The Moldy Peaches - London, UK, Summer 2001
By: Toby L
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
What follows is the full, unabridged meeting of rockfeedback and a new act that have been gathering a smattering of media-interest of late: The Moldy Peaches. Yes, the results - i.e. this article - are long. Yes, the twosome concerned both possess personalities that stand out in a crowd. And, yes, let's get on with it.
New York: two words and one city that have been grabbing a lot of attention recently. Certain publications within the UK music-press are once again doing what they do best and hyping this to be the 'it'-place. NY, NY, they claim, is where you should be and where your favourite artists should be from - and maybe it is. But maybe not.
To prevent ourselves from confusing the issue any further, let's just stick with the music-scene, OK? Indeed, the US city has had a rich and varied past in terms of its musical output, but none more-so important - arguably - as that scene which existed during the mid-late 1970s: punk. However, this wasn't just a straight-forward 'let's get an amp, one bassist that can't play very well and a second-hand drumkit' kind of period - oh no. Instead, artists such as Television and The Ramones were able to present to the music-scene something which didn't exist at a time where disco would soon find prominence; they offered a brashness with tunes, musicianship of a capable ability and an image to influence a generation. Now, in the 21st Century, what with the departure of a true rock 'n' roll hero - Joey Ramone - the reforming of Television (again) and new acts such as The Strokes keeping tongues wagging, maybe it is time for this illustrious town to regain the notoriety its music deserves.
However, if this is to be the case, make sure that The Moldy Peaches benefit from the resurgence, even though - ironically (a word that crops up in this article a few times) - they're not strictly from the great city itself. But, should they adopt masses of fans due to the current furore with the East Coast haven, make sure they stand out from the rest - for that is what these two do best. Their dressing up in concerts is something to be treasured and expected these days, with Kimya Dawson often bearing the costume of a furry, little bunny-rabbit and Adam Green choosing to sport the same attire you'd have expected Robin Hood to wear, if he had existed. Yes, they sound strange.
Hey, wait - don't run away, for their talent comprises all of those hidden elements that make original and strong music sound so special. For instance, there's a touch of humour, with lyrics laughing at all that makes society so messed up. Plus, you'll hear decent hooks and tunes - they can harmonise with each other and put together songs in such a way that they won't leave your head all day. And, finally, they own a sincerity to their sound - at the end of the day, Green and Dawson are on a mission to show the world all that's good in it, as well as all the good that's in the world's people... If you can figure that one out.
This evening plays host to the Peaches' first London show, to be hosted at the legendary - and poky-sized - Barfly at the Monarch. The delightful duo have just flown in from the States today and they're tired. Very tired. So, when faced with the inimitable fate that is the rockfeedback artist-interview, you can tell that they must have been amazingly excited... Well, I tell a lie, but this website certainly did appreciate their willingness to be in our company for an hour. What follows is an interview getting into their heads, probing their deepest thoughts and an article that reveals the real Moldy Peaches. Or something along those lines anyway. After all, don't you feel a male vocalist that says, 'We never intended on making a band; it just sprung out of our relationship together,' deserves questioning on what he's talking about?
Firstly - record sales. Well done - thousands sold in the UK in no time - but why's this?
Kimya: 'It's a good record! I mean, I like it and, luckily, so do other people!'
Adam, explaining his excitement for the high expectation of sales their LP is looking to reach comments on this further, 'I don't see why we couldn't sell a million records, if that many people had come to hear about us...'
The subject matter of the groups' work has already triggered off a stir, with references to Class A illegal substances and pictures of an erotic nature posing as memorable themes. However, on the other side, a simple beauty and touching streak lurks in some songs too. So, does writing material come easily to them for their lyrics, or must they spend time to think what to say?
K: 'It's natural - I feel that everything we do is natural, which is why there's such a variety of different styles on the album; we don't even try to conform to what we did before. When we sit down to write something, it just comes out.'
A: 'However, I think that if we just try to pull the lyrics directly from our heads and don't try to revise them, then it's not going to be that hard to make it fit into the mainstream idea of what music is. What we're doing at the moment is really different to what's on the radio now...'
K: 'It's not that we don't like mainstream stuff - there are plenty of mainstream things we listen to.'
Ads adds, 'It's mostly that,' in reference to the amount of popular music he listens to.
K: 'It's not us going, 'Oh, I don't want to be like them;' it's just that's what they do and this is what we do.'
A: 'The only thing that I like - that's not mainstream - is the stuff that happens to be when someone maybe doesn't have a particularly well-trained singing voice or has a musical ability that prevents them from becoming a success. These people's songs are still as valid as people who are really famous for it, like, I guess, Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan.
