Reflect on their Vancouver scenester days
Peach Pit
Since forming in 2016, the Vancouver four-piece have gone from indie upstarts to one of the city’s biggest pop-rock exports: they’ve signed to Columbia Records, earn millions of monthly listeners on Spotify, and have a sprawling international tour booked for the spring. All good things, but it means that they’ve lost touch with the scene from which they emerged.
“Those early days of playing DIY shows in Vancouver — I didn’t realize it at the time, but they were the best times,” Peach Pit singerguitarist Neil Smith reflects. “And [now] we’re a little bit out of touch, which is kind of more sad than anything.”
Speaking with Exclaim!, Smith reminisces about seeing Jay Arner, Cult Babies and Gal Gracen at the Astoria, shouts out his friends in bands like Babe Corner and Bratboy, and extols the talents of art-folk songwriter Sam Tudor and funky soul group Schwey. He’s clearly still fond of Vancouver’s indie scene, even if Peach Pit’s reach now extends far beyond the city limits.
Peach Pit’s first breakthrough came in 2016, when the band walked into the city’s Neptoon Records. Tim Clapp, owner of the local label Kingfisher Bluez, was working behind the counter, and Peach Pit invited him to their show at the Biltmore Cabaret that night. Much to their surprise, he showed up and was suitably impressed by their jangling guitars and sharp pop melodies. After the show, they played him some of their early recordings.
“We very awkwardly stood around my iPhone and listened with our ears up against the speaker to ‘Sweet FA,’ which is one of the first songs we ever recorded,” Smith remembers. “And he really just listened to our song. I didn’t know Tim at the time, but that’s just the kind of guy he is — he’s really going to give you the time.”
Clapp tells Exclaim! he remembers the moment “very clearly,” recalling, “I could immediately tell it was fantastic. I agreed to do their records right then. Sometimes you just know!”
Clapp’s instincts were spot on. In the years since, Peach Pit have honed their hook-writing skills without losing their cheeky, lackadaisical charm. Their third album, From 2 to 3 — out March 4 — is another concise collection of crystalline guitar pop, full of Smith’s tragicomic wit, Christopher Vanderkooy’s wobbly guitar leads, and the sturdy rhythms of drummer Mikey Pascuzzi and bassist Peter Wilton.
Peach Pit aren’t following a traditional playbook for success — which explains why, back in December 2021, they showed up as surprise guests for the charity Christmas show hosted by Kingfisher Bluez, their former label. They played for free, helping the label raise over $11,000 for Crisis Centre of BC’s 1-800-SUICIDE helpline.
Says Clapp, “The fact that they still rep Kingfisher Bluez and play the Christmas show every year means so much to me. When young bands play and see Peach Pit still playing for free year after year, it instils that same ethos in the next generation.”