Playing the blues is about paying your dues and there's no question the members of the Perpetrators are paid up in full. The Winnipeg-based trio belts out a muscular form of the genre that, over the course of a tune or two, gives a collective nod to both Hound Dog Taylor and John Lee Hooker, the blues rock attack of a vintage British blues band a la Cream and the nasty delivery of a young Johnny Winter.
In the midst of pulling a five-nighter at Blues on Whyte, that combination of grit and groove was more than enough to keep a sizeable crowd on side for at least two sets Wednesday.
Tight and committed to creating a sound of their own, guitarist/vocalist Jason Nowicki, drummer/singer Scotty Hills and bassist Ryan Menard have been pounding it out as the Perpetrators for three years now. Before putting this unit together, each member cut his teeth by taking directions and learning licks from a few veteran Western Canadian bluesmen.
"Jason and I used to sit in the original Times Change blues club in Winnipeg listening to Big Dave McLean when we were fifteen years old," says Menard who lived in Edmonton in the late '90's when he did a two-year stint with the Rockin' Highliners.
"We'd order a pop and split a plate of fries and hear three sets until two in the morning. The waitress wasn't making anything off of us."
Although not necessarily together on the same tours, the three players later worked with West Coast bluesman Nigel Mack, who could at times offer an eager young musician 80 shows in 90 nights.
By late 2000, Nowicki and Menard knew it was time to do their own thing. After putting out the call for Hills, who was living in Saskatoon, the group began making quick inroads and lasting impressions around the prairie blues circuit.
Today, the band can insert 20 original tunes into a three-night set. many are found on the Perpetrators' self-titled debut from 2003 and a handful will appear on a follow up album to be released this fall.
The sentimental lyrics of 'One Year Ago', which are set on buzz-saw guitar effects, and 'Garmonbozia', which sounds as though George Thorogood was sitting in with the North Mississippi All-Stars, were two originals that won hearty rounds of applause.
Dipping into the blues songbook for the ages, The Perpetrators also tackled and pinned a number of classics including 'What'd I Say' and 'Rock Me Baby'. "Things are going our way, we've got lots of festival work this summer but the one show we're really looking forward to is backing Howlin' Wolf's guitarist, Hubert Sumlin at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival," said Menard. With his band mates, he backed Big Dave McLean on his latest recording, 'Blues From the Middle'. The Perpetrators play Blues on Whyte through Saturday."

- Peter North, Edmonton Journal Review, May 2004