Black Boy Peaches

Black Boy Peaches: Slasher EP

By Murielle Baker
This Dunedin foursome, formed in 2009, are fast gaining a reputation
as a group of up starters with staying power, and on their new EP
‘Slasher’, they’re not afraid to show it. Opening track Sound Of It
whispers from the mouth of vocalist Hamish Mepham, who lets rip with a
falsetto or two to get things going. Melodic synths course throughout
the EP and over the choruses of I Am Looking Forward and Skyward and
drummer Jackson Rodeka’s feet-to-the-floor style will keep you
stomping along with a sound that’s a little bit The Killers, a little
bit Muse – big comparisons for a young band from the bottom of the
country, but the likenesses are there. ‘Slasher’ captures the spirit
of these Dunedin dwellers and embodies the energy of their live shows,
with a sing-a-long opportunity in This Affliction that slows way down
for the listener, only to have them scurrying to catch up again.
Collateral begins as another slow pop-rock track, but soon enough
Black Boy Peaches get up and going again with more of those Mepham
falsettos and lead guitar licks. With three videos under-wraps from
‘Slasher’ and a full album already in the pipeline, expect big things
from Black Boy Peaches. - NZ Musician

Shane Gilchrist talks to hardworking Dunedin band Black Boy Peaches.
Bottle ambition, pragmatism and a penchant for old-fashioned hard work and you get Dunedin band Black Boy Peaches.

The quartet, comprising brothers Tom (lead guitar, keyboards) and Hamish Mepham (guitar, vocals), Jackson Rodeka (drums) and Adam Murray (bass), have been busy of late, spending winter weekends on mini-tours of Otago and Southland, playing schools, church halls and elsewhere.

Last weekend the band headed to Auckland to hold a party at an inner-city bar to celebrate the release of not one but three video clips, including Slasher, the title track of their recent, independently released EP.

Tonight, the band is holding another video release, this time at Dunedin's Regent Theatre.

At the party it will also showcase new tracks from its forthcoming debut album, due to be released in mid-November.

Despite completing three videos, an EP and (nearly) an album within 18 months of forming, this is a band that knows success - if it comes - could take a long time.

"We have got long-term scope on it," Hamish Mepham explains.

"I reckon success comes in decades. If you are not willing to put decades into something then you just have to change jobs.

"You have to be patient and work hard to get here.

"I think a lot of bands don't understand that - they think someone else will work hard for them."

"That commitment extends to the band members putting up their own money to fund projects, including booking the Regent Theatre and hiring an extensive lighting rig for tonight's gig.

"It does take a bit of money up front but you have to believe in what you are doing, especially when you are doing big things like this.

"We paid the money in the belief we can pull off the gig.

"We pay what we can," Mepham says.

"Some can afford more than others but we just keep track of what we've paid so when we do start making a bit more money, we'll be able to get it back.

"The money we do earn pretty much goes straight back into expenses.

"We believe in our cause," he laughs.

"We apply for funding all the time, from NZ On Air, but when it fails we just fund it ourselves.

"We don't want to be 'made' by anyone else.

"We want to be self-made, even if it takes all the excess pennies we have to make that happen."

Mepham is the principal songwriter for Black Boy Peaches; he pens the chords and words, which then require the input of the other band members.

On the evidence of the six-track Slasher, recorded by Dunedin producer Dale Cotton, this musical muscle is both well-honed and energetic, the group working its way through a cohesive set of songs, from the moody I Am Looking Forward, which features elements of The Killers' theatrical synth-rock, to the brooding title track.

"I almost churn out too many songs," Mepham says.

"I've already written half of another album. But it takes a bit of filtering.

"As much as you can sit down and write a song, there has got to be something in it before you can call it good.

"If you churn out as many as you can, you get a better strike rate. Everyone writes [bad] songs. You just have to know which ones they are.

"A song has to have a feel for it to work. It can't just have a cool guitar lick; it's got to have something that creates a mood."

See them
Black Boy Peaches' video-release party for the song Slasher is at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, tonight at 8pm. The band is supported by Outright and Settler. - Otago Daily Times