The Teaches of Peaches Pull No Punches at Union Transfer

The Teaches of Peaches are pretty simple. Basically, the rules are: “Be nice” and “Stop policing our bodies and what we do with them.” Likewise, there’s no pulling punches in Peaches’ lyrics. In “I Mean Something,” the Canadian pop giant and queer dance music activist/icon sings: 

“No matter how old, how young, how sick
I mean something, I mean something
No matter how old, how f*cked, how sh*t
I mean something, I mean something” 

Much of her music exists at the intersection of aging and being a person who wants and is wanted. She forces us to reconcile with our definition of sexual pleasure, and who gets to decide what is and what isn’t palatable enough to talk about. 

Halfway through her set at Union Transfer, Peaches took to the crowd — not so much in it as on top of it. In her platform sneakers, she told us that she wanted us to hold out our hands and let her walk on top of them. It was very Jesus walking on water, if Jesus was a pop superstar having fun on a Sunday night in Callowhill. She sang, walked, and rolled her way to the B-Stage at the soundbooth where she played “Not In Your Mouth None of Your Business.” Lit up by only her dancer’s headlights, she sang:

“I cannot be squashed or minimized
You will never take away our pride
Orders won’t make us lie down and die 
We will stop you f*cking up our lives
Not in your mouth none of your business.” 

This song of resistance, and persistence, in the face of systemic bigotry and oppression was released this year on — and is emblematic of — her newest release, No Lube So Rude. It seems obviously inspired by the steps backwards our legislative bodies keep insisting on trying to take. When we keep waking up to rights being rolled back, Peaches is begging us to ask where the buck stops on policing queerness, and why bother doing it at all.

To see someone onstage with a distinct personal style, whose costuming laughs in the face of classical beauty standards, is inspiring. During “Flip This,” she wore bodysuits that said “Trans Rights Now” and “Be Nice F*ck ICE,” as she sang: “Scream it out and feel the rumble / F*ck the system, make it crumble,” reminding us that liberation for one group must come with liberation for everyone. 

Opener Model/Actriz was the perfect appetizer for this absolutely bonkers night. The Boston-formed, Brooklyn-based four-piece’s sound comes off like a queerer Nine Inch Nails. It’s dark, clubby, danceable, and bass heavy. Vocalist Cole Haden came out in an epic gown and gloves before spending half of the set in the crowd singing with the audience. Both acts turned the Union Transfer space all around, making the crowd not only part of the performance but part of a community.