Of all the Indie artists I have been fortunate enough to meet through my online radio station, there is one who is a bit of an anomaly. Meet London, Ontario's Rose Cora Perry, former frontwoman of Anti-Hero, an alternative rock band dubbed as the '21st Centurys Answer to Nirvana', by Coverzone magazine.
As a rock musician, she maintains a straightedge vegan lifestyle and continues to regularly lend her talents toward various non-for-profit and community events acting as an Emcee. Some of those organizations include VegFest London, London Defeat Depression and London's Run for Ovarian Cancer.
Her highly anticipated sophomore solo album is due for online release this November in which all proceeds from the sale of her disc are being directed to a non -for-profit organization (for more info and to order go to: http://www.rosecoraperry.com/).
Rose has evolved musically from her grunge frontwoman days. She continues to “bring the rock” with her live duo, a high energy duo with drummer Tyler Randall (formerly of Blind Mag and Swerve). I was fortunate enough to catch their live act here in Kingston at the 'Taste Of Kingston' festivities.
Her critically acclaimed debut solo album, "Off The Pages" was released in 2010 along with it's associated non profit organization 'Music Saves', which is aimed at helping troubled teens through the healing power of music. She's also an official spokeswoman for youth mental health issues on behalf of MindYourMind.ca, as well as a proud advocate of D.I.Y. ethics, straightedge culture, environmentalism, feminism AND veganism.
Rose has struggled with depression for most of her young life and how she faces it head on on a daily basis is an amazing story in itself. Rose hopes she can raise enough funds for MusicSaves, to conduct a nationwide tour speaking to troubled youth about her own high school struggles and how music proved an invaluable outlet for her: allowing her to not simply cope, but heal.
I recently sat down with this talented lady and chatted about her career , how she handles her personal struggles and the organizations she so tirelessly works for.
Rose, welcome to Q108 Kingston. Now, let's talk about a child prodigy here. A performer since the age of four, a writer since the age of seven and the CEO of a record company at the age of fifteen. Now, off the top of my head, I can't think of any other artist out there, and that includes The Beatles, The Monkees, The Rolling Stones, that have held such major accomplishments at such a young age. Is this something your parents guided you towards?
Definitely not. My parents are not artistic at all(laughs). I will say that my business background definitely comes from them as I was raised by two entrepeneurs . That's definitely why I would have the inclination to start my business as a teenager for example because I understood the professionalism of releasing something on a record label as opposed to just putting it out there and not being taken seriously. In terms of musicality, I guess, you know, at a very young age I demonstrated some sort of ability so I got enrolled in all these different lessons to try and expand upon that. I started being expressive and writing and doing all those kinds of things. I commonly joke that I'm not really sure where I came from because my parents are both very, very much athletic and business people.
That's what stands out for me, too, is the writing of songs at the age of seven. I couldn't even spell my own name then. Do you remember writing songs back then or what inspired you to sit down and start writing songs?
Actually I have the transcription of the first song I ever wrote. It's hysterical. There's probably three or four key changes in it, as well as several tempo changes. Oddly enough, it was all that environmentalism and oil spills and wanting to save the world. It's like, for some reason as a young kid I knew I would become vegan and really, really care about animals and the environment.
Amazing, Were the songs written in crayon on a sheet of paper?
It's because I did vocal training. I went through the Royal Conservatory where I did learn to read proper sheet music and all that stuff. So, it's written out on sheet music and all the little notes are drawn in with a pencil with little kid handwriting. It's quite funny.