Jack Dishel - The Moldy Peaches Interview
Dishel was born in the Soviet Union before relocating to New York with his family when he was only two. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s Dishel was influenced by MTV and the likes of Motley Crue, Poison and the rest of the glam metal scene in his early years before branching into Culture Club, Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Duran Duran as his musical horizons began to expand. Eventually meeting Adam, Kimya and would eventually be The Moldy Peaches, it was set that Dishel would spend his life pursuing music and art. In more recent years Dishel is releasing music under Only Son and can be found touring with The Moldy Peaches on their highly anticipated reunion tour this year!
When and where were you born? What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music? Were these things that were relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings?
I was born in Moscow in the former Soviet Union and moved to New York with my family when I was two. I grew up in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s and spent most of my time listening to music. When we moved from our apartment in Queens to a house in Long Island we got MTV for the first time and I fell in love with glam metal. Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt, all that stuff. My parents didn’t grow up in the US so the music and culture they were passing down to me had a different flavor than the other kids I grew up with. They listened to The Beatles and Stones but they would also play some Russian songwriters like Vladimir Vissotsky. I just followed what sounded good to me and that was rock music. No - the name of my band is Only Son so it must have had an impact.
What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your very first concert? When did you realize you wanted to spend your life pursuing music?
My childhood is split into two eras. When I was younger I had a typical suburban ‘80s childhood: I’d listen to music, play sports, watch wrestling and just wander around with my friends. When I entered my teens I started listening to hip hop, going into the city and writing graffiti. Things changed fast pretty drastically. That’s the way it stayed until I got to college and started learning how to play guitar. It was Top 40 radio pop stars like Culture Club, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran. All of the stars from back then were much larger than mice. They looked like super heroes or cartoons. I didn’t see my first real concert until I was probably 20, or so. My college roommate was a Phish fan and took me to see them at Madison Square Garden. They were bouncing on trampolines while singing. It was a fun first show to see. Probably when I was 12 and then again when I was 18. The graffiti years put playing music almost entirely out of my mind. But it crept back in little by little until it exploded.
Did you participate in any groups prior to The Moldy Peaches? How did you initially meet Kimya Dawson, Adam Green and the rest of the band? What were your first impressions of them and what led to you joining the group? When and where was this exactly? What albums and projects have you participated in with the group?
I put out two records of my own songs under the band name Stipplicon in ‘99-‘01. We met at the Sidewalk Cafe on the Lower East Side in 1999. From my memory we became friends almost immediately and have been making each other laugh constantly ever since. My first impression of them as a band was that they were very special. I would smile the whole time I watched them and was blown away by the way they balanced humor and depth in their lyrics. They were total clowns and dead serious at the same time, which I’d seen before but never quite like that. I basically fell in love with them as a band and then as people. I’m on the self titled first album, Unreleased Cutz & Live Jamz and the County Fair/Rainbows single. I think that’s it.
What has your spring and summer shaped up to be so far? Are you currently working on any new projects? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
My summer so far has been this Moldy Peaches reunion tour, which is just as fun as I dreamed it might be. We’re having a blast. I’m very slowly working on the fourth Only Son album and also working on a one man stage show about my years as a teenage graffiti writer. If they want to hear my music they can find it under Only Son.