'Some of the stuff that's not mainstream isn't famous because it just doesn't have that much appeal to a lot of people... It's awesome that it exists and I think that people should make what they want, but I do think that a lot of the stuff that's not mainstream is not far-reaching enough. Some of the stuff that's mainstream becomes popular because it's just inflicted upon people!'
K: 'A lot of the time, we'll pass a notebook back and forth and write alternating lyrics, but sometimes we'll sit with the guitar, and stuff (assumingly, the words) explodes out really quickly.'
A: 'Someone may just say something funny and we'll be around someone that says something really stupid or interesting and we'll stay on that until it transforms into our own joke, which has nothing to do with them. For example, there was this answer-phone message that this guy left on my machine and he left it there for Kimya to hear. He just had this totally drugged-out voice...'
K: 'Yeah, he was just a druggy, Seattle guy who I hadn't seen in five years!'
A: 'He said a bunch of things that evolved into this song we just wrote!'
K: 'He was kinda like, (in long, drawn-out utterances) 'Heeeyyy! We shoullldddd jammmmmm!'
Adam suddenly sees this as the right time in which to release his artistic hatred of muso-jamming.
'We just don't jam! We're not into that whole... jamming thing! I like making songs; I like it when ideas come out quick, but I don't just like sitting here and saying, 'Come on, let's just jam out a song - it'll be great!' I think that you should really try and embrace learning and civilisation and structures and stuff... I just find it so unsatisfying when people want to jam, they're really just wasting their time! I mean, Fish can jam, but most people don't have that competent ability: they just start mowing down those same scales over and over and making up loads of stupid words in a New Age-style!
'Have you heard some of that freestyle rap also (this is when MCs and hip-hoppers make up words on the spot in a rap for those lucky ones amongst you that don't know)?! They just use big, science words and it comes out like (puts on frantic and fast-rhyming voice), 'The variation of the concept/Algebraic, formulaic!' Everyone's like, 'Whatever, man!' People should use a little bit of revision and maybe think a little about what they're writing - before they write it. They're trying to fit it all into a pre-conceived mould of what it should end up being.'
If you haven't already grasped this from reading, Kimya and Adam are two very unique people. Not only are their views well thought out, but they're also warm and funny characters. Mr Green certainly provides jokes with both action and content, but Miss Dawson fights back with a winning Afro haircut and the most beautiful eyes you may ever get the chance to get lost into. Just being in their presence elevates you: these two kindred spirits are special souls... How did they meet?
K: 'I think, initially, I was living out west and was kind of getting into indie stuff. Where we're from is actually two towns outside of New York City and there wasn't anyone I knew that was interested in the stuff I was becoming more and more into - but Adam was. He was someone that I could just share that with...'
A: 'It wasn't just the enthusiasm for the music - that was a tiny, little part of it; just the conversation-starter. Kimya's nine years older than me and I felt like she had experienced all this stuff, and had moved around and lived this real, crazy life! There was no one in my town from the outside that could tell me what it was like outside (of the area), but she was an outsider, so we formed our own universe together, our own outside world where we felt comfortable. That just evolved into this universe where we could derive power from it and make music.'
K: 'Sometimes, Adam and I are hanging out with these people and we'll both go off on these tangents as if we're in our own world!'
A: 'Some people are able to come in there with us and look around, but a lot of people often just stay out.'
Does this make you feel like outsiders in conversations then?
K: 'Well, actually, I feel like we're insiders - and everyone else is just peeping in (laughs)!'
A: 'We feel like insiders with ourselves, but outsiders with other people. This interviewer-guy asked us a history about our band and I think that the facts about our band aren't really that important. What's more important is that our music comes from a place where we were scared at one point in our lives and definitely felt like outsiders. That's basically the history of the band, rather than me saying, 'I met Kimya there and then we did this...'
K: 'Lately, I haven't been able to get out of my head that scene at the end of the movie 'Revenge of the Nerds' where it points out that the number of nerds definitely outnumbers everybody else! I believe that the majority of people in the world have been scared and lonely and awkward, but also humoured by themselves, just a weird array of discomfort. We're saying what we're feeling exactly and therefore other people are, like, 'Ahh,' because they're scared of it!
'It (what we're doing) is not going to be everybody's truth, but some people can't even handle seeing somebody else handling their own truth.'
And the Moldy Peaches' truth, it seems, appears to have caused controversy; not just in its off-the-wall musings, but also within the fact that some reviews reckon it reflects the group's understanding of an ironic sense of humour.
A: 'Man, we were just talking about this! I read this review of us which said that our song 'Downloading Porn With Davo' proved that at least Americans can - quote - 'do irony'. It was so condescending! I don't really think that we're being ironic at all!'
