During his earliest years, his family lived on Titus Avenue in Dayton's Northridge neighborhood, a few houses away from Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard.
[5][6] In 2007, Perkins' early psychedelic material was discovered by MGMT, who offered him a touring support slot at the time of their debut release, Oracular Spectacular, on Columbia Records.
[8] Perkins later referred to this experience as his "formal introduction to the music industry," and in 2011, all three members of Buffalo Killers acted as his live backing band for a brief period.
[1][11][12][13][14] After touring in support of the debut, Perkins produced a follow-up EP entitled What Did You Do For Summer Break, which Sofaburn released in streaming format in August 2018.
[16][17][18] Brooklyn music critic Jack Rabid, publisher of The Big Takeover, described it as "dreamy" and called Perkins the "Brian Wilson to Pollard's Pete Townshend.