Peaches

0:06Pushkin.

0:10Peaches has spent more than two decades pushing boundaries in electronic music and performance art, inspiring the look and sound of edgy pop artists like Lady Gaga and Grimes. But long before she was known for her outrageous stage shows, Peaches got her start as part of a folk trio in Toronto. It was in the mid-90s after discovering she could become a one-woman band with her Roland drum machine that Peaches began developing a provocative new persona. In 2000, she moved to Berlin and released The Teaches of Peaches, featuring the song Fuck the Pain Away. The track has been cited by Tom York as an inspiration while making Radiohead's In Rainbows, and has appeared in countless movies and TV shows, including South Park, Lost in Translation, and The Handmaid's Tale.

0:50Peaches has spent the last several years creating works for stage and screen, including serving as a subject for two recent documentaries. Now, after more than a decade, she's returning with No Lube, So Rude, her first album in over 10 years, recorded in Berlin with producer The Squirt Deluxe. On today's episode, Leah Rose talks to Peaches about making No Lube, So Rude, and how the album addresses identity, bodily autonomy, and offers an antidote for all the friction in the world. Peaches also discusses how she recently discovered her dad pleaded with the Bar Mitzvah band to give her her first shot performing live on stage.

1:23And she shares her deep love of 70s rock and roll trivia. This is Broken Record. Real musicians, real conversations.

1:36This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human There are moments in each of our lives that seem to change everything. An unexpected diagnosis, the sudden end of a relationship, the loss of a job. As our lives veer off course, it can feel like time is dividing into a before and an after. I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist, and my new book, The Other Side of Change, who we become when life makes other plans, is all about how we navigate these inflection points. The Other Side of Change pairs singular, real-life stories with scientific insights to help us find meaning in the tumult of change.

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2:42Here's Leah Rhodes with Peaches. Head over to youtube.com slash brokenrecordpodcast to see the full video interview. It's so funny. I was just watching different video interviews and reading old interviews and stuff, and I read about your first ever experience with the stage, and you actually started as a wedding singer. I started as a bar mitzvah singer, yes. No, it was a bar mitzvah. As a bar mitzvah singer, right. Yeah, I have a lot of cousins in New York. And when I was little, I don't know, I loved music. There was no musical talent in my family. We listened to a lot of albums. And I was at my cousin's bar mitzvah in New York where it was like, you know, a big deal.

3:24They had the bar mitzvah band. And I turned to my mom and I said, can I sing with the band? And she's like, I don't know. Can you sing? You know, which is just funny. Like, I don't know why I thought the audacity of me. And I just learned this year that my dad actually bullied the bar mitzvah band and said, my daughter wants to sing, let her sing. Because I think they said no, but nobody told me that. And yeah, my dad said, she wants to sing, let her sing. This is something she wants to do. So I don't get to thank my dad for it now. He's passed, but I'm letting him know that that was a beautiful thing to do for me.

4:05And I sang Barbra Streisand, The Way We Were, which is very inappropriate for a seven-year-old to sing about, like, a divorce breakup in the 70s. But that's what we used to listen to at home. So I sang that, and Uncle Morris cried. Oh, wow. Uncle Morris cried. And then I had to sing that song at every bar mitzvah and wedding up until I was a teenager and could say, listen, I can't do this anymore. Do you ever listen to that now and reminisce? Like, is there any songs from your childhood that you listen to that you just love and makes you feel like warm and cozy? Yeah, I mean, I am a crazy song quiz fan.

4:48I don't know if you know this game where you like. I want to. They play you like a part of a song, and then you have to guess the artist and the song. And I cannot get enough of the 70s. I can sing every lyric from every song. I know every artist. I know stupid trivia about it. So, no, it warms my heart. And, yeah, there's lots of albums from my childhood, like Hair, the album Hair. I used to like, you know, I'm sure that had a big influence on me listening to that. or, you know, it's funny, I would listen to Neil Diamond live, like whatever my parents had. Also Roberta Flack, which was a huge one, which is first time ever I saw your face.

5:36That just kills me. Even talking about that song brings tears to my eyes. Oh, that is such an intense, beautiful song. Oh, it's amazing. Speaking of hair, I was going to ask you about this. I'm sort of jumping around a little bit. That's what you're saying? your hair. I was going to ask you, so in the Teaches of Peaches documentary, a lot of the costumes for the review of Peaches that you were doing and going back through that album and bringing that back to the stage, a lot of hair, a lot of costumes with hair. Like what's the hair about? Okay, well, hair was very important to me as a symbol of understanding what beauty is.

