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Peaches Christ claims the titles of filmmaker, event producer and cult leader, but even that may not totally capture her wide-ranging résumé. From hosting regularly sold-out drag shows at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre to co-producing the haunted house Terror Vault, she is a Bay Area drag icon.
Peaches also collaborates with conductor Edwin Outwater for Halloween and holiday performances that have been staged with the San Francisco Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She co-hosts the podcast “Midnight Mass” with filmmaker Michael Varrati.
Peaches Christ is the stage persona of performer Joshua Grannell, who has also written and directed half a dozen short films and the feature “All About Evil,” and also acted in numerous other films as Peaches Christ.
Ahead of Peaches’ Oct. 27 Unholy Sunday performance at Stanford Live, we chatted with Grannell about filmmaking, Peaches’ penchant for horror and more. (For the purposes of this interview, we will use Grannell’s stage name. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Embarcadero Media: You went to film school at Penn State. What drew you to film?
Peaches Christ: Gosh, from the time I was super young, as far as my parents can remember, I’ve always loved movies, and I’ve always loved spooky stuff. I’ve always been drawn to theater, drama, filmmaking, movies, and anything dark or macabre, because I get asked about it a lot, and I don’t remember when I first liked it. I just always liked it. So I’ve asked my parents, ‘When did I first start liking this stuff?’ And they’re like, ‘as far back as we can remember,’ so I don’t know. I don’t know why or what about me was always drawn to it.
Embarcadero Media: What has being a filmmaker brought to your drag?
Peaches Christ: Well, they’re kind of infused with each other. There’s this marriage of the two. Drag, for me, has always been synonymous with cult movies because of the drag that I like, and then also because of the drag that I created. So my real holy triumvirate of drag inspirations for me was watching Elvira as a kid, being fascinated by Elvira, but not really understanding at that time that she was a cis woman doing drag. I didn’t get that till many years later.
Then, growing up in Maryland, I was a kid going to Catholic school who was super weird, super strange, flamboyant, liked all the things that boys weren’t supposed to like and just felt like a complete outsider and completely alone. Hollywood movies felt like a million miles away until they were making “Hairspray” just up the street. For (director) John Waters, it was a real crossover movie for him. And all of a sudden, on the local news channels at night, I was hearing about this crazy movie that was being made, and Sonny Bono and Debbie Harry were in Baltimore, Maryland, and that’s how I found out about Divine (an actor and singer best known for drag roles).
Then once I learned about Divine, it was all over, because I went to the video store, and of course, this is back in the ’80s, when people didn’t really care what kids rented. So I saw “Pink Flamingos” at a really inappropriately young age. It blew my mind wide open. And I remember seeing (Waters’ films) “Pink Flamingos” and “Multiple Maniacs” and “Female Trouble” and just being completely blown away. This is before I knew I was queer or any of that. I just knew: “these are my people — I want to hang out with these people.” I cannot believe they’re in Baltimore. I cannot believe they’re shooting movies in neighborhoods that I recognize — in neighborhoods that my relatives live in.
Then the third thing that I discovered shortly after that was “Rocky Horror.” And so as a teenager, that combination of Elvira, the movie hostess, Divine the movie star and Frank-N-Furter, (the character from the) the cult musical — that was drag to me. That was my understanding of drag, and so I created Peaches to be basically a pulp movie queen, and my first time in drag was for my senior thesis film. So for me, drag and movies have always gone hand in hand.
Embarcadero Media: How would you say your work evolved since you started in drag?
Peaches Christ: In the earliest days, drag was, how should I say it? Well, it was not lucrative. I try to explain it to young people who grew up with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and a world that’s very accepting of drag, including a queer community. When I started doing drag, the gay community at large didn’t really want to have anything to do with us. Marriage equality and “Don’t ask, don’t tell” were the big things. Folks were working toward AIDS recovery and dealing with AIDS. So we were the niche within the niche within a niche of the community that was misunderstood by the mainstream public. So it was like, “we don’t really want you marching in the parades. We don’t really want you,” which, of course, I loved because I was punk rock and weird and strange and freaky. And I loved that drag was so punk in a way, at least the drag scene that I fell into mid-’90s.Â
So what’s really changed is that I never, ever could have envisioned that it would be something I did for a living. And that was true of most of us. There was no industry for it. There were a few people like Divine or RuPaul who actually were able to make it through. But we’re talking a handful of people out of everyone. For so long, it just wasn’t even something I did for work. Then, of course, artistically, it was something I did to express myself as an angry punk rock young person who was mad at the church, mad at society. As I’ve grown older, I’m still mad about stuff, for sure, but the drag is less aggressive, less intentionally offensive, maybe I’ve mellowed a little in my old age, I don’t know. I still really, really love pushing buttons, but it’s just that the world has changed, and I’ve changed along with it.
Embarcadero Media: As you’ve mentioned, horror is a prominent genre in your work. What draws you to horror?
