Merrill Beth Nisker (born 1968 in Toronto, Ontario), better known as Peaches, is an electronica musician whose songs are notable for their use of sexual imagery. She is currently living in Berlin.
... Merrill Beth Nisker (born 1968 in Toronto, Ontario), better known as Peaches, is an electronica musician whose songs are notable for their use of sexual imagery. She is currently living in Berlin.
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.
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.
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 the tender "Lose You" which took the artist in a softer direction than many of her fans may be used to seeing.
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 new album, I Feel Cream, was be released on May 4th, 2009 in Europe and May 5th, 2009 in North America. The first single from the project is a double a-side of Talk To Me and More.
Notable themes:
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."
Talk To Me
