As guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, The Black Bird pioneered the early U.S. heavy rock movement in 1968, spearheading the unsung power trio The Hounds of Tindalos. He was a regular contributor to The Magazine of Horror from 1963-71. His novels include the sexy new-wave science fiction outing Spawning Season (Chariot Books for Men, 1966), Smut City (the first in a series of hardboiled mysteries featuring half-Japanese hippie-era private dick Donald Dong – Essex House, 1969), the anti-hero fantasy The Axe of Aleric (Powell Books, 1971) and Cauldron of Abhorrence (a pseudonymous gothic—marketed to blue-haired septugenarians—published under his then-girlfriend’s name, Raven Chimesleep Flagstone—Beagle Books, 1972). As a non-fiction writer, he compiled a 600+ page bio-bibliography of pulpster Ray Cummings (Atoms and Areolae, Ronald N. Fund Publishers, 1979) and the true crime magnum opus Daemon in Drag about post-op transsexual serial killer Roberta Morris (Ganja Publications, 1994).

Wait a minute!? We’re gettin’ carried away here! This just ain’t right!?

The Black Bird’s alter-ego is chronically underpaid writer, editor, musician and all around wacky creative creature Perry Grayson. A lifelong devotee of all things weird, fantastic and mysterious! By day, Perry pretends to “slave for ‘the man.’” By night he creeps! Perry’s articles, interviews, reviews, stories and poems have bled onto the pages of zines, mags and sites such as Metal Maniacs, Crypt of Cthulhu, Fungi, The Scream Factory, Slow Ride, Snap Pop, Snakepit, Al-Azif, Necrofile, Other Dimensions, emptywords.org and hellridemusic.com. As editor, he oversaw three collections of his fave author, Frank Belknap Long’s work: Escape from Tomorrow, The Darkling Tide and The Eye Above the Mantel (more are planned). He runs the small press publishing operation Tsathoggua Press (currently on hiatus), and prides himself on being an incorrigible heavy rock and metal/book geek and beer snob (no panther piss, please!). For a decade he was a staff writer for the major newsstand mag Metal Maniacs (1999-2009), and now often contributes liner notes to hard rock and metal albums.

From 1997-2000, along with his pal Dr. Monstrosity (a/k/a Dan DeLucie), he played guitar in the metal band Destiny’s End on two albums and both U.S. and European tours. Tackling both vocal and axe-slinging duties, he formed vintage heavy rock power trio Falcon in 2002. Falcon has released two full-length and has a third in the pipeline. He also took part in multinational metal project Isen Torr on the EP Mighty and Superior (2004) and played bass for Pale Divine on a European tour.

Once upon a time, he was a jack of all trades copywriter, production coordinator and graphic designer in the smut advertising,  packaging and PR biz in “El Lay.” Now he resides Down Unda with his music biz veteran wife and three fur-babies (kitties). When he isn’t playing guitar or bass, singing or writing, he is probably reading a book, listening to tunes or watching a sleazy exploitation or noir flick. He is addicted to vintage books, mags, vinyl, guitars and amps. And… among other things, one of his fave pastimes is investigating old unsolved cases such as the Black Dahlia murder, a pursuit some might find comparable to chasing his own tail.