Sharing honest stories through an upbeat pop-country sound inspired by the likes of country stars Brett Young, Jordan Davis, Luke Combs, Keith Urban and Thomas Rhett, is Canadian country singer Peter Peres.
Hailing from Toronto, Ontario is country singer and avid songwriter, Peter Peres. A bright and vibrant soul in the Canadian country music scene, Peres first discovered his passion for music via beloved 90s childhood staples, such as Pokemon & Franklin– whose theme songs he’d enthusiastically sang along to. In later years, his passion for music only grew thanks to his work as a photographer and videographer for concerts and music festivals (Peres). This led him to pursue a professional career as a country artist and songwriter, actively co-writing with rising country talents across Canada.
In 2020, releasing his debut single “Miss Mistake” followed by “Hangover Sunday” that July. Now, he’s back with his third original single, “Sold”– a country love song that highlights the signs that you’ve found the one for you.
Recently I spoke with Peres about his path to pursuing country music, his latest single, “Sold” and his goals for this year.
Kyla Pearson: For those who are unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us a bit about your path to pursuing music? What made you want to become a country artist?
Peter Peres: My love for music started when I was younger. I would always run around the house humming or singing to songs I heard on the radio and on TV. I also grew up with an older sister who spent her days listening to Pop singers like Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC and Spice Girls which got me to become a fan of them as well and still listen to them to this day. She also listened to a lot of Shania Twain as well which is my first country artist to ever listen to.
Through all of that, I joined choir in grade six at my school and performed at talent shows as well. I did, however, take a small break when I went into college and it was a songwriting elective course that I took that brought me back to music. From there, I decided to start taking vocal lessons with my vocal coach Laura Cavacece and did that for about five years. At first, I tried doing Pop myself but always felt like something was missing. I then was slowly introduced to more country artists like Keith Urban and Brett Young and they inspired me to pursue country music myself and it felt like it was meant to be.
From there, I started attending many different country concerts getting familiar with the scene and it was being at Boots and Hearts for the first time which made me want to take music more seriously and start recording and performing myself.
Kyla Pearson: Your upcoming country love song, “Sold” is set to be released on July 23rd. Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind the song, as well as the songwriting/recording process that went into making the song?
Peter Peres: Sold was one of the first songs I co-wrote for this upcoming project of mine. We were looking to write something upbeat but also something with a cool summer vibe. It was written with David Madras and he wrote down Sold as one of his title ideas and it caught my eye right away and from there, we both took experiences from our previous relationships and applied it to the song. We started listing different things you experience in a relationship and how it makes you realize that they are the person you are meant to be with. The recording process unfortunately was delayed a lot due to COVID but, it was a lot of fun and also my first time ever being part of a session where live instruments were being recorded. I got to see my vision come to life and the session players involved, did an amazing job and nailed the sound I was going with for this particular track.
Kyla Pearson: What do you hope to achieve with this new single? What do you hope fans take away from it?
Peter Peres: I recently changed my sound to a more pop feel so I want listeners to get to know this new side of me. I hope fans connect to the song from their own experiences. I also freelance doing video editing in the wedding industry and would love to see this song played at a wedding or in a video. This song is also the lead single for my debut EP which tells a certain story that I can’t share just yet but everything flows together and tells a story with the rest of the songs being released.
Kyla Pearson: Where do you think the best song ideas come from? What is your ideal setting to write?
Peter Peres: I get a lot of my song ideas from dreams but also from real-life experiences. When I first started to write songs, I would go to a park or somewhere peaceful which helped me with overcoming any writer’s block I was having. Lately, though, I’ve been doing more co-writes over zoom and I’ve been enjoying it a lot more since you can bounce ideas off one another and also have different perspectives which can strengthen your song. I believe writing about real-life experiences is more relatable to the listener as they can interpret it as anything they may have experienced in their own life.
Kyla Pearson: You’re also a part of the Ontario country music scene. How would you say that has impacted your career? How does it compare to other prominent country scenes across the globe?
Peter Peres: It definitely helped me grow as an artist and person. I think the biggest thing was getting to see a lot of my favourite country artists perform live and think to myself “Hey if they can do it so can I”. So from there, I started to really dig deep into who I wanted to be as an artist and what I wanted to achieve from it. I’m also fairly new to the scene as well and view the Canadian Country scene as like a family since we all support one another. I also recently joined a new artist platform called Cuttable which connected me to a bunch of indie artists like myself which also helped me grow as an artist and improve on my songwriting skills.
Kyla Pearson: With live music starting to be a reality once again as lockdown restrictions begin to lift, what is one venue or show you’re looking to perform at? What live shows do you have coming up that fans can catch?
Peter Peres: One of my goals is to be able to perform at Boots and Hearts but for now, I’ll take anything I can get hahaha. I spent this year focusing on writing music so at the moment I do not have any shows coming up. However, I am looking at a few bars/patios to perform around the GTA which will definitely be announced on social media. I also hope to rebook the first-ever show I was going to have at B-Side Lounge in Toronto. Unfortunately due to COVID, it had to be cancelled but now that things are opening back up again, I can hopefully set a new date for it.
Kyla Pearson: What is one goal you hope to achieve by the end of the year? Do you plan on releasing new music other than “Sold”?
Peter Peres: I am working on getting Sold on the radio so that’s definitely one of my goals. I also want to try to build my audience and reach as many people as I can as well and book more gigs. I am also in the process of recording my debut EP which is set to be released sometime in the new year, so there is going to be more music coming out very very soon.
Lastly, what is one thing fans may not know about you?
Peter Peres: Prior to pursuing music, I studied Digital Media so all the promo videos, album covers and photos you see were all done by me. I also love to do character impressions though, I am not a professional or anything but there are a few I can do fairly well.
Listen to “Sold” now:
Stay up to Date With Peter Peres:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/peterperesmusic/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/peterperesmusic
TikTok: @peterperesmusic
Spotify: Peter Peres
Apple Music: Peter Peres
Amazon Music: Peter Peres
Website: http://peterperesmusic.com
Works Cited
Peres, Peter. Interview. Conducted by Kyla Pearson, Jul 18 2021.
Unknown.“Featured: Country Singer Peter Peres”. Photo courtesy of Peter Peres. Accessed Jul 18 2021.
Unknown.“Featured: Country Singer Peter Peres”. Photo courtesy of Peter Peres. Accessed Jul 18 2021.
Unknown.“Official cover art for Peter Peres’ latest Single, ‘Sold’ ”. Photo courtesy of Peter Peres. Accessed Jul 18 2021.
