Peaches (musician)

Peaches

Merrill Beth Nisker (born 1966 in Toronto, Ontario), better known as Peaches, is an electronic musician whose songs are noted for their use of explicit, sexual lyrics.

History

Before she became Peaches, Nisker was an elementary school music and drama teacher. She plays her own instruments for her songs, programs her own electronic beats, and produces her own albums.

She released her first album, Fancypants Hoodlum, under the name Merrill Nisker in 1995, and subsequently developed the style and persona that would take her to international fame as Peaches. In Toronto before rising to fame, she was the roommate of fellow recording artist Feist.

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 fourth album, 2006's Impeach My Bush, Peaches enlisted guest musicians Joan Jett, Greg Kurstin, Josh Homme, Samantha Maloney, Beth Ditto, Feist, Dave Catching, Brian O'Connor and Radio Sloan to perform on several of the tracks.

Peaches and the Herms performing in 2006. Left to right: JD Samson, Samantha Maloney, Peaches, and Radio Sloan.

The Herms (short for hermaphrodites) were formed in spring 2006 as Peaches' live backing band. They played at small and large venues alike with sex and sex related themes as the "shock factor" for the audience. "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.

Peaches played two shows in New Zealand in September 2008 with Germany based band Sweet Machine. Her sold out show at San Francisco Bath House in Wellington featured several songs from her forthcoming album I Feel Cream, including opening number "Showstopper" and "Lose You".

Peaches played live at the Parklife Festival in Australia, October 2008, and performed a DJ set at the Parklife after party (Afterlife) at the Met Nightclub in Brisbane on the October 4.

Her album I Feel Cream, was released on May 4, 2009 in Europe and May 5 in North America. The first single from the project is a double A-side of "Talk to Me" and "More"..

Notable themes

Peaches performing in August 2006.

Gender identity is one theme of Peaches' music, often playing with traditional notions of gender roles representation. Her lyrics and live shows consciously blur the distinction between male and female; for example, 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."

Discography

Albums

• Fancypants Hoodlum (1995, as Merrill Nisker)
• The Teaches of Peaches (2000)
• Fatherfucker (2003)
• Impeach My Bush (2006) #168 US, #98 CAN
• I Feel Cream (2009) #160 US

Singles/EPs

• S/T (Teenage USA Recordings) (2000)
• "Lovertits" (2000)
• "Set It Off" (2001, 2002) #36 UK
• "Rockshow" (featuring Iggy Pop) (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" (remix) (2007)
• "Talk to Me" / "More" (2009)
• "Lose You" (2009)

Remixes

• Luis Jacob ("Without Persons-The Pathfinder")
• Daft Punk ("Technologic")
• Le Tigre ("TKO")
• Basement Jaxx ("Get Me Off")
• The Bird and the Bee ("Fucking Boyfriend")
• The B-52's ("Funplex")
• 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")
• Ladyhawke ("Paris Is Burning")

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 Mignon called "Casanova"
• Contributed vocals to "Boys and Girls" and "Everybody Party" on Taylor Savvy's 2002 album Ladies and Gentleman. Frequent Peaches collaborators Gonzales and Mignon also contributed vocals to the album.
• Duet with Pink 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 "9 of 10"
• 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, a cover of the Prince-penned Apollonia 6 track "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).
• Collaborated with Stink Mitt on a song called "Fan Etiquette" for the bonus EP for the Japanese release of Impeach My Bush
• Collaborated on "Fine As Fuck" by Scream Club, off their 2006 album, "Life of a Heartbreaker". A new remix of the song by Commonwealth appears on French digital compilation Chochotte.

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. The song does not appear on the soundtrack CD. 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 when she performed live in an episode.
• "Boys Wanna Be Her" was played at the end of the fourth episode of season 4 of The L Word, when Katherine Moennig's character, Shane McCutcheon modelled underwear for Hugo Boss AG. It also was played in the Ugly Betty episode "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", advertisements for the FX series Dirt and the soundtrack for the 2009 film Whip It!. A remix version of the song is also in the EA game Need for Speed Pro Street.(The remix is called Tommie Sunshine's Brooklyn Fire Retouch)
• The Gap used the song "Do Ya" in their Fall 2006 TV ad campaign titled "Jeans Take Shape".
• 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.
• "Set It Off" is heard in the movie Cashback. This is the second time a Peaches song appears in a strip club scene, the other being Lost in Translation.
• "Kick it " is featured on the commercial in Australia for the 2008 Subaru impreza.
• The song "The Inch" was used in the film Itty Bitty Titty Committee in the scene where Shulie and Calvin are hooking up in the car while Anna and Sadie are doing the same in the motel room.

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..."
• Peaches did a parody of Alanis Morissette's version of the Black Eyed Peas' My Humps called "My Humps, My Dumps" Yo Majesty and Inara George also appear in the video.
• Peaches covered Iggy Pop's song "Search and Destroy" on the War Child: Heroes benefit album.
• Peaches covered Prince's "Irresistible Bitch".

External links

• Peaches
• Peaches at Allmusic