“This is just so incredible. I can’t believe we’re playing at The Greek! This is insane.”
Neil Smith, lead singer of the band Peach Pit, looked out into the crowd in amazement at the start of their show at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The band is made up of Smith, lead guitarist Christopher Vanderkooy, bassist Peter Wilton, and drummer Mikey Pascuzzi. They describe their music as “chewed bubblegum pop,” and are also known for infusing their pop songs with indie and surf rock influences.
The band started off the night with the Black Sabbath cover “War Pigs,” along with fan favorites “Drop the Guillotine,” and “Psychics in L.A.” Smith would throw his head in circles, as his long hair spun around in front of him as he played rhythm on an electric guitar, as the band played together in sync. Smith then switched to an acoustic guitar for “Black Licorice,” which he later used as he moved into “Did You Love Somebody,” which was played in a more stripped back style. The pacing of the show was balanced, with the energy becoming small and intimate during acoustic moments, and feeling larger than life with upbeat numbers.
One upbeat highlight was their hit (and my personal favorite) “Alrighty Aphrodite,” a beautiful song soaked in rich imagery with lines like “Run your mornin’ bath in sea foam/Soak your milky skin in the tide/Little pearl, you think you’re in gold/But I can see the dirt in your lines/If I’d known you sold on maybe/I’d’ve let you waste another guy/Well, alrighty, Aphrodite/go whip that red for other eyes.” Smith, for the first time of the night, used just the microphone and sang. He did a funky dance along to the tune, mimicking surfing, and grinned widely at the crowd. Another highlight of the night was when the band played “Shampoo Bottles,” as Smith encouraged people to wave their hands along to the song, and the crowd participated gleefully.
Then, during the pause before the encore, the audience yelled “Peach Pit” repeatedly, growing louder and louder. When they finally came out, it was just Smith at first. He asked if it was okay if he played a song alone for everyone.
Smith then told an incredibly sweet and touching story about how the band formed when he asked Vanderkooy if he wanted to start a band in high school. He told the story at the end of the show, before introducing the song “Peach Pit,” saying “I had my guitar with me, and I had written one song at the time. And this is the song I played for Chris. … I kept bumping into Chris … specifically all the spots where you smoke weed at night time.” The audience laughed and cheered. “I wanted to maybe be in a band with him. I was a bit too afraid to ask him when we first met … later on that summer, there was a music festival happening at our hometown … I’d see him around the festival grounds, but we never hung out. I was playing hard to get or whatever … after everything was over, we were with my pals and I drunkenly said to Chris, ‘yo man, we should start a band, dude. Fuck yeah!’ I remember later that week when I got home, I was severely hungover and so embarrassed I had asked him to be in a band with me …”
“We started playing in L.A. at small venues … Holy shit. Thank you for being here today. This is really cool.”
As he started the song, looking into the audience of thousands, it’s safe to say it was a good idea he got drunk that night.