K: 'We don't have any ulterior motive when we're writing so we're not trying to be anything: we just write what's coming out of our heads and into the song.'
A: 'The truth is that I could wanna f**k a hooker, but I may also wanna get married: that would be just like a pendulum, where you have two different views and they're swinging, but they're connected to each other. I think that these sorts of things could intersect in certain places and that's what we try to write about, showing different ways... This is because we all frown upon things that we also embrace.'
From this, in various ways, some people could find your songs quite protesting...
K: 'Well, I don't really think that a lot of things are crap all of the time. Sometimes, some things are really appealing to me and then, the next minute, I want to eliminate it and then, the next day, I love it again. So, what's written is what we're feeling at the time when we're writing the song. I like things changing.'
A: 'I definitely think there's a real strong part of me that really wants to have experiences and learn from the mistakes of the past. I also wanna take a look around and objectively look at everything, examining the different things that people tell me are lifestyles to live... I'd rather make my own kind of lifestyle.
'When I think about things that people idolise, like the 60s, with all those people that died in their twenties or when they were twenty-five... I mean, what do you think that Jim Morrison really got to? Do you feel that he really got to anywhere? Or, was he just fooling himself? I dunno, it's just that people embrace these decadent figures like drug-users... The idea of having unprotected sex with a bunch of strangers, too: maybe the rock lifestyle isn't the truth of what's really rebellious and it's not even an interesting life to lead...
'I've been reading this book by Harry Smith, who's like an alchemist, and there's this chapter where he's walking around with this girl that he ended up marrying. He made her go down to the Bowery, which is where all the bums (tramps) would sleep in the 60s, and he made her kiss every bum on the lips... And then he married her. He wasn't on drugs, you know, he was just really wanting to do things that people on lots of crack probably wouldn't even do! I just think that it's really cool that you can do crazy things not on drugs.'
K: 'I really want to have as many adventures as possible and I definitely get something out of every positive and negative experience: they balance each other out. I want to do my best to not hurt anyone's feelings. I want to be a kind person, I want to make friends and I want to go out and meet people and hear their stories. I feel like I've had my ass kicked and I've also had really good times. When I look back, all of it has brought me here so there's definitely no ideal.'
Of course, the most obvious place to gain inspiration - even when you may not realise it - is from your surroundings. What makes their home-city so special to them?
K: 'There's a really amazing songwriter scene in New York; we've been a part of - and still are a part of - that environment and grew up in it. There are people there writing good, lyric-based stuff: you can go to your friend's house, pass the guitar and just play your songs to each other - you won't necessarily need drums to make what you do sound good. It's a really nurturing environment, I can't believe that there are so many amazing people there.'
A: 'I don't understand how people can just have a scene of bands that really works. It wouldn't be right if it was like, 'Right, our band are gonna play a song for you and afterwards your band can play a song for us,' and then we all sit in a circle with different PA-systems and play songs to each other! We can just do that with our guitar and nothing else. We just think about melody and music; it's far more easier to write songs that are conceptually... deeper that way, rather than the songs that people have to write because they've got this band thing and get limited by it. Some people do it, but most people get frustrated by the fact that they have to get practices together, get their stuff, get the equipment... That's what's so great about the acoustic guitar: you just have to pick one up one day and learn a couple of chords, or, write great words if you can't play that many chords - you can just do something to make a great song.'
K: 'I sometimes feel that some people write songs because that's what they're born to do, like it's really coming from them. Even though they'd like to be able to support themselves with their music, they write their music no matter what. You sit down playing your guitar and the song will come out - it's not like you're depending on writing the next hit and so it's less competitive. You're able to really support each other, enjoy each other and appreciate each other more than the people that start up with the intent to become the next big sensation.'
A: 'I'll see these ad's in magazines from people wanting to start bands that say they wanna sound something like Aerosmith or Jane's Addiction - they just have these pre-conceived ideas of what they want to sound like - before they've even met each other! That's like saying, 'I want to make 81st Street and it's going to look like this,' instead of just having a street that looks like something and they decide to label it 81st Street... We had this thing and we called it The Moldy Peaches; we didn't have The Moldy Peaches and try to make this thing... (Realises the almost spiritual aspect of what he's saying and finds a chance to make a joke out of it) So, yeah, take acid, man! Nah, we don't really do any drugs.'
K: 'I can't even drink caffeine!'
Yeah, it's true: despite having a song called 'Who's Got The Crack?', the MPs don't partake in foreign substances - well, apart from something else they use to get their kicks... Let's just put it this way - if you ever see them in the street or at a show, just ask Kimya or Adam about a certain 'pickled flavour salt candy' - they'll know what you're talking about. Apparently the stuff's lethal, but legal. And it only costs ten cents for a packet in Texas. Remember its name: Twang...
