Peach Rings - Sound In The Signals Interview
 |
| Photo By: Max Trumpower |
I recently had the opportunity to interview Peach Rings. We discussed writing new single “1983 Lisa”, lyrical inspiration, favorite lyrical and musical moments from the song, collaborating with Tape Girl and Kmoy, plans for the upcoming album, opening for Oolong, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Thank you so much for interviewing me!! I’m super honored and grateful you want to talk about my music!
You recently released your song “1983 Lisa”. Can you tell me about writing the song and about your lyrical inspiration?
So 1983 Lisa was written in 2020, and it’s one of the first songs I wrote after my debut EP home alone six. I was in a bit of a rut with lyric ideas so I thought I would try to give myself a prompt to write from. After some brainstorming I settled on writing a unrequited love song about the Apple Lisa II computer from 1983, but I wrote it as if the computer was a rich and popular girl in a romcom/coming of age movie.
From there I crafted a story, but I think that even though the song was born from a fictional concept, my own feelings wound up in it too. The story became a way to express sentiments of gender dysphoria, being made to feel like you’re not enough of a “real girl” for someone, and experiencing emotional neglect from a friend or partner. Those are pretty heavy sentiments, but I feel like the silliness of a computer girl balances it out, making the song both enjoyable as a pop song and as an emotional outlet for the listener.
Do you have a favorite lyrical or musical moment from the song? Why?
Lyric wise, I’m really proud of the whole second verse, but if I had to highlight a specific line it’d probably be “we could grab some food, or just ride the escalators,” from the first verse. It’s such a simple throwaway line but it’s a reference to my own life. When I was in high school my friends and I would sometimes go to the mall, and being broke 16 year olds we would ride the escalators over and over, and just hang out and talk in the food court. When I was writing Lisa I was looking for ideas that reminded me of 80’s teen movies, like John Hughes stuff or even Kevin Smith’s Mallrats from the 90’s, and I felt like that anecdote really captured that.
Musically, my favorite part is probably the breakdown after the first chorus. I’ve always been a fan of heavy music, and I wanted to nod to the hardcore and metalcore music I loved growing up and I think it came out really cool! I’m hoping people mosh to it at shows.
What’s your favorite part of writing songs? What can be the most challenging aspect of writing?
My favorite part of writing songs is probably like the initial writing period when its just me and my guitar sounding out a song. The satisfaction of finally figuring out a chord change or a powerful line is really rewarding. The most challenging part, at least for me, is the actual recording process. I used to record all my music on my phone with the Garageband app, and it’s super simple, but also tends to give lofi results. For this upcoming album I record in my bedroom on my laptop, and while I have certainly improved as I get further into the process, I am not the most well versed in digital audio workfaces, but kenny and beth help me a ton!
Beth Rivera (Tape Girl) and Kmoy worked on the song. What was it like working with them?
Beth and Kenny (Kmoy accent on the MOY) are two of my best friends in the world and I mean every word when I say that peach rings is nothing without them. They are both such talented musicians, like literal geniuses, and I feel so grateful to get to work with them. Kenny programmed the drums on the track and also he played acoustic guitar and organ on it. It’s the kind of the thing I would have never thought of, but the acoustic guitar and organ beefed up the song so much and made it so much better. He also helped me write the harmony vocal parts, especially the ones in the first verse, and his ideas really pushed me to be more creative with harmony.
And then Beth is just magical! She played bass and produced/mastered the track and she blew my mind because I never imagined my own song could sound this good. Her bassline is super melodic and really accents my guitar playing and vocals, in a way that I just couldn’t have done on my own. On the production end she took the song from feeling like a demo in a garage to feeling like a big studio production. They both worked so hard on this, taking time away from their own projects to make 1983 Lisa and I’m so so lucky to work with them. STREAM TAPE GIRL AND KMOY!
Did they work on more songs for your upcoming album and/or do you have any other guests that you were excited to work with on it?
Beth and Kenny are involved with every song on the record! It’s been so fun to work with them and I can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve made. There are no crazy features planned for the album as of now, but I do want to get lots of my music friends involved, whether it’s via gang vocals or some other way.
What can you tell us about the album so far?
I don’t wanna tease too much, but it’s gonna feature fleshed out rerecorded versions of my songs heart-shaped craters and transgenderification beam! The record isn’t a concept album, but it does have lots of recurring themes and motifs, and I think it’ll be really cool as a cohesive set of songs. It’s still a ways a way, we are shooting for a later 2023 release, but I think it will be worth the wait.
You have an upcoming show with Oolong. What can people expect from the live show?
I’m super excited for this! It’s the first time I’m playing a show, and I get to open for Oolong, one of my favorite bands in the scene. My set is going to be a solo one, but that doesn’t mean acoustic! I have a whole backing track thing set up so I can play electric (think early Jeff Rosenstock, or weatherday). I’m gonna be playing 1983 Lisa, as well as some of my hits, but I’m also gonna be trying out a new song so I really hope people like it. Come out to Lily’s Snack Bar in Boone, NC on 12/29 to catch peach rings (me), Oolong, Elephant Jake, and Stand and Wave!
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you so much for interviewing me, I’ve never done an interview like this before so this has been super fun! Thank you to everyone who has supported me and my music so far, it means so much to me, I feel so incredibly lucky! STREAM 1983 LISA BY PEACH RINGS!!! oh yeah and…
i’ll look out for you <3
Follow Peach Rings:
Follow Sound In The Signals:
No comments: