Born in Los Angeles, Perez grew up listening to rock guitarists of the 1970s and 1980s. “My heroes were
Jimmy Page,
Jeff Beck,
Eddie Van Halen and
Ace Frehley. Everything a big-eyed boy would find fascinating about rock ’n’ roll, that was me. I was 12 years old and my father took me to see
ZZ Top and it blew my mind. I was never the same after that.” Perez began playing in bands at the age of 13 and discovered
honky tonk music when he first heard
Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. by
Dwight Yoakam, with whom he would later perform. “Hearing that really turned me around and it gave me a focus. From then on I started to learn everything I could about that music. But then I also had that rock ’n’ roll background, too.” In 2003, Perez replaced Nick Kane in the Mavericks, just a short time before the band broke up. A consummate showman, Perez is known for his flair on stage both in his dress and in his stage movements. "You wouldn’t think that an influence of Jimmy Page or
Angus Young of AC/DC would fit into the Mavericks, but somehow it does,” Perez says of his stage presence. “When I’m on stage, I show up to give a performance because that’s what I would want to see. You dig what I’m saying? I’m not so much thinking it as much as I’m feeling it. I try to get to the most real, honest place that I can within each song. What I’m doing on stage is a visual to what that sound feels like to me.” == Discography ==