When Andy Perrone reads this story, it will probably put some tears in his eyes.
He’s the proud dad of two musical sons.
At the age of 55, this Fairhaven father will be sharing a bill at PLAY Arcade in downtown New Bedford this Sunday with his son Jake Perrone’s latest band, Secret Joy. As the guitarist and vocalist with the punk cover band, The O’Tooles, it will be another proud moment for Andy – Jake and his brother Nick grew up making music in the family’s garage inspired by their dad being a guitarist and a singer.
Today Jake is the chief songwriter for Secret Joy and Nick is the drummer for the local metal band High ‘N Heavy.
“It’s an indescribable feeling to play with my sons, I get choked up thinking about it,” Andy says. “I see them play and they have unbelievable raw talent. I could never have dreamed that I would be doing this with my boys. When I grow up I want to be as talented as them.”
But the Perrones have shared stages before. In 2017, The O’Tooles played a show at the Pour Farm Tavern in downtown with Jake doing a solo acoustic set and Nick playing with High ‘N Heavy. In November of last year, Andy joined Jake onstage during a Secret Joy show at Buzzards Bay Brewery in Westportto perform some songs by John Prine as well as the Rolling Stones.
“The older I get the more sentimental I get,” Andy says. “My daughter Tabby comes to the shows with me and says ‘Dad, stop crying.”
Nick began playing drums at the age of 12 and Jake picked up the guitar at 13.
“When Jake and Nick started making music I turned my garage into a practice space and filled it full of instruments,” Andy recalls. “I told my boys and their friends ‘You can use it anytime,’ and that’s how they got started. The neighbors didn’t care for it all that much but I wanted them to have a place to play.”
“My dad had a huge influence on me, I started playing guitar because he played guitar,” Jake says. “As a kid I saw my dad playing and I thought it was so cool that I wanted to do it. My brother and my dad were in bands since I was little and I always looked up to them and wanted to do that too.”
“Jake picked up my acoustic guitar and it took him about one day to be better than me,” Andy says. “Nick showed miraculous development on the drums, he plays effortlessly.”
A resident of Westport, Jake has three solo albums to his credit. The album, “Lost Days,” features Nick on drums with Andy adding guitar and vocals.
Secret Joy recently released their debut single, “Inbetween,” recorded by Chris Nemitz of Newton, MA. The quartet played a show at PLAY Arcade (34 Union St.) on January 15th. This Sunday’s show will be free and it starts at 6 p.m.
“Our last show at PLAY Arcade was great,” Jake says. “The turnout was great and the room sounds great.”
The O’Toole’s last area show was two years ago at The Vault in downtown New Bedford at The ChopperheadAnniversary Party. The four-piece band plays classic punk rock songs by bands such as The Ramones, The Clash, Rancid, and Social Distortion.
Secret Joy will also be performing at the Galactic Theatre in Warren, RI, this Friday.
“I’m pumped to see my dad play again,” Jake says. “He puts on a really fun show. It’s cool that we all have our separate things going on.”
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