The Refrain Interview: In A Perfect Sky

In A Perfect Sky is an acoustic emo band from Wilkes-Barre, PA. The band consists of Gerry Tulao on lead vocals and guitar and Jon Labenski on percussion. Influences include bands such as Dashboard Confessional, This Wild Life, Yellowcard and Secondhand Serenade.

We had the chance to ask the band a couple questions.

RMB: What is the song about, in terms of lyrics? Any overarching messages or themes?

Gerry Tulao (lead vocalist, guitarist): The song is about finding that one thing that keeps you going during a dark time. When all else fails and you have that one lucky charm to guide you through it.

RMB: Is this single part of an album? If so tell us a little bit about that.

GT: Yes it’s part of an upcoming EP. This EP will be our debut EP. More details on that soon!

RMB: How does this single differ from your previous work?

GT: This song is one of our more upbeat songs. Most of our songs are very chill/vibe out kind of tunes.

RMB: What’s the story on how it was recorded? Any good stories about the recording process?

GT: The writing of the song was actually very quick. While strumming my guitar I came up with the opening part and the music and chords just came so naturally. Once I got to lyrics it also came naturally. I can honestly say it only took 2 hours to write. When it came to recording the song it was recorded at Novro Studios in Swoyersville, PA. Eric Novroski was the engineer/producer. The recording was just as smooth. Overall the song just felt right and knew it was something special.

RMB: Tell us a little about the band.

GT: The band is only me on vocals and guitar, and Jon Labenski on percussion. I left my previous band in the hopes of doing something different. I started getting into acoustic music and wanted to experiment with it. Wanted to keep it simple where it’s only me and a drummer. Jon and I have been friends for ten years now and he too has been in many bands and I knew immediately who I wanted to be a part of this. This project is still very young since we’ve only been a band since June 2023.

RMB: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

GT: I’m very influenced by a lot of pop punk bands. Yellowcard, Blink 182, Sum 41, Green Day, Paramore, New Found Glory. Pretty much anything that was on Warped Tour is my jam. Outside of that genre I love The Beatles, Foo Fighters, and Taylor Swift. Now when it came to the formation of In A Perfect Sky the two biggest influences are Dashboard Confessional and This Wild Life. When I started getting more into acoustic music these two were on constant repeat on my Spotify account.

RMB: What’s the one thing you are most proud of in your career so far?

GT: The amount of songs I wrote in a short amount of time. Growing up whenever I wrote songs I struggled with songwriting. It’s usually I’d write something then three months later another song and then another three months another one. The formation of this band just really got my creative juices flowing and wrote probably about 13 songs within a month. Never knew I was capable of that.

RMB: If you had to pitch your music to a potential fan in less than 10 seconds, what would you say?

GT: I’ll cheat and give you two pitches.

“Coffeeshop music with a catchy melodic bite.”

“You like when pop punk bands write acoustic songs? Here’s an album worth of those tunes!”

RMB: What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that you think everyone needs to hear or that has meant the most to you?

GT: “It’s never too late to start over.”

RMB: If you could go back in time, what’s a piece of advice you would give to a younger you?

GT: Don’t quit singing lessons.

RMB: What’s coming up next for your musical project?

GT: Prepping our EP. No release date yet. After that we hope to do more touring and we already have plans for more music.