6:23When I was first starting Peaches, like, why is it that if I don't shave my pubic hairs, I am dirty or gross, but only because I'm female identified. But if I grow the hair on top of my headlong, I am beautiful, or if I have long eyelashes, I am a symbol of beauty, but if I shave my eyebrows, then I'm weird. If I don't shave my legs or my armpit hairs, then, again, that is unacceptable. So it's just hair, and we all have it, and there are different standards for different constructs of gender. So it was me exploring that idea. And so I started with the little hot pants and the pubic hair. And I met Charlie Lemon Dew, who is a hairstylist who started when he was 12.

7:23His uncle taught him how to do hair. And he's done hair for everybody, every celebrity, every fashion show, you know, through the years. And he showed up in Berlin when he was 17 and said, I'm your hairdresser now. He's French, so I'm your hairdresser. And just started doing my hair and cutting hair in dark rooms, literally in dark rooms in Berlin. And then he turned into hair. Wait, like intentionally dark? Yeah, yeah. Like sex dark rooms that were dark. Yeah. Okay. And the first time he dyed my hair was during a DJ set where he hid under the DJ set with bleach and a blow dryer and a bottle of water and a bowl.

8:13And he's like, Beaches, come down, come on. And at one point I disappeared in the DJ set and came up with blonde hair. Put on a nine-minute song and you're like, hold on. And people thought I was mad or where would I go? And when they came back and the people who were, you know, a little too high or drunk, they were like, wow, like, did you have blonde hair before? It was really kind of exciting. And we started to do like performative things. And Charlie and I have collaborated a lot. And he makes hair fashion. He's also, you know, moving into that. So all those outfits were made by Charlie. And so they're quite amazing.

8:55And so we use them. Yeah. And then that's carried over into the new project, it seems like. I saw the newer photos on your Instagram. There's more hair. There's hair showing up in different places. There's hair. Yes, definitely. The theme, you know, that was hair. My themes have also been a lot, you know, imagery of like the absurdity of our bodies and how we are shameful of them and also making the ridiculous fun and to like raise questions. So I had, which Charlie also made, a multi-breast bathing suit or like all dick costumes. It's like a vagina head that I wear or my dancers turn into huge vaginas.

9:44And this time around, the theme is, get ready, prolapse. Prolapse is like when it all just kind of blurts out. It's kind of like drops. Thinking, gravity drops. Yeah. Yeah. And also like growing, bulging, you know, festering. And so that's kind of I feel like where we're at, understanding our bodies and understanding the world. So, yeah. So, yeah, prolapse. So then that leads right into Hanging Titties. Hanging Titties. The first song on the album. So tell me about Hanging Titties. Why is that the first song? And also, when you're sequencing an album, do you think of it sort of as like creating an arc?

10:31Or how do you put the songs together? Is it just what sounds good coming after another, like thinking like a DJ? Or how does the sequencing work for you? It's all of that. It's definitely, you know, you want to think thematically and you definitely want an arc. Or I do, because I think of it as an album. Yeah. So you do think about an arc, but you also have to make sure that the songs work together. And the same with when you're making a live show, which won't be the same kind of order because you listen differently than when you experience it live, I believe. Yeah. So I thought it was just such a strong statement.

11:11I don't know. Can you say anything on this podcast? I guess so. I don't know. So, I mean, I just thought it was so strong to just own the hanging titties as cunt, you know, like older than you looking so cunt. Oh, look at you. All of my cunt. Thirsty much. My hanging titties hit like the punch. Like, you know, because everybody's always like, my titties defy gravity and they're cute and you love them. And, you know, which is great. And when you're that age and you have them, you should own it. So I'm owning what I have and I'm representing my age and owning it and you're loving it. How does it feel now that your body's changing and you're on stage and so much of you is revealed at times?

11:56I think it's even more important. And that's, I think, by virtue of me being like that, that's strong. Is there any apprehension like, oh, fuck, I have to get on stage, my body's changing? No, this is me. This is also my reckoning. This is also my manifestation. Come on, I'm not old. I'm not that old. And I'm also saying, come on, I'm not that old. Also, we're living longer. People are living until 100. You no longer have to think about your life in thirds. I think about it I guess in thirds now you think of it in quarters and also if you think about when you were young and your parents or your grandparents what they experienced as being that age and it was a little it was different they understood things different they went through different things they didn't have this pop culture experience that we do now and continue to have and find joy in.

13:02So, you know, it's more like the parents and the grandparents are like, let's go, let's go. Like, we understand coming together in physical spaces more than the younger generations do. So I read that you have been exploring yourself more deeply in recent years, and I'm just curious what that means and how or if that connects to the new album at all. Yeah, I guess exploring myself deeper sounds kind of elusive, but I guess what it means is, you know, at the age I'm at, there's a reckoning that happens. It's a reckoning that's happening. In terms of like, I feel like the work I have done has been very performative and very outward and very direct, obviously.

14:02and I realize that a lot of them are manifestations. They're not always completely, this is how I am. And we're never, this is how I am. You know, they are manifestations. They are ways to help us come into these beings. And as we do, there's also voices behind or little things behind saying like, what is the deeper meaning of that? Or what is your feeling, even though you're doing those manifestations and putting them out in the world and performing them and discussing with a community that helps also motivate themselves and mobilize people together and all those things, there's still things inside yourself that you need to reckon with.

14:54So that's where I think the exploration is showing up in the album. So there's still obviously me advocating and finding creative and humorous and entertainment ways and camp ways of dealing with the world around us, but I'm also dealing with myself. We'll be back with more from Peaches after the break.

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16:00I know that you've been super busy. This is, I think it's like your first full-length album in 10 years, but you've been doing a bunch of other stuff in the meantime. Yeah. Why now? Like, why did you decide to do the album now? Was it something that you always knew you wanted to do another album, or did it sort of just come together organically? I did want to do another album. I did a Teachers of Peaches 20-year anniversary tour, actually 22 years after because of COVID, so we had to delay it a little bit. But again, you know, and I also was still playing live a lot, and I understand that I have a huge body of work and a legacy, and a point of view and that I could be a sort of review of myself, you know, just take the body of work and keep doing it.

16:59But I just thought after all the projects I've been doing, let's go back to music and let's get out there with new material and fresh takes on what is going on with me, where I'm at now, and also with the world. With the world and where it's at. And, you know, it's very important to express these new ideas and also hearing people and coming together, you know, physically coming together and also getting out here and talking to everybody. And, you know, because you put out a new album, then it does put a resurgence into people wanting to talk to me and interview me and it helps expand my platform and help mobilize.

17:50I'm really using that word mobilize a lot, but that's what I really feel like that's the motivating factor right now. What's your favorite part of this process? Do you enjoy the creative part, the performative part, the marketing part? There's so many different hats you have to wear when you're out creating and then promoting a project. I always get stressed out doing press. I think I'm always like, no, I don't want to do it. And then when I actually do it, it helps me understand everything that's going on. And I really, I get to where people are at and it's actually really great. But I'm so begrudgingly like, but then when I get there, I'm so excited about it.

18:32Yes. And so I do enjoy that. That is a big learning for me. And, but, but my love is on the stage. I love the stage. I'm a show girl. Do you feel like when you start a show that you have to, like, get the crowd comfortable or get people to sort of, like, jumpstart their fun? Is that sort of like a pressurized thing for you? Or how do you sort of, like, ease them into it or get them excited? I feel like they're so damn excited already. So I just can. And they're like, which way is she going to do the show? Is it going to be through silence? is going to be a big dance. There's so many ways I have presented shows, and I feel like they're all effective in different ways.

19:23Yeah. As you were coming up and figuring out who you were going to be on stage, at what point did you really figure out how to work the crowd, and when did you feel like, okay, I have this power?

19:39That is a very good question. I feel like it evolved. when I saw how people were reacting to me and how I was not interested in just, you know, I wanted to be connected to people. I wanted to be in their face. I wanted to be a performer. I wanted to be in the moment. So I would just keep trying things. Yeah. The more I would go and then I would go like, oh, now let me try another little costume or let me do a costume change. Or people would actually give me things. like costumes, and I'd be like, oh, I could use that or let me try that out. So it's also like really came from people responding to what I was doing in real time or through gifts or being inspired to give me things by what I was doing.

20:37And I'm also curious about the evolution and how you came to Peaches. so you started as a bat mitzvah singer that was your debut and then talk a little bit about the different you know genres or different type of styles you tried and how you got to peaches because peaches didn't happen until you were in your 30s right yeah yeah so I started as a bat mitzvah singer I loved singing there was no real outlet you know I could play the recorder in music class, but I never thought I could really be a musician because I thought you needed to have people in your family playing music or that you needed training or all these things.

21:23Like I said, we spent a lot of time in New York. I saw a few Broadway plays. There was a lot of weird, amazing musicals on late night TV in Toronto. And what I came to is that I wanted to be a theater director. So that was more of my focus in theater, but it always centered around music. So I never really realized that it was like music that was driving it. There was something about theaters that didn't have this immediacy that I wanted, but I ended up going to theater directing school for university for first year and then said I wanted to do cool musicals to people and other directors would scoff at me they'd laugh at me they'd say we are doing Ibsen here we are doing Chekhov so nobody really took it seriously I thought it wasn't so serious I thought it was going to be a really cool way but I dropped out of the program and I just started to take other arts and understand where I was at and I needed a job and I worked at a daycare and I was playing acoustic guitar and realized that these kids are very bored and the teachers are bored.

