Scrubbing out the high notes
Published on April 28th, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham native Paul Perry isn't a nerd in real life. He just plays one on TV.
Scheduled to make his fifth appearance in the season finale of NBC's sitcom "Scrubs" next Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., Perry plays the occasional role of an a cappella singing accountant who's friends with the "ER" parody's lawyer, Ted (Vermont resident Sam Lloyd).
Each episode Perry has appeared in features brief melodies performed by his real-life band, The Blanks, an unorthodox barbershop quartet whose song "Superman" acts as the sitcom's theme song.
According to Perry, his band first drew the attention of the show's writers after Lloyd, a series regular, invited his fellow band members to perform at a Christmas party.
"We had performed a song at the Christmas party for Scrubs and they liked the song so much that they wrote into the show that Sam's lawyer character had an a cappella group," recalled Perry.
"The running plot is the characters do odd and silly things like commercial themes and 80's sitcom songs. That's one of the things the writers came up with because as it's written, the characters are pretty nerdy," the Stoneham native added.
While Perry's a cappella group takes a lighthearted approach to its jingles, music and film has been a serious and long-time passion of the former Stoneham High School graduate.
According to Stoneham resident Dan Perry, his son always had a lively interest in the arts, a gift Perry's parents always supported.
"We always encouraged him in whatever he was good at. He's good at music, he writes very well. He was even a pretty good sculptor at one time," Perry's father boasted.
If Perry's success' thus far are any indication, his dedication paid out. Recipient of the Canal Plus Award at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in 1997, Perry won the prize after directing a short-film entitled "Waiting for Go."
"It was about two guys who were in a car at a deserted traffic light in the middle of this field. They're waiting for the light to turn green, but they keep on missing it because they were arguing," explained Perry.
Also the creator of the musical score for another independent short film called Madeline, a silent comedy, the Los Angeles transport has also written several songs for an upcoming Disney show entitled "The Book of Pooh."
According to Perry, much of his success is to the credit of the extracurricular education he received at Stoneham High School, where he was involved in both the Drama Club and High School choir.
"There were a lot of opportunities for the performing arts at the high school in music and theatre. They also had a lot of more specialized groups that I had the opportunity to be involved in. And I think the fact that right out of high school a bunch of us students started a summer theatre group is a testament to what we learned in school," Perry remarked.
The 1979 high school graduate also owes a special debt to a former teacher.
"When Frank Abrahams was there, he was a great influence for me. I have to give him a lot of credit for where I am."
Coinciding with his last appearance on "Scrubs," Perry and fellow band mates Lloyd, Lowell-native George Miserlis and Philadelphian Phillip McNiven will also release their debut cd, "Riding the Wave," which includes many of the acts featured in the sitcom.
However, although many of sitcom performances take on the same light-hearted themes as the bands original creations, Perry claims band members try to distance themselves from the dorky labels stemming from the television cameos.
"While it's mostly not trying to be serious at all, we're kind of working against the way the show characters are fleshed out. We not only have to work against that, we have to work against the misconception about what you would think when you hear male quartet or a cappella group," explained Perry.
"It's not the coolest thing to do, and we're well aware of that through our choice of material. But we also try not to fall into anything that would consider us a chamber group or a cappella group that's really nostalgic. We're really not like that," the former Syracuse University graduate said.
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