Peach Tree Rascals'  "Mariposa" Is as Colorful & Wholesome as the Band [Q&A]

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With Mexican, Filipino, and Palestinian roots that run deep, Peach Tree Rascals is one of the most hardworking music collectives we've had the honor of introducing you to. The masterminds behind Peach Tree Rascals (Dominic Pizano, Issac Pech, Tarrek Abdel-Khaliq, Joseph Barros, and Jorge Olazaba) produce cheerful tunes that have eclectic elements of alt-jazz, funk, hip hop, and R&B that are all too good to pass up. Now, Peach Tree Rascals is proud to present their wholesome new single that's taking them to new heights: "Mariposa."

A direct translation of "butterfly" in Spanish, "Mariposa" is inspired by Barros' love of guitar playing that led to the song's basic framework being nearly completed in one day. Paying homage to the concept of metamorphosis, "Mariposa" is about letting your true colors shine by stripping yourself of your insecurities and exposing your flaws at their core.

Directed and created by Olazaba, the accompanying music video for "Mariposa" presents a captivating explosion of colors and hues that paint the prettiest picture. The eye-catching visual was shot in Yosemite, which is home to Mariposa Grove, the place that inspired the song title. Whether they be during dusk or dawn, the composite shots are so aesthetically pleasing that you'll want to rewatch the music video at least five more times.

On  "Mariposa," Peach Tree Rascals explained,

"Mariposa’ literally means butterfly, and represents improving and growing as a human. Butterflies grow into themselves and their beauty, regardless of any flaws that come up along the way. Yosemite plays a big role in our creative muse. We often do trips up there to write and think of video concepts. The name originally came from Mariposa Grove in Yosemite. Seemed like a no brainer to name the song after one of our favorite places on the planet."

Join Peach Tree Rascals' world of color with the  "Mariposa" video  below:

To celebrate their new music, we recently chatted with Issac, Tarrek, and Joseph of Peach Tree Rascals about the Backstreet Boys, bandages, and of course, "Mariposa."

OTW: How's your day going?

Issac: Good! These guys just woke up. I've been awake for several hours. It was like 9:40 a.m. and we were trying to get Joseph awake and now we're here.

OTW: Okay, cool. First off, I need to ask... How did you come up with the name "Peach Tree Rascals?"

Issac: We were working on music for about a year without releasing anything. Just hundreds and hundreds of songs. Once we came up with about five to seven songs that we thought were presentable and able to be released, we chose our first release. After that, we had to come up with a name. It was basically spitballing ideas. Jorge, who's our visuals man, threw out the name "Peach Tree Village." "Peach Tree" sounded nice, but "Village" sounded terrible. So I came in with the "Rascals idea" and we morphed the two into "Peach Tree Rascals." It was super last minute, like two weeks before the song came out.

Tarrek: The name just came to us. We needed a name and we were spitting names left and right. When we came up with "Peach Tree Rascals," and everyone just looked at each other and were like, "That's the one."

OTW: I really dig that. For those who aren't familiar, can you describe your music in only five words?

Issac: Indescribable, soulful, charismatic, honest, and... Give me about five seconds to think of one more. Pure.

Tarrek: We want to be the next Backstreet Boys. We hate the Backstreet Boys.

Issac & Joseph: No, we don't.

OTW: Or do you? The world may never know...  

Everyone: Hahaha.

OTW: So of the nine singles you've released so far, which is your favorite and why?

Issac: I think our best one, as of right now, is "Someday." But my favorite is "Cranberry" because it has the lowest amount of views of any single. I think it deserves more and I love that song.

OTW: Hopefully when people read this, they'll go listen to it.

Tarrek: My favorite is "Rush" because the feeling you get from "Rush" isn't anything close to the songs you hear from us. And it has very few views too.

OTW: I love how we're all cheering for the under dogs here.

Tarrek: Yeah, the under dogs are the ones we're rooting for.

OTW: What is the message behind "Mariposa?"

Joseph: The story behind the song is about a girl that's with a guy who treats her like shit. I guess he caught feelings for her. It directed me to let her know that I'm always there for her.

Issac: For my part of the song, it's more so having a companion whose love was once stronger than it currently is. Even though you know that the fire is kind of gone, you're still wishing in the back of your mind that the phone call comes through.

Tarrek: For my part of the song, it's being scared of feeling something. Feeling weird emotions for someone. Just being numb to that feeling for a while. When it happens, you don't really know what to do.

OTW: I actually already watched the music video and something that I noticed is that it's super colorful. There's so many shades, tones, and colors–is there any meaning behind this aesthetic?

Isaac: Jorge would be the most equipped to answer this question, but since he's not here I'll just answer for him. When there's a bunch of colors in the video, there's a bunch of contrast between the colors. For example, the second verse is more colorful with the field and butterfly wings. And then it breaks into Joseph's third verse, where it comes into nighttime with stars. It becomes darker in a way, but not necessarily dark. The colors shift the mood. Jorge uses a lot of color as a tool to set the mood of whatever's going on in the song at the moment. He's a genius.

OTW: Why's Joseph wearing a bandage in the video?

Everyone: Ooooh….

OTW: Give me the details on that!

Joseph: The story isn't really that crazy. One day, Tarrek, Jorge, and I were hanging out and there was a scooter laying around. And there was a staircase and I was like, "Should I do it? Should I jump with the scooter?" And Tarrek was like, "Don't do it. You're going to fall and hit your face." And I was like, "No, I'm not." So when I did it, I kind of landed it and then I lost my footing. So the scooter flipped around and hit my face.

OTW: Oh my god.

Joseph: We have a whole photoshoot and a video of it too. Jorge took it on his phone.

OTW: Do you guys have any plans to release an EP/album soon?

Tarrek: That information is confidential.

OTW: That means yes.

Tarrek: It actually means probably not. We're going with the wind. We want our first project to be amazing so we're not going to rush it. We have a lot of stuff that we want to release on their own before we release a whole project. We just want to make as much music as possible.

OTW: Sounds good. Is it true you guys haven't played a live show yet?

Everyone: True. Fact.

OTW: If you were to sell out a show at any venue in the world, where would you want to play?

Joseph: Probably The Gorge. It's in Washington.

OTW: Any specific reason?

Joseph: The background is a river and it's a beautiful place. Or Red Rocks.

OTW: A lot of people say Red Rocks. That's dope.

Issac: One of mine would be the Shoreline Amphitheatre. It's like, 15 minutes away from where we live. So it'd be some hometown shit.

Tarrek: I really want to play in Jordan, in the Middle East. There's a venue with old Roman ruins that's made into a stadium.

OTW: Who's performed there?

Tarrek: A lot of Arab artists perform over there. It's more Arab artists so I thought it'd be super cool to be that successful to play there.

OTW: One day.

Tarrek: One day.

OTW: Who are your Ones To Watch?

Issac: I love Rico Nasty. I love Tierra Whack. I think Anderson .Paak is one of the greatest to ever do it. Of course, Frank Ocean and Kanye West. All of those that are automatic. That's about it for me.

Joseph: As of right now, I've been a really big fan of Clairo. I love her.

Tarrek: I don't really know. I really fuck with Peach Tree Rascals. Those guys are pretty cool.

OTW: Yes, love it! Shameless self promo.

Tarrek: Yeah, they're amazing.

OTW: Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?

Issac: We love them a lot and we promise to make them proud.

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