SUMMERSIDE - Katy Perry's "California Gurls" may be the hit song of the summer, but have you heard the P.E.I. version?
Before anyone gets excited, the sultry American singer didn't write or perform "PEIsland Boys" - that job fell to Summerside-native Justin Doiron.
His parody of Perry's single became somewhat of an online success on YouTube and Facebook after Island radio station K-Rock posted it Monday.
"I didn't advertise it anywhere, but that's how it happens. Someone gets a hold of it and it goes everywhere," Doiron said Monday. "Someone told me K-Rock got a hold of it, and that's cool. I heard a radio station in St. John's got a hold of it as well."
Doiron used simple computer audio software in his basement to create his version of the song.
He even included the "Auto-Tune" feature - the trendy music industry tool that digitally tunes a singer's voice to the proper key, causing a robotic effect in the process.
"That whole genre of music, I'm not a fan of at all," laughs Doiron, whose apartment is adorned with Beatles posters.
"A friend of mine in Nova Scotia...we joked around that it'd be cool if we could get a song that's more relevant to this area. So one night I said, 'OK, I'll make one.' I got the lyrics to the original song, switched them up a bit, and that was it."
While Perry's song waxes poetic about California as "...a place where the grass is really greener...nothing comes close to the Golden Coast," Doiron's version includes lines like: "...nothing comes close to the Summerside coast...PE Island Boys, we're unforgettable. Bluenotes jeans, popped collars on top."
The YouTube song currently consists of the track playing over a simple blue screen, but Doiron is hoping a generous viewer may make a video to accompany it.
Although he doesn't aspire to be a singer - Doiron has performed in a few dinner theatres and is studying to become a commercial pilot - he wouldn't rule out doing more parodies.
"I'm pretty committed to the whole commercial pilot thing, but if something came up where I could do this on the side for people, whether it's recording songs or helping people out with demos, I'd love to," he said. "It would be nice to get a Miley Cyrus song out there. I don't like her too much, but I have nothing against people who do like it."
Listen to Doiron's song here.
