After more than two decades as an electro-glam-punk provocateuse, the musician and performance artist Peaches still sashays where few artists do. The theme of her new tour, for example, is “prolapse.”
“That most encapsulates what I feel about what’s going on in the world and what’s going on with our bodies and our communication,” she said cheerfully at an interview in New York. “And it’s also a very good visual image to work with.”
With her latest squelchy, unapologetic album, “No Lube So Rude,” Peaches — born Merrill Nisker in Toronto 59 years ago, and now a longtime Berliner — continues her quest to bring audiences together in louche abandon.
Lube, then, is another inspiration. It’s an allegory, she explained, “because the world is full of friction. If we had a magic lube that could help us connect — it’s hard because we’re angry and we’re scared, and we have to fight against that. We have to understand that there needs to be revolution, and it needs to be joyful. And slippery.”
Clad fully in black, with a mouthful of gold teeth and her signature two-toned mullet-hawk ’do, Peaches spoke about the artists and places that get her worked up, and hopeful. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Chase Strangio
An incredible person — a smart trans lawyer, advocating for trans rights in front of the Supreme Court. And they’re always writing about how to help everybody feel safe. Of course I’m an ally, but to have this lived experience and find a way to be really clear about it — they got that magic lube, to be able to persuade people to understand this point of view.
Erika Lust and Sex-Positive Artists
Annie Sprinkle is a very big influence on me — we’ve become really good friends — in terms of understanding sexuality as something fun and weird, to take away shame. Erika Lust has made a huge leap in this: Porn is not just body parts, it’s understanding the human condition. And one of her largest audiences is older women. I love that.
Sarah Sherman/Sarah Squirm
We started to just DM each other: “Hi, I love your work.” We’ve met a few times now — her “S.N.L.” backstage is all clowns. But you never really get Sarah until you’ve seen her special. She’s taking these really old school ways of almost a “take my wife — please!” joke, all these tropes, and then spinning them on their head.
‘Tár’
I’ve seen it nine times. It’s just an incredible, complicated, polarizing, aggravating — super-aggravating in how stylish it is, too, and how well constructed.
And also just Cate Blanchett! This one 20-second clip, that I also now do in my live show, where she’s just moving her hands around and making a weird face, obviously not conducting, but thinking she’s conducting. Maybe we’re just in her mind at that point? It’s that descent into madness, and it’s so absurd. Obviously, the ending is ridiculous too.
SongQuiz.com
They give you five or 10 seconds of a song, and then you have to say the artist and the song. It’s like my happy place. I’m good at the ’80s, pretty good at the ’60s. But I’m exceptional at the ’70s.
‘Wiser Than Me With Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Podcast
I just love that it’s all older women, from Gloria Steinem to Glenn Close, giving them a platform to say, “I don’t give a [expletive] anymore, I am 90 and this is how it is.” I loved the Julie Andrews one. This is a time for older women to not let go, be disintegrated, forgotten. I feel like our time is coming in.
Grace Jones
My North Star. There is no better performer in the world. Every song is thought out, but always with an element of spontaneity and sass. I had broken my ankle at a show in Portugal, and two nights later, was opening for Grace. I was like, there is no way I’m not doing this — and I am going to bring my A++ game. I got a wheelchair, had it spray-painted pink, put hair all over it. I got to meet Grace, and she was obsessed with the wheelchair. She was wheeling me around backstage, laughing maniacally. I will take that to my grave.
The Virgin X
A beautiful drag performer in London. I connected with them as an activist. They started with, “Let’s talk about Gaza,” but they’re doing their makeup. It was a brilliant way of bringing people in.
The Smitten Kitten in Minneapolis
A very queer-positive sex shop that has become a refuge for people who need supplies and resources and money. Anne Lehman, the organizer, is leaning into their purpose, instead of leaning into worry and fear.
Marzipahn Garden Collective
There’s incredible queer spaces in Berlin, and this one is a safe space for queer, marginalized, B.I.P.O.C. community. It’s essentially a truck squad [akin to a trailer park] in the middle of Marzahn, where everything around is quite right-wing. But they have this beautiful space where they can house people and put on community works.
Melena Ryzik is a roving culture reporter at The Times, covering the personalities, projects and ideas that drive the creative world.
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