"You Wanted To See The Rock Show"
Jeans Team and Peaches live at Club Telex, 6 April 2001
(Telakka, Tampere, Finland)
April's Club Telex took place at the club-restaurant-theatre Telakka, with Jeans Team and Peaches of Kitty-Yo Records, Berlin.
Berlin's Jeans Team were four friendly neighbourhood lads straight from some 60s band promo picture (you know all The Monkees stuff where they always generally prance around, cute-cute in a stupid-ass way). Really sympathetic guys with a mixture of indie guitars and synthpop, with an occasional Krautrock/Stereolabish overtone. There was a neonlight Jeans Team logo as their backdrop; all the hits were heard like 'Baby' and of course, 'Keine Melodien' ("Ich singe keine melodie... ich singe EINS, ZWEI, DREI, VIER!!!"), a minor club hit also in Tampere. Nice stuff.
"My skin is brown
And my manner is tough
I'll kill the first mother I see
Cos my life has been too rough
I'm awfully bitter these days
because my parents were slaves
What do they call me
My
name
is
PEACHES"
- Nina Simone: 'Four Women'Peaches went through a total transformation before my eyes. I had changed a couple of words with her at backstage before the show and had been surprised: that can this tiny little, ordinary-looking (appearing - at least - twice as young as her 34 years) Canadian-Jewish girl with curly dark hair really be the Peaches, the notorious sex monster, the Scarlet Woman, who in her lyrics insists us to "sucking on my titties like you wanted me" and offers us "pussy galore" and other carnal delights.
Instead, on stage she became a fierce-ruling diva dominatrix in a shiny black PVC outfit, high heel boots and Coca Cola bottle-coloured aviator shades, and scary as hell, a real wet nightmare. Peaches took over the stage completely like a she-devil electro punk grrrl incarnation of Elvis or Gene Simmons, waving her microphone in a way that left little space for interpretation, sometimes using it as a lasso too. In the intimate club space of Telakka she was really close to her audience, both physically and mentally.
As the show advanced, the PVC outfit dropped off, leaving a see-through blouse (she apparently wore no bra) and red hotpants. Like a dark Madonna (if Miss Ciccone was really the sex goddess she claims to be and not some diluted hypocrite Hollywood PG version), Peaches worked the stage for an hour and half with her "MC5" (Roland MC-505 Groovebox) and occasional guitar, gesturing fearsomely like a demon, with a mocking "Thank - you - very - much" after every song. I've hardly seen any artist taking her or his audience with such a determined concentration, total stage presence and overpowering charisma. Peaches could - and should - be big.
pHinn
Peaches - The Official Site
The Teaches of Peaches
Peaches page @ Kitty-Yo