Peaches Christ: I think that as a queer person, I was definitely someone, who growing up in the ’80s and loving horror and subscribing to Fangoria magazine and attending horror conventions, I really thought that I was alone. My idols were all these — what I perceived to be — heterosexual, white men, and I didn’t really see myself reflected in that genre. Now looking back on it, my perspective is so different. My straight male counterparts were going to the movies to see things like Freddy Krueger because they liked the scenes with topless girls, or the thrills and chills of it all. And I was going because I identified with the final girl — I identified with overcoming adversity and standing up to a bully and being the nerdy person who was going to make it to the end. Now I can see how horror really helped me cope with things like bullying in elementary school, in high school — that all comes with age and introspection. But at the time, I didn’t know that was why I was drawn to horror.Â
Now I can really look at it and go like, ‘Oh my god, I’m really sensitive and really empathetic, and horror is a safe outlet for me to sort of exorcize my fears,’ and it still is to this day. Now I’m realizing, the more I read about horror, the more that’s been studied — and also, I’ve been lucky enough to be featured in books now about queer horror, and essays — I’m actually learning as people analyze me, and I read these books. What I’m realizing is so many of us horror fans are profoundly sensitive people.
Embarcadero Media: That’s an interesting insight.
Peaches Christ: Yeah, and it’s not one that I think people who are outside of the genre realize. if you go to something like (the convention) Midsummer Scream or Halloween celebrations and haunted attractions and stuff, the people that are working in these sorts of shows — they’re all the sweetest, nicest people, but they want to scare the hell out of you by playing monsters. But behind that mask is just a total sweetheart. There’s definitely something to it.Â
For me, I think the throughline is, I remember the filmmaker Wes Craven one time doing an interview, and this is the man that created these horrifying monsters and movies and things and and as he was doing the interview, he talked about how sensitive he was and what a sensitive kid he was. And the more I paid attention to that, the more I realized it’s something that we have in common.
Embarcadero Media: You’re touring with actress Mink Stole in the show “Idol Worship.” What has that been like?
Peaches Christ: Well, she’s just so amazing. Because, like I said, when I was a kid and I discovered her and John Waters and Divine, I was obsessed with all those movies. So 20 years ago, I asked Mink to come and do my Midnight Mass show. I sent a really gushy letter to her manager at the time, and kind of thought she would just blow it off. But then she agreed to come, and it was amazing. She was the first celebrity we ever had in San Francisco at one of my shows, and we became very close friends, and then have been doing versions of that show for years and years, and formalized it a few years ago in this cabaret show called “Idol Worship.” So it’s been amazing. And honestly, if it weren’t for Mink Stole, I don’t think I would have had the nerve to continue bringing these celebrities. I mean, it’s why I ended up reaching out to Elvira or John Waters — and becoming friends with John was because I was successful working with Mink. So I always feel like I owe Mink so much. And when I get to go out on the road with her and do something like “Idol Worship,” it’s just, oh, my god, it’s so lovely. She is one of my idols. To get on stage and do a show with her, it’s amazing.
Embarcadero Media: What can audiences expect from your Unholy Sunday show at Stanford Live?
Peaches Christ: I think they can expect a more intimate, interactive drag show with maybe more live singing than they’re used to. I think one of the exciting things about doing the show at Stanford Live, especially a sort of Halloween show, is that instead of a cabaret, it’s a macabre-ret. It’s an evening of spooky songs being sung, many of which I think that the audience is going to know well enough to sing along. And I really hope that they latch on to the idea of the interactive part of the night, meaning come in costume. Halloween from my point of view, it’s not a long enough season, and it’s the best season of the year. So don’t just get your costume together for Halloween night; wear it all month long, but definitely come to this show dressed up and be prepared to sing along with us. Â
I’m bringing some singers from San Francisco, one of whom is a dear friend of mine who’s actually done a number of my shows, both at the Castro Theatre and beyond. His name is Jason Brock, and I’ve performed with him in drag, and he has one of those voices that when I realized that Stanford Live had the professional setup to have really good live vocals. I was like, oh my god, I’m gonna book some people with really good pipes. So Jason’s coming and is gonna sing.
But we also have some of the Stanford drag troupe performers coming, who I got to work with at Dragfest this past spring, and they are just so great. So you will have some lip syncing, some dancing, some traditional drag and very horror-driven drag alongside sing-alongs.
Embarcadero Media: What do you hope that people will take away from the show?
Peaches Christ: With everything going on in the world, especially during an election year, there are so many stressors out there, and the news is so depressing and stressful and chaotic, that, honestly, I just feel like there is real science to back up the idea that laughter is healing. And I just hope that I as a person whose job it is to make people laugh and to create escape or make them scream and then laugh, that they can come and check the outside world at the door and then for 90 minutes, two hours, whatever, just let us have fun — enjoy that release, just really let go of the day-to-day. That’s the biggest goal whenever I’m doing a show is just: “can we provide enough fun for people to really just forget about the giant s**t sandwich that is life?
“Unholy Sunday” takes place Oct. 27, 5 p.m., at Bing Studio, Stanford. Tickets are $15-$45. For more info, visit live.stanford.edu. The Terror Vault haunted house takes place through Nov. 3 in San Francisco. The Midnight Mass podcast is available on Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music. For more info, visit peacheschrist.com.
