Peaches
Alternative / Rock
Contrary to popular belief, Peaches isn't easy.
Yes, it is true that the Canadian-born, Berlin-based artist likes to sing about sex. It is also true that her combination of deliciously minimalist electronic beats and power-chord stadium rock fuse together to make music that is sincerely unlike anything else you'll hear on the planet. (That's not hyping bio bullshit — that is the straight-up truth.)
It is also no lie to say that Peaches' 2000 debut, The Teaches of Peaches was one of those records that music fans ran to tell their friends about. Lord knows you'd never hear a song like "Fuck The Pain Away" on mainstream radio (even if it is hella catchy)…but you did hear it in gay nightclubs, and on college radio, and in your friend's car stereo on the ultimate road trip.
Truth is, if you talked about the fact that she produces her records, programs her own beats, and plays almost all the instruments, well that's real life too.
But like it says at the top, Peaches ain't easy.
Yeah, her latest alblum is called Fatherfucker. Peaches knows full well that the title might scare a few people away…but she's not in it for the shock value. "In the 'Peaches' way," she explains, “The words motherfucker and fatherfucker are equally shocking in my opinion. We are just so use to saying motherfucker that we forgot what it meant and now that i say fatherfucker we can see how people react to it and how desensitized we are to words we already accept.”
In an age where perfect body parts are bought, sold and coveted in the music industry, Peaches ups the ante even further by putting herself front-and-center on the cover in a big, bushy beard. But if anyone wants to call her extreme, she's here to provide context. "You want extreme? People take out a rib to look thinner -- that's extreme! As for me on the cover? That's just my take on combining the male side with the female side."
Peaches’ performances are the stuff of legends, drawing rabid fans who love to watch her push boundaries, front fierce riffs, and sway seamlessly between a full on rock-etravaganza and performance art. Peaches’s has been sought after to perform with leading tastemakers in music and film; Bjork, Josh Home – Queens of The Stone Age and Vincent Gallo’s All Tomorrow’s Parties, to name a few.
But why and how such a wide variety of fans? Simple: Peaches is a state of mind as much as she is an artist. Essentially, Peaches is a revelation — an embodiment of sexual freedom, a damnation of gendered and lookist labels, and an admirable nasty attitude. For example, when she’s writhing around on stage with mere strips of clothing, she’s not inviting admirers to fuck her. As she told Spin magazine in February 2003, “the [audience] doesn’t want to have sex with me, necessarily — they just want to have sex…I see myself more as a conduit for sex. In the middle of one show, my sound guy grabbed his girlfriend and went to the bathroom to fuck.” Now that’s hot.
So when it comes down to Peaches, here's just a few thoughts. The title? It's more than just a word. The music? She's a total groundbreaker. The fans? Well, they are the ones who truly get it. "When I opened for Bjork and played ‘Fuck The Pain Away,’” Peaches recalls, "there were 17,000 people there and I couldn't believe how many knew the lyrics and sang along! People have told me 'you'll never get that song on the radio, or TV' but It's amazing how many know it. If people want the music, they're gonna get it."
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