Moldy Peaches Heart Degrassi

With just a few days to go before they cross the 49th parallel to play for their northern brothers and sisters again, New York's Moldy Peaches seem keen on exploring some of their Canadian memories.

Although there was one sour note on their last trip up here with The Strokes (some twit in Montreal stole one of their guitars), Kimya Dawson and Adam Green sound genuinely excited about our country. Whether they're suggesting that their eponymous song "Who's Got The Crack?" would make a cool new anthem, pontificating on the merits of Joni Mitchell or fondly recounting an interview with Nardwuar that left the Human Serviette more perplexed than his subjects for once, the duo speak as if something about our home and native land has captured their quirky little spirits.

Still, I can't quite put my finger on what it exactly it is, though, until Kimya makes a sudden declaration about my accent and it becomes clear a certain junior high soap opera had an unusual effect on her.

"You've got the best Canadian voice thing going on!"

"I know," Adam agrees. "It's amazing."

"Seriously," continues Kimya, "you're, like, sending me back into Degrassi euphoria."

A Degrassi obsession? Who'd have thunk it from some NYC art-rock hippies? Trying to add to this euphoria, I fill her in on Degrassi The Next Generation, which seems to hold her interest for a moment until she finds out it's mostly about Spike's daughter and her classmates.

"Joey Jeremiah's all that matters," she says. "He is one hot stud."

Of more interest to her than the new Degrassi brats is Joey's (a.k.a. Pat Mastroianni) current work as the host of a series of commercials on fruits, vegetables and nutrition. In fact, the singer took such an interest in the idea that she even giddily offered an idea for a future installation.

"Maybe he could talk about how if he ate a moldy peach it would help keep him healthy. I didn't say that... but I meant it. I'll show him some fucking fruit!"

The inspiration doesn't stop there. Soon, Kimya's on to an even better idea.

"Do you think you could get Joey Jeremiah to introduce our show when we get to Toronto? If he introduced us, I think I would die. I would be the happiest girl ever. If anybody from Degrassi, if, like, Joey or Snake or Wheels... oh, man!"

The Moldy Peaches play on January 9, in costume as always, at Casa Del Popolo in Montreal. We'll have to wait until the next night at the Horseshoe in Toronto to see if Kimya gets her wish. And if that really happens, it would only be fair that the Peaches show their thanks with a Zit Remedy cover.