Peach Blush is a band from Little Rock, Arkansas. I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with them on the most recent Stud Count tour, and I was incredibly into what I saw. A grab bag of grunge, punk, and '90s Sub Pop a la Seaweed; something for everyone.
The group recently released their debut EP, Disqko, solidifying them as a band you simply must keep your eye on.
I spoke with vocalist/guitarist Ted Gilliam to find out more.
It’s hard to place your sound in just one category. What are your biggest influences as a band?
There’s quite a few that bring it all together. I would say Bad Brains, Seaweed, JFA, Nirvana, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth. It’s definitely a mixed bag!
When did you form, and how did it all come together?
In 2016, three buddies here in Little Rock started jamming and cut the Peach Blush demo. I had some bad health problems, plus our drummer moved out of state, so we put Peach Blush on the shelf and pursued other ventures while I got better.
Luckily, I healed up and in the summer of 2019, our friend Eric started jamming with us on drums. We got the Disqko EP recorded and have been pushing hard ever since!
Whether it’s tours, labels, etc., I find people tend to skip over smaller middle American cities like Little Rock. Have you found this to be true, and if so, has it had an effect on you and your scene?
This is an important observation and discussed here quite a bit. I would say in the years leading up to pandemic, we saw Little Rock skipped over a lot more than we would like to. On paper, I get it. Little Rock, Arkansas... Why would anyone want to stop here? Why would anyone want to play in any of these smaller middle American cities?
Was Henry Rollins right when he said, “There is very little rock in Little Rock"? Well, you’d be surprised! The notion that we have less to offer honestly just makes the locals grind even harder.
The smaller cities need love too. No matter the genre, we have a lot to offer here and I think of Little Rock as kind of a well-kept secret, found out when bands come through for the first time as they feel the energy and see the turnout. Lately, it seems we’ve pushed out of that generalization quite a bit, as I can’t remember a time we were getting as much traffic here with touring bands.
What bands did you all play in before?
I played in Headcold, Terminal Nation, and a fun Fugazi/Dag Nasty worship band named Mean Ends. Our bassist, Arizona, played in Bad Boyfriends, as well as a heavier punk band known as Junkbomb. Eric was rocking with I Was Afraid and a couple emo bands called Vacant Sea and O' Cathy.
Tell me about the scene in Little Rock.
It’s wild here. Lots of scenes bleed into each other, with a lot of us playing in multiple bands, spread across multiple scenes and genres. We have local shows selling out our usual venues, and lots of communal events with artists being involved and coming together to raise money and awareness for inclusive causes.
We have some type of badass underground show almost every night, which leaves us running around attending multiple events or having to make the tough decision as to which to attend. For as long as I’ve been going to shows here, this feels like this is the best it’s been.
What are some local bands you’d recommend?
Zilla, Benadriil, LAP, Colour Design, MoonMane, Second Life, The Phlegms from Northwest Arkansas. It’s hard to choose just a few.
There seems to be an uptick in the world of hardcore adjacent music. What are some bands you like from that pool, and some you’d like to share the stage with?
That’s a tough one, but I love Militarie Gun and Fiddlehead and would really be into playing with them. I think Narrow Head loosely falls into the category, as they’re another favorite and one we’d love to play with as well. Spice and Soul Blind would be sick too.
Last words are yours.
2022 is not over for Peach Blush! Keep an eye out for more tracks in the next few months and hopefully more out of state dates. We’d love to come play your living room, venue, whatever...
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Peach Blush on social media: Instagram | Bandcamp
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