Margins: Peaches
VAULT spoke with the legendary artist dubbed a “genuine electro clash heroine” by The New York Times, Peaches, on the eve of her Australian anniversary tour ‘The Teaches of Peaches’. A generous collaborator, Peaches shared her creative costume process and teaches us all a lesson in power feminist politics.
Image credit: Peaches at Perth Festival, 2023. Photo: Adrian Thomson
I am very excited to see you in Australia for the 20th anniversary tour of your iconic album The Teaches of Peaches (2000). I just wish it was an all-ages gig because I have two teenage girls and they are big fans. You’re big with 17-year-olds! I think it must be extraordinary to have that kind of cut through and a whole new young audience who are coming to your music on their own, finding it through word of mouth.
Well, I feel like that’s how people found it in the first place, because there wasn’t really any internet presence with that [album], or at all. And there definitely wasn’t any video play, especially for ‘Fuck the Pain Away’, or any radio play. So, it’s really exciting. It’s probably easier to get into it now than it was back then, to be honest.
Yes, I think you’re right. I mean, this is a generation for whom a lot of the issues that you touch on – sexual freedom and the fact that we live in this world where abortion is now under threat – are so relevant. They’re discovering anew these anthemic songs as a form of activism. Do you think of your music as activist?
Political can be personal, that’s not a problem to me. And art to me needs to say something. Yes, there’s a place for beauty, and there’re all kinds of beauty, but to me it’s beautiful to express yourself and to be able to share your opinions... Subscribe to read this article in full
