Gen X-er living in a time machine, high on nostalgia. Flashbacks is the debut album by Peach on a beach, a tribute to growing up in Dartmouth, NS during the 80s. Available on streaming and CD. Check out YouTube videos for "Beeping and Bleeping", "Pizza Corner", "Before Call Display", "Anticipation Street" and "Boogeyman Trail". Released on May 3, “Zooming In" is an electro-pop, over the top tribute to my lifelong passion for maps. Official website: https://www.peachonabeach.ca/
"Beeping and Bleeping” is a hip hop track about my
experience as a young teen playing arcade video games. The lyrics recall
the iconic early 80s games, and the nostalgic vibe of the song naturally led to
making a video, which will be launched on a later date.
"This song is all about how much fun we had growing up in a
simpler era and living in the moment." says Larry Peach. "I’m
excited to share it and see how it connects with people”.
The intended market is Gen Xers who spent countless hours playing arcade
games in the 1980s, a demographic attracted to nostalgia and escapism. “I also
hope the song will resonate with younger audiences who enjoy playing any video
games or hip-hop music.”
And since Hurricane Fiona is crashing the party this weekend, I will delaying the launch of the music video. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of the video. Hope you enjoy!
Hailing from Dartmouth and based in Clare, Nova Scotia, Peach on a beach is Larry Peach. Inspired and influenced by 80s new wave and hip hop, 90s dance and downtempo, Peach on a Beach is recording several singles prior to the release of his upcoming EP called Flashbacks.
Earlier in the year I considered many options that seemed to fit at first glance. But the main goal was to find a unique nom de plume/artist name.
And that's where I hit the wall.
As I was dreaming up a name for this project, I thought of using a derivative of Depeche Mode. For a few weeks I toyed with the idea of some sort of play-on-words with my surname Peach.
In French, a peach is une peche. Working in a French Acadian community for over twenty years, I have been referred to as both La peche or Le peche.
But the problem was finding a unique version that wasn't already in circulation by another music artist on Spotify and other streaming platforms.
The Peach Mode - While initially envious I wasn't the first to claim this one, I have made peace with it. This outfit actually has created some really fab electro tunes!
Le Peche Mode / The Peche Mode - Although seemingly available, these names sounded much too similar to the electronic godfathers.
Alas, this research soon became fantasy as I grappled with a serious issue:
Is it legal to use a similar name as another artist?
After some online research and a brief chat with my lawyer, I decided to bail from any possible future legal headaches.
Apparently, if the other artist has trademarked the name they use, then they have broad rights to prevent you from using any name that could reasonably be seen to cause confusion among consumers. Your name does not have to be an exact match, if it's close enough to cause confusion then you could be in violation of their trademark.
So after this sobering news, it was back to the drawing board and brainstorming alternative artist names.
And soon enough, a litany of new possibilities bubbled to the surface. You would think this exercise would be relatively easy, given that I am a one-person outfit with full creative control.
But the process quickly devolvedinto an exercise of inanity, as these curious samples reveal:
LP. Used by American singer-songwriter Laura Pergolizzi since circa 2006.
Peach! Dang, taken!
Peachman. See above.
Peach Schnapps. Formerly a nickname at uni. But now, too boozy.
Peach Snaps. Too whimsical.
Peach Snapped. Too psychotic.
Peach Jam. Too vile.
DJ Jammy Peach. Yeah, I'm not really a DJ.
Daft Peche. See above, legal issues.
Daft Peach. See above.
Twisted Peach. Getting inane...
Twisted Peach Jam. Gonna stop here.
After having spent some time erasing this random silliness from the whiteboard, I circled back to an obvious choice: Larry Peach.
Sure it's safe, and it's me, and it's legal and all. But I wanted to be at least a little creative...
Following copious amounts of hand-wringing, it turned out my artist name had been staring right at me all along. On my iPhone.
For years, I've logged into my Instagram account under the handle:
peachonabeach
I chose this name when I first signed up for Instagram in late December 2013, to post a photo of a cool snow shower on Mavillette Beach. My first run beach photo would be added a few weeks later.
In fact, the majority of my posts illustrate beach runs, or spending time on a beach, near and far.
You see, the beach has always been a major source of inspiration.
I’ve run on Mavillette Beach a few hundred times: in thick fog, pouring rain, humid heat, and during a light snowfall. And it’s a completely different experience every single time.
But the beach is so much more than just a place I go for runs. It’s therapy.
