PEACH - PeachMusic.com - PEACH: Interviewed by Brian Lush

PEACH - Welcome to Peach.us and PeachMusic.com

"Peach has developed a reputation in Southern California as one of the most entertaining blues singers and guitarists." - JAZZIZ Magazine

"Peach is a fast-rising force in the Los Angeles music scene." -International Musician

Read more Reviews of PEACH

PEACH: Interviewed by Brian Lush - Rockwired Magazine

APR 2016 - Blues mama PEACH REASONER picked an interesting time to be away from the United States...

Rockwired Magazine
APR 2016
by Brian Lush

Blues mama PEACH REASONER picked an interesting time to be away from the Unites States. While most of us are consumer by news of a rather contentious and largely TRUMP dominated election year, Ms. REASONER has been spending time in the country of Denmark playing to packed clubs, taking in the sights and sitting down with a sound engineer and getting the right mix for an upcoming live album. We first became acquainted with the woman known professionally as PEACH back in 2006 with the release of her studio album aptly title THE REAL THING which went on to win a LOS ANGELES MUSIC AWARD for BLUES ARTIST OF THE YEAR. While she proved what she could do in a studio setting, PEACH is learning that she has a tremendous gift for live performance and capturing that energy onto a recording is her main concern at the moment along with writing some fresh new material that rides the fine line between blues and R&B. ROCKWIRED got the chance to get reacquainted with PEACH over the phone at 3 a.m. Denmark time. Here's how the interview went.

So it's 3 am in Copenhagen at the moment.

Yeah but I'm in Denmark. I've just spent three nights in Copenhagen but now I'm out in the country at the guitar player MICHAEL's house. He's a sound engineer and we're mixing a live CD of these performances that we’ve been doing. So a live CD is going to be coming out very soon.

Weren't you in Denmark the last time I talked with you or were you just talking about it?

The last time we spoke I was definitely in the U.S. and I wanted to get over here and hadn't done it yet. It took me quite a long time before I got to the point where I had networked myself in. It just took a really long time but I finally did and things are really cool. I did bring here KEN STANGE who has played with me for many many years and was on a couple of my videos. He1s toured over here with JOE COCKER quite a bit. KENNY is with me and he has been having a blast. It's been super fun.

And describe the audience reaction to your music. How is it different form over here?

This is just what I've observed. In Copenhagen people go out. People of all ages. They go out all the time. They support artists and bands and they'll stay the whole night. They'll show up early and get good seats and stay for like two or three sets. I've been able to pull audiences. It was totally packed out and it's super fun. I speak in English because everyone over here speaks English. When I talk to the audience in English 99% of the people will understand me so it's not a problem.

How long have you been out there now?

I came over here last summer and spent three months touring around last summer. I would do various shows. I worked earlier in the year in May with a different band and then this other band kind of got into what I was doing and asked me if I was willing to come back and I was like "Yeah!" They booked a bunch of gigs and I came back. That was what happened. I got a booking agent over here named KELD CHRISTIANSEN and we decided that it would be a good idea if I made a live CD to give to the agency and that's why I'm here now in the middle of winter. I came back over in the middle of winter to make this thing so they would have it for the spring an then they're booking shows for the summer. So I'll be back then.

Of the performances of the songs that have been recorded so far what performance has you the most excited to get people to hear?

Some of the songs that I wrote and a couple of the songs that I didn't write. We did the songs AIN'T GOT NO MONEY by FRANKIE MILLER and we did a song that I wrote with KEB’ MO'. There is a video for it floating around out on the internet called IT MEANT NOTHING but I've never had what I considered a live hot performance of that song. We ran video on one of the nights so we'll probably have that performance on video a well. We also did another song that I wrote which has never been released called TELL ME YOU LOVE ME and I like it very much. It's a ballad and then we did a version of an old R&B tune called LOVE-ITIS and we just kind of rocked the house with that one. I'm doing a variety of stuff.

How is this change of scenery affecting your songwriting?

The thing is I can draw audiences here. That generates gigs and it generates bookings and that generates a following. I'm just finding that to be really interesting. I went down to this club on Friday night and I was a little worried because I had only one person on the guest list and I was wondering how this was going to go. So I get there and the guy taking money at the door pulls me aside and says he needs to talk to me. I was thinking "Uh-oh! This is going to be terrible!" He told me that they sold a bunch of tickets on the internet and the place was already full. Knowing and seeing that was so crazy to me. It was a good crazy. To me the live thing is really a tough challenge. There is not turning back from it. It's like "There it is!" I could go into the studio and play it better and sing it better but there is something about where I'm at now that is more real for me. I just want the music to be real and I've got a take no prisoners band.

What do you attribute this positive reaction to?

Maybe it's because I told the audience the other night at running this band was like having four husbands. I don't know. I think people here really like the music. I think the people here really love the blues. They still have a very positive view of an American audience. In other words they like Americans and they like this style of music. I think the style of music that I'm doing is accessible. It's a combination of things and I've been so thrilled to see some younger women in the audiences and they all come up and talk to me. Some of them are musicians and a lot of them haven’t been rock-n-roll guitar girls. One of the women that I met the other night was a cellist from Iceland. They're really thrilled to see a woman like myself throwing it down hard and play an instrument. That encourages me and I'm happy for them to be a part of that. I can't explain it any better than that. I have a real soft spot for women who come up through the ranks. I would really love to see more women out there. It's been really fun.

You've picked an interesting time to be away from the U.S. with this crazy election year we've started.

It's been a delight because I'm a news junky So when I get over here I go off grid and that's kind of nice for me. If I were home I could take a break from it and not watch television but I can't seem to do it when I'm at home. I'm kind of obsessed with watching it. It is such an interesting election this year but it's been nice for me to get over here and get with all of my music friends here and be immersed in music and art and talk about songs and bands and that kind of thing. It's super fun for me.

When do you foresee the release of this live CD?

I believe it will be out in about thirty days. It'll be accessible through my website PEACH.US but it will be available in hard copy mostly here in Europe. I mean if someone were to write me at my website and wanted a hard copy I could dig one up for them. We're planning to tour in the summer through Germany and Sweden and Norway and Denmark.

-----
Source: http://rockwired.com/rockwiredmagazine48/april2016.html

-----
Alternate/Archived Versions

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]