Raised in Los Angeles and New York, he started playing guitar in high school and took lessons from Prescott Niles of the Knack. Perkins played in rock bands and learned classical guitar, but his forte became folk, and the unexpected deaths of his parents (his father died of AIDS in 1992, and his mother perished in the 9/11 attacks nine years later) lent a weary, melancholic tone to his first album. Ash Wednesday was released in early 2007 via XL Recordings. To tour behind the album, Perkins assembled a full band and billed his shows as “Elvis Perkins in Dearland,” with bassist Brigham Brough, keyboardist/guitarist Wyndham Boylan-Garnett, and drummer Nicholas Kinsey rounding out the lineup. An album of the same name was released in 2009, and the Doomsday EP appeared before the year was up.