The singer Peaches has always been known for her rocking voice and controversy. Continuing that trend, she brings her one-woman show Peaches Christ Superstar to town just in time for the holidays.
Windy City Times: Hey, Peaches. I am so excited to see you in Chicago again.
Peaches: Me, too. I am glad it made it on the tour.
WCT: You have been a fan of the show Jesus Christ Superstar since you were a kid, right?
Peaches: Yes, I am not necessarily a fan of the show but of the music. That's what really caught me when I was 15 and I liked how it was told without dialogue. We have all these jukebox musicals but this one tells a story through the songs and that's what I thought was really powerful about it.
WCT: There is no one else singing in this show. It's just you.
Peaches: Yes. I wanted to do it without being over the top. It's great music and people like that. I think a lot of rockers, especially North America, love it. I have so many people coming up to me saying that they don't like musicals but they love this. Everyone loves Judas because he's a real rocker! I had to revisit these characters so I was not just playing them and being theatrical. I didn't want theatre, I wanted powerful and emotional. I want to move people. It's not comical, even though it's a ridiculous idea. I think it really comes through. I wanted it to be stripped down and not like Peaches stripped down, take off your clothes, just take away all that crap that we hated in musicals.
WCT: I heard your vocals are amazing in it.
Peaches: Oh, cool. Fantastic, well I think people are not used to hearing me sing so people make think I am going to talk or rap my way through this. But no, I am really excited to share my voice with people. I don't think of Jesus Christ Superstar as a religious piece, but a human-interest story. I think it is very clear that someone had a really good idea with power of the unknown and then it gets stopped because of people's fear. I think that happens a lot in businesses, in families, in social situations and politics. This is my way into it.
WCT: I heard it was a challenge to get the rights to this show.
Peaches: Yeah, it was difficult. To be honest with you, they wanted it to be a big money-maker. They want to have huge productions so they want to make money on this. It is not about artistic things. I tweeted it and talked about it to the New York Times. I had a great catch phrase "crucified before opening night." That helped a lot because it got back to Tim Rice's office and he said, "We don't need all this controversy; just let the girl do it."
WCT: That's wild.
Peaches: We had two runs of the show and he showed up for the second and he loved it.
WCT: Awesome!
Peaches: Yeah, it was amazing. Chilly Gonzales is going to be playing all the music on piano so it's all solos done with him there.
WCT: Do you have a lot of costume changes?
Peaches: No, just one for the first half and one for the second half. The first is more innocent and the second is more evil.
WCT: Did you know John Waters is doing a show downtown the same night?
Peaches: He is? That's so heartbreaking. We have done shows together. I would love for him to see this show actually. I bet the shows will start at the same time.
WCT: Yes, around the same time. I saw you at the Metro not too long ago. That was my first Peaches show and the energy was amazing.
Peaches: Thank you.
WCT: Are there any limits to what you will do in concert?
Peaches: It's more of a situational limitation thing. I wouldn't be able to take a crap onstage. Well, maybe if I went to a venue and there was a toilet on the stage I would have to take a crap in it. You know what I mean?
WCT: Yeah.
Peaches: People always think I am nude onstage but I never am. I look nude in some of my outfits and I play with that. I just played somewhere where they passed a law that women couldn't be topless and the police showed up at my show. Every time they turned around I flashed my boobs. So not normally something I do but the situation.
WCT: You just completed your own rock opera, "Peaches Does Herself."
Peaches: Yes, that's right. After all of this I wanted to do my own. It was based on one of my songs. It was a fantastic experience. I had a cast and crew of 40 people. I starred in it and directed it. I did the whole concept and it was really satisfying. I really hope to bring that to America one day.
WCT: I want to see it.
Peaches: To me, it was the Rocky Horror Picture Show of its times or the next level.
WCT: Did you see the Glee episode with Rocky Horror?
Peaches: I did, and that's when we were doing dress rehearsals. I kept saying before that we were the new Rocky Horror and I can't believe Glee is doing this now, ugh!
WCT: Do you like Glee?
Peaches: I have a love/hate relationship with it. I am sickly attached to it. I have seen the episodes and I sing along with everything. Rachel's voice is so annoying and amazing at the same time. She has the perfect musical voice where if you hate everything about musicals you will not be able to stand it but her pitch is amazing. They play on that too. It's pretty bizarre how they play on her Disney-esque presentation.
WCT: Did you see the YouTube video of the Muppets singing your song "Fuck the Pain Away?"
Peaches: Yes, there are about 400 of them. I want to put them all together and make one video where you can see them all at the same time. But I want to project it really big. It's not something that you can just put on Youtube. So I want it on one wall where everyone can see it and be pretty amazed by it.
WCT: Jim Henson will be spinning in his grave!
You still have time to grab tickets for the Dec. 14 show at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee. Visit www.peachesrocks.com for details.
