Paige Wood and Steven Dies
With Song River
If there ever was the perfect blend of moxie, chemistry and radiancy The Peach Kings certainly have sanctified it. The crowned rock noir duo, Paige Wood and Steve Dies have an undeniably fresh turn in the season of ripe picked rock n roll. Having caught the attention of actress Drew Barrymore (Click to see V Mag here) and wrapping up their tour with Cyndi Lauper, The Peach Kings are now out headlining their own tour, Night Sweat, as they make their way across the stages.
Betwixt
their magical ability to write and create love in a rock n roll mood
and the setting of Paige Wood's vocal prowess is mind-boggling.
Together with Steve Dies this sultry sexy sound is a head turning,
hip churning, rotation of grit and sass! Catch them together out on
tour as they spin from their two albums, Handsome Moves and Mojo
Thunder, maybe even giving us a little something new as a teaser? You
will have to come to a show to find out!
Paige Wood: Hi! We are doing great. Gearing up for getting back on the road for 8 weeks.
Steven Dies: Working on decompressing at the moment, which is really just re-compressing for the next run. (laughed)
SR:
The first thing out of the box I noticed in your video “Thieves and
Kings” is that you two have a definite sense of humor.
PW:
Yes, a bit of humor goes a long way in our book.
SD:
You should see our video for "Fisherman." Also, people who
take themselves too seriously often come off as phony. Smile, people!
SR:
Rock Noir, can you explain?
SD:
Someone said that about our sound and we liked the image it brought
to mind. Stark, lo-fi, mysterious, cinematic. Everything cool about
film noir applied to rock n roll.
SR:
It is moody music you create? I hear some early influences of
the Pixies and Portishead. How much do the influences
of 40's blues and jazz come into play in your work?
PW:
A lot actually! I grew up singing jazz and playing jazz music on the
piano and Steven also grew up listening to blues albums in his house.
All styles that we grew up on and learned helped shape our sound.
SD:
Shout out to minor pentatonic!
SR:
Your stage chemistry melts the room. Describe what takes place
between you.
PW:
Well, that's pretty intimate (laughed) so we can't give you all the
detail but I can tell you that performing and sharing the stage with
another musician is always a special connection and can
be different every time… sharing the stage with someone you
love is pretty cool and sharing the stage with Steven is everything.
SD:
As Paige says, we just try to "get it up."
SR:
Is it only possible to relay your intimacy through your music?
The animalistic fervor exudes and seduces through your
music, then add in the visuals and orgasmic sweats?
SW:
It's probably the most immediate representation of our "intimacy"
because music does away with the social aspect of getting to know
someone. On the other hand, we're writing songs, a lot of which are
exaggerated and even flat out fiction; so you may
think you know us by reading our lyrics, but you'd be wrong.
SR:
You could say there is the music side and then there
is the private side?
SW:
Yes, we're pretty private people actually.
SR:
“Tengo Miedo” gave me goosebumps. Where did the story elements
come from lyrically?
PW:
We both love spy novels and mystery thrillers. I've also always loved
James Bond theme songs and that love definitely inspired some of
these lyrics.
SD:
I can only take credit for the Spanish lyrics everything else was
Paige, 100%.
SR:
Steven who have been some your guitar influences?
SD:
Tom Morello, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi,
John Frusciante, Wes Montgomery.
SR:
Do you favor one guitar in particular over another?
SD:
Every guitar has its time and I go through phases with each. I really
love the growl of my SG, and it's nice and light so I can thrash it
around on stage. Certain guitars I could never play live because they
are so finicky and will never stay in tune, but when I'm at home just
messing around or writing, they are my go-to pickers because they
have the good mojo. The tasty "song juice." Like this
no-name Japanese guitar, I picked off craigslist; things got a
baseball bat-like neck and intonation from hell, but that thing has
written some really cool licks.
SR:
When writing as a joint effort, what is your process? Is it always
together or do you each have your own alone time to work on parts?
SD:
There's no formula really. Sometimes we'll sit together and write a
song from start to finish 100% collaboration. Other times we'll write
parts for each other and bring them to the table, and still, other
times will write an element and that element will dictate where the
rest of the song goes as we have time to digest it on our own.
SR:
In early January 2016 you had set out during your tour to have
meet-ups at coffee and tea shops with fans. Such a great idea! How
did you go about putting it into place and would you consider doing
it again?
PW:
We were more interested in making the tour bigger yet more intimate
than just playing shows. We also wanted to meet fans and this seems
like the right vehicle to do that considering coffee is an essential
staple on the road.
SD:
We quickly learned that any thought of planning to be at a
certain place at a certain time was extremely difficult with the
unpredictable nature of touring so doing this exact thing again might
not happen, but we're working on something similar for this upcoming
tour.
SR:
In the song “Sweet Like You” Paige you bring together love and
baking. Your songs really go to the heart of a relationship, don't
they?
SD:
There's something about the line "baking cookies through the
night / fold away all the pain.." that really stood out to us
when writing this. While cookie baking is usually associated with
warm and fuzzy feelings, there's a way it can become something
darker, like an obsessive thing that someone can do to avoid facing
something painful. Or even the idea that someone may be baking
cookies for someone who will never come home. A sort of denial or
delusion fueled by love.
PW:
As a southern lady I know that the way to a person's heart is through
their stomach.
SR:
Lovers, if they will listen, don't need to pay a therapist...they
just need to spin The Peach Kings music.
SD:
When we write love songs, we don't pretend that love is so black and
white, like all kissy or all misery.
SR:
Love is complicated, yet layered isn't it?
SD:
It's got so many overlapping emotions where you can simultaneously be
pissed off and proud of someone, or want your lover to leave you
alone, but never actually leave you. If you understand that and
embrace that as normal, you're in good shape.
SR:
Paige who are some of your vocal influences?
PW:
My influences range all the way from Joni Mitchell to Tom Waits. You
may not hear or recognize a lot of my influences in my voice but they
are part of my identity as an artist for sure. Here are a few more throwaways, like Aretha Franklin, Robert Plant, Francoise Hardy, PJ
Harvey.
SR:
You validate through your voice those you've just mentioned. It is
truly vintage, timeless, and classic... is this who you are at your
core?
PW:
Thank you so much. My closest friends tell me they think I'm from
another time. I've always been in love with things that have a rich
history and a story behind them. Which explains my love of vintage
objects, like furniture and fabric. I'm a very visual person, so
surrounding myself with old curiosities always helps me get into the
mood when approaching a new story or character that Steven and I are
developing in a song or album. My environment is definitely part
of my writing process.
SR:
You have finished your tour with Cyndi Lauper. How was that overall
experience?
PW:
We wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The fact that I got
to sing on stage with one of my Idols is something that all remember
for the rest of my life. Plus, she's cool as hell.
SR:
Now you are back out on the road headlining through the end of
August. What then? And when can we get some Peach Kings on vinyl...
you are the crack that grooves dream of.
SD:
Our album, Handsome Moves has been available on vinyl since
2012, but on this last run of shows we sold out of our last ones.
Another run is in the works, but this time, we plan on doing
something a little more limited, perhaps colored vinyl with some hand
screen printed sleeves...
PW:
New music. Loads of new music on the way!
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