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If anyone out there was worried that Peaches’ outrageous brilliance might have been diluted somewhat for her third album — which was recorded in a real L.A. studio with a rock band and some high-profile guests — they can rest assured that our girl has not changed her stripes one bit.
The Toronto-raised singer-songwriter-provocateur, also known as Merrill Nisker, continues her crusade for sexual freedom for both men and women on the saucily titled Impeach My Bush. The lyrics — many unprintable, sadly — still urge everybody to loosen up, get down, get dirty and go downtown. But the music behind them has expanded from basic beatbox and synth to a fuller, more sophisticated mix that straddles punk rock and dance music in a most compelling way.
“I think that just came from me kind of stepping up the production,” said Peaches over the phone from L.A. “On the first two albums — The Teaches Of Peaches, and Fatherf---er — I made it very hard on myself by only using one machine and being the producer. I wanted to be able to transfer it live so I could be this one-woman show. But this time it’s like starting the revolution. It’s not going to change what I’m up to, but I’m getting everybody involved.”
So Peaches moved to L.A. from Berlin, where she’s been living for several years, to make the album with co-producer Mickey Petralia, and wrote some songs with Greg Kurstin, formerly of Beck’s band.
“Greg’s got an amazing ear,” she said. “He’d hear sounds I had sequenced and go, ‘Oh, that’s this kind of Moog,’ work like a mad scientist for five seconds and play the same sound on an original instrument that sounded 10 times fatter.”
In L.A., rock deities like Joan Jett, and Josh Homme (of Queens Of The Stone Age), as well as Peaches’ former roommate Feist, dropped in to make guest appearances on You Love It and Give ’Er, respectively.
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“Joan said that Fatherf---er was what she wished she’d said 25 years ago,” Peaches said. “It was her 47th birthday, and she came by, and I asked her to play and sing on You Love It, and she did. It happened just like that.
“Josh came over for a barbecue and said, ‘I’ve got my guitar and I really want to play on your album.’ I really like him because he’s a male, macho rock star, but he’s so down with what I do. And he’s not afraid to talk about his weird eclectic taste and put that in the mix, which I think a lot of male rock stars have problems with.”
Now Peaches is touring for the first time with a full band — keyboardist J.D. Samson, guitarist Radio Sloan and drummer Samantha Maloney — and loving it.
“It’s amazing having a band, and I have the most amazing band,” she raved. “It just gives you so much power. And people like seeing a band — they feel more comfortable, and that’s fine. It doesn’t mean I won’t go back to a one-woman thing some day, but right now it’s great, and we’re all so into it.”
Peaches plays the Kool Haus tonight with the Eagles Of Death Metal.