many different plugins, midi instruments etc. but the most common used would be a lot of Native Instruments.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

Right now I am promoting my brand new single “Live Again”. The song will be released on March 10th through most digital platforms. I have a lyric video that will also be released on March 10th on my Youtube channel. I want people to know this is my third single. I have two other solo songs that I have released, “Open Eyes” and “Holding On”, both of which I have shot music videos for which can be found on my YouTube channel. You can also find the singles on my Spotify and most all digital platforms. I am also working on new Amerakin Overdose music. We have a lot of brand new music in the chamber and over the next couple of months we will be releasing new Amerakin Overdose songs and music videos.

What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?

I plan to release another single for my solo project hopefully by summer time if all goes well. I have a single called “I Am” and it is a total banger. Very catchy, heavy, melodic. It could easily be used as an Amerakin Overdose song or for my solo project. I am excited for people to hear it. Most of my time will be spent with Amerakin Overdose. We are finally playing some shows regionally starting in April. We haven’t played any shows in over 5 years and its very exciting that we are finally going to be back on the stage and in peoples faces again and be with our friends. We are shooting two music videos on March 16th for Amerakin Overdose which means we will be releasing 2 singles pretty close together. I plan to release an EP hopefully by this summer for Amerakin Overdose.

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

I would want to be direct support for Rammstein. They are playing enormous sold out shows and they have been a major influence on what we do with Amerakin Overdose. I would want to help out one of my really good friends band, Proven. I would have them open up. They are a kick ass metal hardcore band from Portland, Oregon. Check them out!

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Header image by Grimm Vizions

If you want to check out more new music, then fire up our Headline Act playlists on Spotify and YouTube!