Back to the plot, however - where else could The Moldy Peaches live other than where they are now?
K: 'I like to go everywhere I can; the idea of settling, to me, is really scary! I've been in New York for two years to be doing this. Before that, I moved around a lot: I'd travel and go on lots of trips - I ride the bus everywhere, but I just want a van now! All I ever think about is that some day I'm gonna get one of those vans with the swivel seats - that's all I want and I'll just keep driving!'
When being told that this all sounds very much like a miniature flower-power revival, Kimya and Adam are already more than aware of this.
K: 'Hippy nouveau' is the way we describe it!'
Adam joins in, 'Yeah, being a hippy is cool,' before flashing his feet, sporting sandals as his preferred choice of footwear - the one true, mysterious mark of a hippy. 'The only thing you have to be in order to be hippy nouveau is change your reaction to the word 'hippy'.
K: 'Oh, and you also have to start practising bi-curious scientology!'
A: 'With the travel thing, I really like the idea of finding somewhere to put all my stuff and spending a lot of time looking at new places. I'd definitely feel good about having a place to keep my recording equipment.'
K: 'Yes - I mean, that's what parents are for! I'm gonna get my parents a house in the Caribbean that I keep my stuff at and then I'll drive around, come back and be like (in teary-eyed, sentimental movie style), 'Mommy; I'm home!'
If you think that what you've read so far is slightly quirky - stay with us on this one, as the pair talk about Adam's third annual Bar Mitzvah event held recently at Kimya's house. Inviting all to come on their mailing-list, Kimya originally sent this message to their collection of fans:
hey!!! it's that time of year AGAIN!!!
come up to my house on SATURDAY MAY 26TH to celebrate ADAM'S 3RD ANNUAL BAR MITZVAH!!! from noon til night! bring stuff to bbq and instruments to play and drinks to drink. i will provide a grill and a yard and a sprinkler, and i will organize some ROCK AND ROLL music, but anyone who wants to can play. and if anyone has some good sound stuff to bring let me know. or we can just play through amps. it will be fun!!! and it's my dad's birthday too! email me for directions!!! it's so amazing that every year adam takes that leap into manhood, then slips back to boyland, and then leaps back to manhood. bring presents, like borscht and halvah. let him know you love him. you know you love him.
It's obviously not a conventional get-together, but we might as well ask how it went.
A: 'Yeah, it was great! I read a speech, we went camping, we had birthday cake...'
K: 'It was supposed to be a barbecue with bands, though! There was a great variety of people - all in my parents' living room! We watched 'Behind The Music' and some of the countdowns on VH1...'
A: 'Yeah, but I was surprised that Tull didn't get any credit on the countdowns...'
Tull?
K: 'Yep, Jethro Tull!'
A: 'You see, that's a litmus test for us, because if I go, 'Hey, what's your favourite Tull record,' and you don't know, then you're square!' Adam soon brands rockfeedback - lacking in appreciation of 'Tull' - 'square' shortly afterwards. It's a sad moment.
K: 'Nah, the whole party was cool 'cos there was us, close friends and my grandma, but then there were kids as well!'
Kimya, inviting strangers to your house - is this safe?
'Well, I'm one of those people that believes that if a psychopath is gonna come and get me, then they're gonna come and get me! I like making friends and hanging out, I may find some that I'm not very compatible with, but I also meet so many cool people! I went to reserve the campsite and I was driving back and saw four hippy kids that looked really young walking up the street and I was like, 'They're not from town!' I rolled down the window and said, 'Looking for something?' They were like, 'Eek!' So, they came over and started sitting around...'
A: 'They smelled so good!'
K: 'They did! They smelled like rose-petals, essential oils...'
A: 'Yeah! I just had to smell this girl for a long time (laughs all round)!'
Well, it won't take just the most observant of people to notice that what this group have been through and what they continue to do is anything but ordinary. So, where next?
K: 'I can never anticipate anything.'
A: 'I wouldn't wanna say or wank around with you like (puts on kooky accent and mimes, er, pulling himself in the trouser region), 'And then we're gonna do this,' because it's just such a waste of time.'
Well, they may not know where they're going, but who cares? With one sublime album finished - released on the ever-eclectic and vital Rough Trade - into what will no doubt turn into an enticingly exciting, distinctly different and boldly brilliant career, The Moldy Peaches can get away with whatever they like: pretty soon, the whole world will have fallen for them. And deservedly so.
Artists in this article: The Moldy Peaches