Emotions soften when I start feeling the flow of an inspiring run on the hard sand.
Along la Baie Sainte-Marie, there’s a special mix of salt, sand, sea, sky and above all, solitude, and space.
All these natural elements come together to a carefully curated playlist to create a symphony of spirituality.
The beach is also my lab: where I contemplate and ruminate over current challenges and where new ideas start to bloom. More recently, thoughts of creating music are part of this experience.
I am so grateful that my favourite beach is located a short and scenic seven-minute drive from home.
***
Peach on a beach's debut single, "Beeping and Bleeping", is a hip hop track about my experience as a young teen in the early 1980s and part of the first generation of kids who enjoyed playing video games in arcades.
The single will be released on Thursday, September 22, while the video will be released on Friday, September 23. Below is a short teaser:
During the fall of 2022, I will be launching Peach on a beach - a new music project that began during the pandemic.
I invite you to join me on a musical journey, where for starters, I will be exploring a world of 80s and 90s nostalgia.
Now in my early 50s, the stability of my career and the
soul-searching journey of the pandemic created the ideal opportunity to
purchase a synthesizer/drum machine and DAW and get serious about making
electronic music.
Inspired and
influenced by 80s new wave and hip hop, 90s dance and downtempo, I have
created 15 original demos since dabbling with making original music over the last year.
In May 2022, I recorded my debut single "Beeping and Bleeping", mastered in a local studio by industry
professional Paul Morris ofThe Music Box.
"Beeping and Bleeping" is a hip hop track about my experience as a young teen partaking in the first generation of kids who
enjoyed playing stand-alone video games in arcades.
The lyrics recall the
iconic early 1980s video games, and the nostalgic vibe of the song naturally
lends itself in making a captivating video.
The single and video will be released in late September. Below is a little teaser:
Since late November, I've been creating several demo tracks on my recently purchased Roland JD-Xi.
I've been also getting familiar with a DAW, short for Digital Audio Workstation, software used to record and edit tracks from instruments like a synth. I am using Reaper for PC.
Thanks to many handy online videos, I've been learning how to record from my Roland.
It's been baptism by fire, having lost partial or entire files by accident.
Reaper's interface is fairly intuitive, yet sometimes seemingly basic functions, like trimming the end of a track, are hidden deep down in a menu. Fun fact: the undo option is always your friend.
But despite a whole lot of trial and error, I have experienced enough fun and progress to keep on experimenting.
I recently signed up to SoundCloud to share a few demos. Below is my first playlist, which includes a few tracks made with my Casio 7600 during my PEI getaway in September. Give them a spin and let me know what you think.
Back in March 2021, to help pass the time during the pandemic, I bought a Casio Workstation 7600 keyboard from Amazon. I love it!!
This isn't my first keyboard. Way back in 1986, my parents gave me a keyboard for Christmas, a decent intro synth with tons of pre-programmed bells and whistles. But I had lacked the discipline to learn, and didn't take any formal music lessons, preferring to tinker around and hack away at the synth lines to "Cry Wolf”. The peak of my musical creativity happened during Mr. Falcone’s English class, when Corey Mock and I hammered out an original song on the keyboard, a ramshackle track called “Shantytown,” which received rave reviews. But soon afterwards, I lent my keyboard to Laird for his new band and never saw it again.
Fast forward to March 2021, some 35 years later.
Since opening up the box, I've played almost every day, even if only for 15 or 20 minutes. Without any formal lessons, I started by playing the synth riffs of some of my favourite 80s songs by following YouTube videos. The first synth riff I learned was the intro to "Thieves Like Us" by New Order, a well-known track from the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. Post-it notes were a huge help during these early days (see video below).
I spent the first few months just jamming synth riffs. Of course it was easier to find You Tube tutorials on the more popular songs. These included:
Axel F
Blue Monday
Head Over Heels
Smalltown Boy
Sunglasses At Night
Take On Me
West End Girls
Then I finally started to experiment with the functionality of the keyboard, exploring the Sequencer and how to create songs by recording tracks (or instruments) as separate layers.
Six months later in September, I carted my keyboard over to an Airbnb in PEI as part of 4-day music retreat. During that time, I wrote lyrics and recorded several original demos. Since then, I have created a few instrumental tracks. The video below is a clip of me warming up by playing a few 80s riffs.
In the near future, I will share some of these creations with you. Who knows, I may be able to churn out an album in 2022 to go with my forthcoming book.
