WHO IS THIS ORVILLE PECK?
Masked alt-country singer keeps people guessing about his identity
Orville Peck is a mysterious new artist on the alt-country scene with an incredible, multi-octave voice and heart-tugging songs about the men he’s loved. A little match-the-tattoo sleuthing by fans indicates Peck is likely the alter ego of Daniel Pitout, the drummer for the Vancouver grunge-punk trio Nu Sensae, but there was no breaking out of character for this interview, which was edited for length. Whoever he is, the cowboy crooner spoke of his background in theatre, his love of classic country music and the power of the mask to connect with audiences. His debut album, Pony, came out earlier this year; a North American tour recently started in the nation’s capital.
Q Who is Orville Peck?
A As far as I know, I’m Orville Peck and I’m a country star. If anybody knows anything other than that, I’m not aware of it. That’s just how I see it.
Q The mask is an intriguing aspect of your persona. When did that start?
A I just woke up one day and it was on my face, and I can’t get it off right now.
Q Do you have a theatre background?
A Yeah, I worked in theatre, as an actor professionally for a long time on the West End in London. Before that, I worked as a professional dancer. I pretty much only ever worked in the creative sphere. But I don’t think of those things as separate to what I do now. For a long time I used to compartmentalize myself as a musician and actor and dancer and singer. I would do them all professionally but separately and so I think this project is me combining all of those things that make me an artist, and this is the expression it comes out in.
Q When did you write the songs on Pony?
A These songs are all very personal to me. They’re all stories from my past or things I still deal with. People I’ve met, places I’ve been, that kind of thing. One of the songs, Turn to Hate, I started writing lyrics six years ago without really knowing what I was going to do with them or how it would end up. Big Sky is about past relationships, and the subject matter spans about a decade of my life. It’s a very personal piece that jumps around my past, and even at times, my childhood. And also some of the songwriting is about stuff I’m still going through.
Q You’re not shy about writing about same-sex relationships. Did that give you any cause for apprehension in country music?
A Not really, I think, because I grew up such a country fan. And I grew up, luckily, in a family that was very nurturing and accepting. My sexuality never really came up as an issue in my environment growing up, at least not in my immediate family. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized there wasn’t much visibility for someone like me within those songs.
Q How has the reaction been so far?
A I get a lot of messages from gay and queer people saying they love country music, and there’s so few voices in country that sing about people like me. I think that’s really special because even though I came from a very accepting family, I definitely felt that through my teenage years. That’s probably why I played in punk bands because I think I had a lot of aggression to take out.
Q You got the attention of an influential label — Sub Pop Records — early on, by booking a few shows and inviting labels. That’s not usually the way it works, right?
A It was kinda funny because essentially I did things backwards from how I’d ever done them before with previous bands. In previous projects, I’d toured for a long time, and got the attention of labels that way, and this time I just kind of did it the wrong way around. Everything was kind of finished before playing live. I booked shows in Toronto, Montreal and New York and then I hastily put together a band of incredible people, who are all still with me now, from the Toronto band Frigs. We practised non-stop for about a month, and went and played those first three shows.
Q What was your thinking with that strategy?
A There’s a huge live aspect to what I do. What I try to do is a classic country show. It’s very theatrical, there’s drama and outfits. But for the labels, I really wanted the focus to be on this collection of stories that I made into this album. I really tried to get people to listen to the songs first.
Q And now you’re about to embark on a big tour with the band. How are you feeling about that?
A I’m going to be visiting a lot of places I’ve been to personally before but I haven’t been back to in many years. And many of these places are cities that my songs are about, or things in my stories that have actually taken place in El Paso or Austin or Chicago. So to me, it’s so exciting to actually be able to go back to these places where I have so many memories and sing about those memories to people in those cities. It’s really kind of an overwhelming thing. I’m very excited about it.