32-ish Things You Should Know About Peaches And Gonzales

11/08/00 1:00pm

by Ernest J. Agbuya (CHARTattack)

1. Peaches' debut album is called Lovertits and is available on underground German label Kitty-Yo.

2. Gonzales' debut album is called Uber Alles and is also on underground German label Kitty-Yo.

3. Both Peaches and Gonzales found little success in their home and native land (that's Canada, stupid) and had to move to Germany to get it.

4. They're getting it. Gonzales outsells popular labelmates To Rococo Rot in Europe and scored a hit with "Let's Groove Again." Peaches' new album got a glowing review in Q Magazine and sold 10,000 copies in the first three weeks.

5. Though they are not technically a duo, they perform on each other's live shows.

6. They spent much of last summer doing the festival circuit in Europe, joined another ex-pat and long-time collaborator Mocky of Robot Monster infamy.

7. The three of them caused a stir at these shows, particularly at the press conferences where the trio sprayed beer at reporters and formed pyramids.

8. Justine Frischmann of Elastica was impressed with some stuff she heard on a mixed tape from Pulp bassist Steve Mackey and then caught a P&G performance at a festival in Spain. Later, during Elastica's set, Justine gave shout-outs to Peaches and Gonzo whom she hadn't even met yet.

9. Justine personally invited Peaches and Gonzales to open for Elastica's recent North American tour.

10. Believe it or not, Peaches and Gonzales are not their real names.

11. They both have very confusing musical histories that would be confusing even with the aid of pictograms and family trees. Let's try to explain them anyway:

12. Peaches started out as a folk singer with a band called Mermaid Hotel.

13. Peaches is not a folk singer. She makes punk-fueled electronic music with Rated-R vocals. [Isn't that XXX?—Ed.]

14. Gonzales originally made his mark with Son, a Toronto alt.rock band that most compared to Elvis Costello and Prince.

15. Earlier on, Son was known to mess up their live set with crap like a funked-up cover of Wham's "Everything She Wants!"

16. Gonzales would probably deny #15 today. Now he's a master of lounge-y beats and freaky mind games.

17. Gonzo studied jazz piano at Concordia.

18. Peaches ditched the folk and started to get weird. She formed Fancypants Hoodlum and later just went by her real name, Merrill Nisker.

19. Son's 1995 debut was named after Michael Jackson's record-breaking Thriller album and garnered them a minor alt.rock hit, "Pick Up The Phone."

20. Prior to the recording of Son's second CD, Wolfstein, Gonzo, then Jason Beck, fired his guitarist and drummer, switched Dave "Daddy" Szigeti (another Robot Monster) from bass to guitar and hired Mocky to fill in on drums. This is when Son's music started to blossom into something really fucking cool.

21. Peaches and Gonzo were introduced to each other through Sticky, now leader of Kingston metal band Ass Machine, during a jam which included Mocky.

22. The four coalesced into The Shit, the coolest fucking side-project there ever was. They were one of the freakiest bands ever incorporating weird Frank Zappa, weird X-Ray Spex punk, weird God Is My Co-Pilot and weird Albert Ayler jazz.

23. They split up when Gonzo and Sticky ended their romance.

24. Merrill Nisker became Peaches in The Shit.

25. After The Shit split, Gonzo and Peach formed Feedom with Dave Szigeti.

26. With Gonzo on drums, Peach on bass and Szigeti on overdriven lap-steel guitar, Feedom were a hit with the amphetamine-fueled after-hours crowd where their 20-minute songs of manic riff-repetition sent crowds into ecstasy.

27. When Son's third album was rejected by Warner, Gonzo knocked his band on the head, put Feedom on hold and put himself into exile. He chose Berlin.

28. When he got there some guy shouted "Chilly Gonzales" at him from across the street. Thus Jason Beck became Chilly Gonzales.

29. Gonzo is really big in the Berlin scene. He even threatened to challenge Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire for the position of President of the Berlin Underground.

30. Before settling with Kitty-Yo, Peaches considered an offer to sign to Chicks On Speed's eponymous record label.

31. Peaches is developing into a sex symbol in Europe and is particularly huge with lesbians.

32. Gonzo is no sex symbol. He has a very hairy chest and smokes a shitload of dope.

33. Peaches doesn't have a hairy chest.

34. Peaches got signed to Kitty-Yo after the label heard one song from her demo.

35. She quit her job teaching music to kids, moved out of the apartment she shared with Leslie Feist and moved to Berlin.

36. Gonzales, now recording as Chilly Gonzales, has a new disc, The Entertainist, on which he indulges his rap tendencies over beats provided by a bevy of DJ/producers.

37. A couple of Gonzo's nicknames include "The One-Eyed Jew" and "The Worst MC."

37. Son's lost third album was to be called Red Leather.

38. The first joint release by Peaches & Gonzales is an EP called Red Leather.

39. Opening for Elastica at the Guvernment in Toronto, Peaches removed her pants to reveal a pair of hot pants made of, you guessed it, red leather!