22:36And I started to develop sort of theater games and music where these young kids could relate to and role play, but really learn and process and not have to like stand in front of their parents in a tutu and say a line like, I'm a ballerina and I'm pretty. You know, so it wasn't about the parents weren't allowed. They weren't even invited to this conversation. It was just about the kids. And every week they would like develop this. And it was an amazing program. I worked at the YMCA and the head of YMCA recognized what I was doing. I started working around the holes, all the YMCA's in Toronto and then private schools because I wasn't a teacher.

23:20And while I was learning acoustic guitar, I had an ex-girlfriend who also played acoustic guitar. And we were writing songs, and we got a gig together at a small pub, and it went well. And so we played every week, and another friend joined, so we became a trio Mermaid Cafe, and we would be singing folk songs, mostly breakup songs, singing harmonies about breaking up with each other, which was funny. Were they original songs, or were they covers? They were all original songs. The name Mermaid Cafe came from Joni Mitchell's song Carrie. that was the only song we covered I think yeah um and they were all originals and so I was teaching during the day and um you know learning that I was a musician at night um uh we would practice I wasn't I was one of the writers but I wasn't like the the main main writer you know um but we would all write songs and perform them that week and then after a year of that I was like I don't I think I want to explore more than being an acoustic musician.

24:23And I started playing electric guitar and I had more post kind of indie rock trying that out. And it didn't really resonate with people. I mean, I learned a lot. And then I had this this epiphany jam with a friend who who was in another band. She was kind of dissatisfied with that band. and I wanted to start, oh, girl band, yeah, that's going to be the way. And she said, well, I have a crush on this guy, and my neighbor who also is a musician has some space in their basement and we could jam there. And so I went begrudgingly again, like, guys, rare. But I didn't say a word to them. I was really like I brought my electric guitar, and I was like, we're going to jam.

25:12And we smoked a big, huge joint. And then we started playing and everybody just started yelling anything like sexual and profane things. And it was really exciting. And then someone yelled switch and we switched instruments. I had never played drums before. And all of a sudden I was playing drums. Switched again and I was on like a synthesizer, which I always at that point thought was uncool because I was like punk. What is a synthesizer? And then I was like, whoa, a synthesizer, you can play one note and then like filter it and do things. And I was like amazed by it and amazed by the whole experience.

25:54And the four of us got together after and we said, we're the shit. This is the shit. So we called ourselves the shit and we said, let's rename ourselves. And I said, I want to be Peaches because there's a Nina Simone song, Struggle About Four Women. And there is in no way that I thought the struggle was my struggle. but the way she said at the end of the song about the fourth woman, they call me Peaches. It was so passionately said that I was like, I want her to be saying that to me and there's no way she's going to be saying, they call me Meryl. So I changed my name to Peaches. And, you know, we would play and we really resonated with people and we resonated with ourselves.

26:34But after a year, people moved on. But I really wanted to continue this and people moved away. So I got a machine. I went into a music shop and I saw this machine on display and it was called the Rolling Groove Box 505. And you could program things. And I didn't have a home computer. Nobody did. This is like 1998. And I was like, oh, this is cool. This could be my drummer and this could be my bass player and this could be my synth player and blah, blah, everything. So I took it home and started to play around with it and use the principles of what we were talking about in the shit. And also think about how I wanted this like rock energy, like Stooges energy, punk energy, but craftworky sounds or, you know, make this instrument a punk instrument.

27:30and also be very direct. And I was questioning about who's allowed to say what sexually. I think we talked about that at the beginning. So I was like, and why is it that, you know, remember it's 1998, why is rock people, why do rock people hate dance music and why do dance people hate rock music and how can I put them together and how can I have my take and my perspective without a male case? What was happening in popular music at that time? Like, I feel like that is sort of like... Britney. Britney Spears was happening. Destiny's Child, maybe. Destiny's Child, yeah, maybe Lilith. Yeah. And I think like Lilith there was sort of like happening.

28:16I think that ended in 99. There you go. Was any of that, were you like listening to any of what was happening in pop mainstream music? music or were you just in your own kind of like indie punk land in that were you referencing that at all no not really no I wasn't really referencing that I was referencing more like punk the the the epicness of rock but from my machismo you know um and the um I was I was listening to more like Missy Elliott and Little Kim was it was a big one for me too yeah um and uh the miseducation of Lauryn Hill yeah and um you know and in the the mid-90s I was I was like moving away from you know all my older influences to like you know uh Sonic Youth and all these like indie, post-punk indie bands.

29:21Cool. So were you actively trying to be different from things or was that not even a factor? No, I was just trying to like put it all together. I didn't have, you know, also this machine, I didn't really know a lot about it. You know, my first beats were all 120 BPM because I didn't know how to change the BPM. You know, things like that. And there's no like YouTube tutorials back then. YouTube was 2006, right. You had to learn it on your own, which is super cool. Didn't you teach MIA how to use a drum machine? Well, one of my first tours was opening for Elastica. Do you remember? That was also big.