470 - Piero Perelli: Touring with The Swell Season and Glen Hansard, Growing up in a Small Town in Italy, Solo Record “Notte”

Working Drummer

Italian Drummer, Sound Explorer, music maker Piero Perelli is a musical maverick whose skills stretch from free improvisation to film scores, to performances with international artists and musicians, both live and in the studio. His original style is grounded in his journey as a musical explorer, touring around places like the United States, Europe, Africa and India.

Engaged both in the service of songs and in experimentation, Perelli maintains the creative center of his activity in the Tuscan countryside, where he has also created his own personal laboratory-studio, the SoundSet Studio.

As a drummer and percussionist, Piero has recorded with artists like Eddie Vedder, Glen Hansard, Cat Power as well as producers like Robin Hannibal (Kendrick Lamar, Little Dragon), Vinicio Capossela, Paul Savoy (A-Ha) Simone Giuliani (Andrea Bocelli, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Rodrigo DʼErasmo, Edoardo Bennato, Roberto Dell’Era, Niki La Rosa, Effenberg, Andrea Biagioni and many others, Piero has also recorded a library of their specific sounds and grooves and loops for the American That Sound made available to producers from all over the world.

He has recently been touring with Glen Hansard and The Swell Season as well as the well respected Italian singer/songwriter Vinicio Capossela.

His first solo album, Notte is a piece of work where Piero expresses his most intimate and experimental soul.

In this episode, Piero talks about:

• Working and touring with The Swell Season and Glen Hansard
• His journey of learning music and drums in a small town in Italy
• Absorbing regional music throughout the world while touring
• Recording his solo record “Notte”
• Reacting to the acoustics in the space where you’re performing
• Recording on a movie sound track with Eddie Vedder, Cat Power and Glen Hansard
• Italian drummers that have inspired him
• The influence of Tony Allen (father of afro-beat drumming)