With her songs heard on shows like Orphan Black or Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, Canadian-born, Berlin/LA-based artist Peaches saw her status soar through hard work and several harder to pigeonhole albums. The provocative musician’s latest album Rub only solidifies that idea. Myspace caught up with Peaches to talk about Rub, Rub Remixed feeling comfortable in your own skin, and America’s twisted views on gun control.

Did you get as much satisfaction releasing Rub Remixed as you did Rub?

Well it’s a different kind of thing. I had great satisfaction making my own album and then doing remixes is actually sometimes really a kind of scary thing because you’re thinking, I’ve done this song. Why do I want to have a remix? So I was pleasantly surprised and it was definitely different and nothing like I would have ever written.

I can’t really put them in the same plain, you know what I mean? I was satisfied as a remix album that it was great and all the people that I wanted to work on it worked on it. But it’s not my album.

Do you have a current personal favorite from Rub Remixed?

I really like the “Sick In The Head” remix. It’s very dark. It’s done by my niece Simone Jones who just actually released her own album. I’m mostly just really proud of her incredible progression, and I loved how she did it.

Do you have a hard time letting go of a song?

No I’m pretty good at that; I’m pretty good at making the song and then stripping it away. Sometimes I strip it away too much and then figure out the balance. And knowing when to not listen to it for a while. You can really damage your own self in listening to it just keep going on it and it just doesn’t mean anything anymore, you don’t even hear it in the right place. 

Have the songs from Rub surprised you in concert or come off better than expected?  

Actually it just seemed like they were songs that I had already done. It was actually really easy the first time I played them it just felt like they were part of my repertoire already. But even better. The songs are updated versions of songs that I like to play and sparing no message that I didn’t want. 

Rub is on Canada’s Polaris Music Prize “long list” this year, and you won the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize last year. Are they proverbial feathers in your cap?

Definitely. You know what? When I left Canada I was just seen as being a weirdo, so it’s nice to be honored after all these years of just continuing doing what I’m doing. And being recognized by the country I’m from is just definitely always great. I mean it’s probably the reason I left because I wasn’t really accepted but it’s nice to be accepted now.”

I noticed in several interviews you mention how you want people to “feel comfortable in their own skin.” Given what happened in Orlando and the amount of gun violence in the US right now, is that concept or ideal a work in progress?

I think there’s definitely been progressions in certain circles and there’s been really backward sort of feelings in other circles. Obviously I want people to feel comfortable in their own body, but obviously there are some people who will never try to feel comfortable in their own body and try to hide behind greed and power and cause problems for everyone else.

It’s really, really sad what happened [in Orlando]. And it’s really sad that some Presidential candidate’s reactions is really sad. The money that goes into the NRA that keeps people lobbying for gun laws for very high up Republicans is sickening. It’s just downright sickening. It’s inhumane; people are dying because you’re making money to lobby gun laws. I mean look at other countries. Australia had a mass shooting in 1996 and they changed their guns laws. Germany had mass shootings, they changed their gun laws. Look at Sandy Hook in America — little kids, you didn’t change your gun laws then, what the fuck are you thinking?

You made a (NSFW) video for “Rub” – what was the biggest challenge about making it?

There was no challenge at all. Everybody was super excited. It was the first time all of us had worked with an all-female cast and crew and everyone was just super into it and excited. Actually magical things happened, we were only supposed to use that space to like sleep over and we were going to film somewhere else but it turned out to be so great that we used that space. Yeah, everything just worked out and I don’t know, it was just magical. 

Finally, have you ever considered writing a children’s book?

Have I ever considered writing a children’s book? No I used to teach kids. But no, I haven’t. I’ll leave that to Madonna.