Peach Pit is what every indie pop band dreams of being: a success story. Their humble beginnings in 2016, based in Vancouver, were met with a burst of viral success with their debut record, Being So Normal, in 2017. With the wind in their sails, the members did the only logical thing: quit their jobs, pack their bags, and go on tour.
The spoils of fame didn’t roll in overnight. Singer-guitarist Neil Smith reminisced about concluding their first tour and sleeping at his grandma’s house.
“We were young enough that the expectation upon us to support other people or even support ourselves was pretty low,” Smith said in an interview with The Beacon. “We started touring in our early twenties, so you can kind of be a bit of a dirtbag at that time and not have a lot of expectations on what kind of way you’re going to live.”
Graduating from “dirtbags” to adults, Peach Pit has played countless shows and is currently hitting the road with Briston Maroney on the Long Hair, Long Life Tour, stopping at MGM Music Hall on June 24.
Peach Pit hasn’t lost their humble roots while playing with Maroney. Smith, and lead guitarist Christopher Vanderkooy, marveled at Maroney’s talented vocals, musicianship, and ability to entertain the crowd.
“We always joke with him after the show,” said Vanderkooy, “Maybe the crowd’s a little bit tired after Briston because he’s just got them whipped up into this frenzy, we always go up to him afterwards and are like, ‘dude, you did it again, You drained their essence, man. Why’d you have to do that?’”
“Playing after somebody who you look up to and think is an amazing performer is a good practice to get into because you have to be on your A game every night,” Vanderkooy continued. “Otherwise, it’s glaringly obvious that you weren’t as good as the person before you.”
Their shows around the world and this recent tour show the size the little indie band from Vancouver has grown to, but to Smith and the band, it’s never felt like a leap to stardom, but rather, a steady climb.
“It’s funny because to us, I think it has felt so gradual that like, we haven’t noticed it be this stark difference in our lives,” Vanderkooy said. “It’s just kind of gone up and up and up, every once in a while we look down from this mountain we’ve climbed up with on our career and we’re super grateful for it.”
No matter where Peach Pit plays or how big they become, Vanderkooy feels like their fanbase is always just coming together in one place for a big hangout.
“There’s a bonding element to the music that we felt just because we’ve been playing together for so long, but also just like seeing this type of microculture that comes out to our shows,” said Vanderkooy. “It’s always a very warm and friendly crowd. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing in Atlanta, or if we’re playing in LA, or if we’re playing in Madrid, the Peach Pit community is always very similar.”
That community is why Peach Pit is grateful to look down the mountain they’ve climbed and see their dedicated fans in every corner of the world, including Boston.
“There are lots of small moments that happen along the way where you kind of pinch yourself,” Smith said. “Boston’s always been such a great city for us to go and play, people really show up to our shows and they go super crazy. I know after the Boston show, we’ll definitely feel excited for where we’re at and how lucky we are.”
