Merrill Beth Nisker, better known by her stage name Peaches, grew up in North York, was in a band called the Sh*t with acclaimed pianist Chilly Gonzales, and lived with soon-to-be awesome Leslie Feist, who also worked the puppets backstage at Nisker’s shows. But Nisker never felt at home until she finally left.

Once abroad, she plugged in her Roland MC-505 and set about creating some of the most innovative and influential music, fusing electronic with hip hop and rock ’n’ roll with performance art.

She returns to town for a headlining gig at Massey Hall on Aug. 4, as part of the Massey Hall Live concert series, along with the Hidden Cameras. In addition, her latest record is in the running for this year’s Polaris Music Prize. Her latest album, Rub, made the 2016 long list of nominees — one of 40 nominated for the $50,000 prize.

“When I left Canada, I was just seen as being a weirdo,” she says, on the phone from her home in Berlin, Germany. “So it’s nice to be honoured after all these years of just continuing doing what I’m doing, and being recognized by the country I’m from is 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.” 

After issuing her critically acclaimed album Rub in 2015, Canadian-born electro-rocker Peaches released Rub Remixed this past May. Yet it wasn’t a concept with which the artist was overly enamoured.

“It just seemed like they were songs that I had already done,” she says. “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. I’m just really, really proud of it.”

As for Massey, Nisker says she fondly recalls concerts she saw at the hallowed venue, including Leonard Cohen, the enigmatic Diamanda Galas and two shows in one night by Rickie Lee Jones.

One Lenny Kravitz gig she recalls for all the wrong reasons.

“I had front-row seats, and all the girls ran up to the front,” she says. “I had my seats, but they didn’t, so I had to sit up on my chair [to see]. The security guard kicked me out. They thought I was one of the girls, and I was like, ‘No, this is my seat!’”