New York’s Next Up: Catching up with NYC's Deep Sea Peach Tree

Photos by Sophia Schachne @flick.ss

Baby’s All Right, the small but mighty venue in Brooklyn is home to many artists' first concerts. Baby’s continues to brew an inspiring atmosphere while holding new concerts almost every day in hopes of bands becoming the NBT. Deep Sea Peach Tree, a smaller self-proclaimed ‘surf rock’ band, shared their experiences with building their brand, advice they’ve learned, and their influences with me over a smoke after a killer set at Baby’s.

After their strong set of eight songs, I wanted to know what Deep Sea Peach Tree was all about.

I was eager to see exactly how their words translate into their performance, and their fun, easy-going energy was exactly what I was hoping for. New York native Kristof Denis, the founder of the band, reminisced on the establishment of Deep Sea Peach Tree, and the wave of efforts made to get to the point they’re at. In high school, Kristof explains his epiphany of being a stoner trying to find the right name for his band, "I was thinking about things in terms of ‘what is the universe about,’ and was thinking about outer space,” Kristof says in a very relatable demeanor. This idea led him into a stoned spiral trying to discover his band's name, something many artists struggle to find. The quirky members were very entertaining both on and off the stage, and talking to them was exactly what was expected after having such a fun show.

Although Deep Sea Peach Tree did not have the stage to themselves that night, most of the crowd was passionate about their music. Photographers made their way from the back of the 280-person room venue to capture their set at the foot of the stage. Most of the crowd seemed familiar with them, friends of friends, cheering them on. The band began their set with one of their biggest hits, "Strawberry Milk," which has 2.5 Million+ streams on Spotify currently. Right off the bat, everyone's eyes drew to the bassist, Deli, because of his eccentric stage presence that was unfortunately quite disproportionate across the rest of the members.

Deli was able to walk me through his development into the band, which is not what some would have expected. His advanced instrumental skills and fun presence would have had many guessing his long-time commitment to the bass and the band, but shockingly Deli originally planned to join Deep Sea Peach Tree as a drummer. He dropped out of college and moved to New York City from Boston in hopes of pursuing music. After a year, and discovering the band on Spotify, Deli decided to attend a concert in hopes of getting to know the band; although expectations weren’t high because of how established Deep Sea Peach Tree had become. “They had already done what I wanted to do,” Deli said. To his surprise, he went to the show, found out they needed another member, and the rest is history!

“I've always played simple bass just for my own personal recordings, and I've been mainly a guitar player, and then I think I played the Seinfeld theme song and he (Kristof) was like ‘That! That’s it!’” Later on after talking for a solid 20 minutes, Deli relates to his advice about just going out and doing what you love, because if you’re passionate about it enough, good things will come; “move to New York, find what you love to do, and just do it!”

The group had their shining moments while performing, Kristof introduced every song, displaying some exciting remarks about the influences behind them, which felt very personal. Jokes were made prior to performing their song "Temper Tantrum," and the members admitted to being emotional people, almost like a baby. It was a great choice to make considering how intimate the setting was in the venue. Their fifth song, "Puppy Love," which was unreleased at the time, was a teaser play for the crowd. Their interest in keeping the audience involved throughout the set by making conversation was something many admired & laughed along with. Deli helped keep their lighthearted fun songs alive, and his stage presence is exactly why Deep Sea Peach Tree has the immense potential to flourish.

Kristof explains how at the beginning of their journey as a band, their goal was to defy the odds of music genres. “I almost wanted to rip off jazz standards in a way where you’re able to turn that kind of stuff into an indie rock song,” Kristoff explains when elaborating how he wanted their sound to not be defined in any particular way. I asked the bandmates to classify their genre of music for me; I always feel like what the internet or other publications classify artists as is never truly what musicians feel as though their music strives to be. Both members were excited to continue this conversation because although many would classify them under the sole category of indie, other influences are involved: “I would describe us as sleepy surf rock, or aquatic sleep rock,” Kristof and Deli both laugh. Their songs "Village Market" and "Hypnagogia" both express this particular self-proclaimed genre in the best way. All in all, hearing the band live was a great experience. Kristof’s voice was strong, and the rest of the band's instruments carried along perfectly. The crowd was happily indie-bobbing their heads to the beats being projected.

The band's excitement around their own music is inspiring to many artists in the early stages of their careers, and performing at Baby’s is just the beginning of this fun-loving band. The ability to entertain the crowd and make everyone feel welcome is precisely what is going to help the band continue to gain recognition, and their eagerness to put whatever music they want out is inspiring to many, including myself. The dedication to their music is refreshing, and I have no doubt these guys will go far.

Go stream their two new singles "Puppy Love" & "You and McGregor" on Spotify now!

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