"Taking in a set of The Perpetrators' music is a little like taking a trip in a time machine to a south side Chicago club in the mid 70's, when Hound Dog Taylor and JB Hutto were pounding it out seven nights a week. It's not the most subtle music you'll ever hear: it throbs and roars with a visceral, bone shaking intensity wrapped in three chords, pounding drums and a slide guitar that can rip your head off.
"When I was learning to play it was that house rockin' sound that had that intense energy that i was into," affirms Ryan Menard, The Perpetrators' bassist and sometimes-rhythm-guitarist. Menard, along with band mates Jason Nowicki and Scotty Hills been making serious inroads into the prairie blues circuit for about three years now.
"When I was growing up in Winnipeg I had lots of chances to listen to guys like Big Dave McLean and Brent Parkin - they really got me going. But it was Jason's older brother who first got us into the blues. We've been hanging around ever since. Our first band was called The Blues Puppies and we did that in our teens.'"
All three members of the band had the opportunity to work with Nigel Mack, though not simultaneously. His 'Blues Attack' has proven to be a fertile training ground for a number of Western Canadian blues players, and this pair made the most of their time with him, honing their chops and making contacts across the west. Menard also did time in The Rockin' Highliners before the group's implosion.
"After that," Menard continues, "we ended up back in Winnipeg, living in our parents' basements, playing our acoustic guitars, and hanging out. Finally, we came to the conclusion that we'd been playing the blues for ten years, and it was time to put our own band together."
That was three years ago and The Perpetrators are currently working a string of dates through Iowa, Minnesota, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. that will culminate in a pair of very special performances. "We're backing Hubert Sumlin at the (Jazz Winnipeg Fest), and we're at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Those are both big-time gigs for us," enthuses Menard, "we've never played east of Kenora before... we'd like to get into Toronto and Montreal and show them what we've got."
In the meantime, the second pressing of their debut self-titled CD is selling well, and Menard and company have tons of youthful enthusiasm on their side. "A good night for us is feeding off the energy of the crowd and sending it back to them from the bandstand. Hound Dog Taylor epitomizes it for us... sometimes not as precisely as other players, but having the energy to bounce off each other and work the room. We bring good time partyin', drinkin' houserockin' music with us and we're not afraid to have a good time."

-Cam Hayden, SEE Magazine