Interview Peaches: Watch where you put your fingers

There’s nothing particularly new about Peaches’ schtick: Outrageous costumes, explicitly sexual lyrics, and gender-bending performances are all pretty typical for female pop singers these days. But on her fourth release, I Feel Cream, former drama teacher Merrill Beth Nisker—now 41—feels the need to mark the territory she originally staked out on her 2000 breakthrough, The Teaches Of Peaches. Featuring work by big-name producers like Simian Mobile Disco and Soulwax, I Feel Cream spotlights Peaches' in-your-face electroclash, but now more than ever she's looking to set herself apart from younger (and more commercially successful) provacateurs like Lady Gaga. Before her show Saturday at Turner Hall, The A.V. Club spoke with Peaches about being influential, being too old (and weird) for TV, and performing with her own built-in pussy light.

The A.V. Club: For this album you started a blog and a video channel. Why are you using more technology these days?

Peaches: I never shied away from technology. When I started out, I just played with a machine, not a computer. My friends would make videos with Super 8s, and they'd project them onto me. I've always done that, it's just different outlets now, so I can just spread the word more. I'm tooting my own horn more, because I'm worth it! There are so many people who have been influenced by me—so many record companies throughout the years have told bands to be more like me, and so many things I've done are pioneering. But in a lot of ways I'm not super, all-over-the-place famous. A lot of people are more watered-down or mainstream. I've always said, "If the mainstream won't go closer to me, I'll go to it."

AVC: What do think of Lady Gaga, who's been accused of ripping you off?

P: I'm not hating on her. I'm not hating on what she's doing in terms of performance. She has television as her outlet, which I don't. I'm not really invited on TV. I don't go to awards. I don't have a large record company that can pay people to put me on TV. They don't want me on TV because I’m old, I don't know, I'm weird. But the people are able to see Lady Gaga's performance on TV—like 12-year-old kids—have an alternative in a very polished diva that exists. That’s cool for 12-year-olds, and when they turn 15, they find Peaches.

AVC: Do you ever get bad audiences that don't understand what you're doing?

P:  Usually I have really great audiences. A bad crowd to me is when I’m stagediving or doing stuff with the audience, and they take it the wrong way, like try to stick their fingers where they shouldn’t be. I’ve broken a few fingers, I’ve kicked people in the head. I don’t care, if they’re doing something like that, they’re going to get it back from me. And I’ve probably done 500 shows, but I’ve only given three speeches on bad behavior.

AVC: How do those speeches go? Do you say, "Don’t put your fingers where they shouldn't be?"

P: No, I bring a person onstage and rat them out, or I just give a whole speech and tell them what an asshole they were that they stopped the show, and I have to give this stupid fucking speech. But it’s really rare. I think my crowd is really fantastic, a great diverse demographic—gay, straight, young, old. That’s what I love. It crosses borders.

AVC: How has the reception been for the I Feel Cream tour? Obviously audiences expect you to be outrageous up there.

P: And I am, so they get more than they ask for. I’m not disappointing anybody, especially myself, which is the most important. And it’s also great that now, I can do whatever the fuck I want. I can now have a vulnerable song and sing it in front of people and show them that I have vocal chops. I can sing ethereally or soulfully. It’s very exciting to start where I was—on the hardcore edge—and bring a vulnerability to it, which is sort of the most shocking thing on this tour.

AVC: How integral are your costumes to your performances?

P: I can rock you in my underwear with just a microphone, and you’d think you were at a Kiss concert, I'd be completely entertaining. I did that for years, in hot pants. I'm just stepping up my game. I think costumes on stage should be worn for a reason. It's not just about prancing around in them. They have to be fun and functional. Like, I have my own built-in pussy light.