Peaches (musician)
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Merrill Beth Nisker (born 1966 in Toronto, Ontario), better known as Peaches, is an electronica musician whose songs are concerned mainly with sex.[1]
History
Before she became "Peaches", Nisker was an elementary school music and drama teacher. She plays almost all the instruments for her songs, programs her own electronic beats and produces her records. In Toronto before rising to fame, she was the roommate of fellow recording artist Feist.[2]
Her songs have been featured in movies such as Mean Girls, Waiting..., Jackass Number Two, My Little Eye, and Lost in Translation. Her music has also been featured on television shows such as Showtime's The L Word and Ugly Betty, and has been used for the promotion of Dirt. Peaches performed guest vocals on Pink's album Try This, on the song "Oh My God", and on the Chicks on Speed album 99 Cents, on the song "We Don't Play Guitars".
For her third album, Impeach My Bush 2006, Peaches enlisted guest musicians Greg Kurstin, Josh Homme, Samantha Maloney, Beth Ditto, Feist, Dave Catching, Brian O'Connor and Radio Sloan to perform on several of the tracks.
The Herms (short for hermaphrodites) were formed in spring 2006 as Peaches' live backing band. "Herms is a reference to 70's duo Peaches & Herb and blending of words her and him. Peaches and Herms was the opening act for Nine Inch Nails and Bauhaus during the second half of their 2006 summer U.S. tour.
Notable themes
Peaches' music is preoccupied with DANNY'S BALLS! and genderchange identity, and she often plays with traditional notions of gender identity, gender roles, and gender presentation. Her lyrics and live shows self-consciously blur the distinction between male and female; she appears on the cover of her album Fatherfucker with a full beard. When asked if she had chosen the title for shock value, she commented:
Why do we call our mothers motherfuckers? Why do we stub our toe and say, "Aww motherfucker!"? What is a motherfucker? ... We use it in our everyday language, and it's such an insanely intense word. I'm not one to shy away from these obscene terms that we actually have in our mainstream. Motherfucker is a very mainstream word. But if we're going to use motherfucker, why don't we use fatherfucker? I'm just trying to be even.
She disputes accusations of "penis envy," preferring the term "hermaphrodite envy" since "there is so much male and female in us all". She does not shy away from identifying herself as a sexual being.
Discography
Albums
- Fancypants Hoodlum (1995, as Merrill Nisker)
- The Teaches of Peaches (2000)
- The Teaches of Peaches: Expanded [Re-Release w/Bonus Disc] (2002)
- Fatherfucker (2003)
- Impeach My Bush (2006) #168 US, #98 CAN
Singles/EPs
- "Lovertits" (2000)
- "Set It Off" (2001, 2002) #36 UK
- "Rockshow" (2003)
- "Operate" (2003)
- "Kick It" (featuring Iggy Pop) (2004) #39 UK
- "Shake Yer Dix" (2006) (Download Single)
- "Downtown" (2006) #50 UK
- "Boys Wanna Be Her" (2006)
- "Wild Thing Peaches Remix" (2007)
Remixes
- Daft Punk ("Technologic")
- Le Tigre ("TKO")
- Basement Jaxx ("Get Me Off")
- The Bird and the Bee ("Fucking Boyfriend")
- B52's ("Pleasure Seeker")
- Tone Loc ("Wild Thing")
- Queens Of The Stone Age ("Broken Box")
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs ("Cheated Hearts")
- Bonde Do Role ("Marina Gasolina")
- Gibby Haynes ("Red Neck Sex")
- Yoko Ono ("Kiss Kiss Kiss")
- Pink Grease ("Peaches")
Collaborations
- Contributed to the UNICEF benefit song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" in 2005.
- Duet with Gonzales called "Red Leather".
- Duet with Gonzales called "The Joy of Thinking".
- Duet with P!nk called "Oh My God".
- Played guitar and sang on the Chicks on Speed song "We Don't Play Guitars".
- Contributed lyrics and vocals for "Drugs and Glamour", for Removal's single "Irrelevant 9."
- Collaborated with Karen O on a song titled "Backass" on the Jackass Number Two soundtrack.
- Collaborated with Louie Austen on his song titled "Grab my shaft."
- Collaborated with Iggy Pop and her side project Feedom on the track ("Motor Inn") on his 2003 album Skull Ring
- Collaborated with fellow Canadian Mocky.
- Duet with Snax called "Oo She She Wa Wa" on his album "From The Rocking Chair To The Stage."
- Collaborated with Garbage at 2005's AmsterJam for a mash up of "Fuck the Pain Away" with Garbage's "Push It" as well as collaborated on "I Don't Give a.."
- Toured with Marilyn Manson in 2003 and sang the song Rock N Roll Nigger with him.
- Collaborated with Tommie Sunshine on his single "Dance Among The Ruins".
- Performed vocals on Bloc Party remix of ("Helicopter"). Remix by Weird Science
- Iggy Pop covered her song ("Rock Show") on his album "Skull Ring")
Soundtracks
- The song "Fuck the Pain Away" was used in a scene in the film Lost in Translation in which Bob and Charlotte, the two main characters, find themselves in a strip club. It was also featured in Jackass Number Two, in the Old Man Balls scene and in the horror film My Little Eye.
- "Operate" is played during the Halloween house party scene in the film Mean Girls. It also appears in Waiting...and during a wet t-shirt contest in the episode "Nevada State" of Las Vegas.
- She performed the song "I U She" on season two of The L Word, in the episode titled "L'Chaim". The same song appeared on the show's season two soundtrack.
- "Boys Wanna Be Her" was played at the end of the fourth episode of season 4 of The L Word. It also was played in the Ugly Betty episode "Dont Ask, Dont Tell", and in advertisements for the FX series Dirt.
- The Gap used the song "Do Ya" in their Fall 2006 TV ad campaign.
- On The Mighty Boosh Live DVD, Bollo is singing "Fuck the Pain Away" in the tribute song to Naboo.
- "You Love It" was played at the ending of the CSI: New York season 3 episode "Oedipus Hex".
- Peaches' "Kick It" with Iggy Pop is on the soundtrack for Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition.
Covers and samples
- Peaches covered Berlin's "Sex (I'm A)" as an extra track on the Teaches of Peaches Bonus Disc
- Peaches and the band Electric Six are friends, and have each covered one of the other's songs; Peaches covered "Gay Bar" and Electric Six covered "Rock Show".
- Peaches sampled Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" for the song "I Don't Give A Fuck."
- Peaches did a parody of Alanis Morissette's parody of The Black Eyed Peas' My Humps called My Humps, My Dumps Yo Majesty and Inara George also appear in the video.
- Iggy Pop covered "Rock Show" on his album ("Skull Ring").
References
- ^ "Singer of the Week: Peaches". AskMen.com. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- ^ "All mouth, no trousers". The Age. 2006. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
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