Kitty, Daisy & Lewis Interview

As I start my conversation with Lewis Durham, one-third of sibling band Kitty, Daisy and Lewis -- really, one-fifth if you count their parents who also perform in the group -- the first thing that becomes apparent is his Cockney swagger. As Lewis greets me with a "Hi mate, how you doin'?", the fact that this London-based group plays music largely rooted in pre-rock Americana is perhaps the most intriguing thought running through my head.

It's not just that they're dabbling in some retro styles of music for trend's sake, the music that they perform is as much a part of themselves as anything. Both parents are accomplished musicians whose tastes lie firmly in American music, and it's their upbringing that has influenced their current styles. Asked about any modern influences the group has, Lewis answers with a matter-of-fact "No, not really".

"When you're too young to go to gigs and my parents didn't buy any of that [modern] stuff, so where would we have heard it? I guess only the radio or TV, but you're too young to listen to the radio. No, we weren't really influenced by any modern acts."

Intrigued by this, given the group has opened for Coldplay and played at countless contemporary festivals such as Glastonbury, I then ask if there are any modern artists he's into at all. The answer, not surprisingly, is no, as Lewis explained: "I don't really understand the kind of post-rock music. It's not that I don't like it, it's just not my cup of tea."

Meanwhile, asked about older influences, and names like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters come out without any thought. I ask if there's any difficulties for three youngsters from London writing music of a bygone era.

"I don't know. Obviously it's a completely different time, they had a completely different mindset to me. And I would never compare one of those artists to myself because to me they were truly great and amazing musicians. The way we write songs is just from how we play the music and then the lyrics just kind of fit in there. It's not the kind of music that I'm finding you're getting these days where everything is based around the lyrics and the music is just there to fill it in. Whereas ours is about getting the raw solid beat down, with the lyrics anyway."

With father Graeme working as a recording engineer, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis have the benefit of access to oodles of period and vintage gear. While most 20-odd year old musicians might happily reach for the laptop, this group prefers to stay true to what they're playing... even if it leads to frustration.

"At the moment, we're waiting because our tape machine is in disrepair, due to something that should have been fixed ages ago but we've just been having loads of problems with it. But when it works it's fine, yeah you just put the tape on and hit record and off you go. You could never capture that sound with a laptop. People are now using computers -- I don't really get it -- and they have plugins to get the sound of a tape machine. So why then did you use the computer when you had the tape machine and now got rid of it? And the sound from a computer, it's just not musical at all. I can't hear the musicality of a computer. When you record, even if it's just a cassette machine, it just sounds like what you heard in the room, you know? It sounds flat and full and warm."

With the vintage influences and the vintage equipment, one might think that Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are in the revivalist business, sticking true to the conventions of the particular style of music they are performing, but they are rarely this calculated.

"I think if we're playing a song and we'll go to the instruments, we consciously play it for a certain sound. We'll just start playing it and it'll come out how it comes out. And the way it comes out is in most cases will end up on the tape."

This attitude tends to find its way into the end product. Their 2008 self-titled album works for the spirit it captures, not because it's some studio-perfected re-enactment of 1950s music. Their sound is charmingly rough around the edges; the occasional wrong notes and slip-ups only add to the sound.

"We just go in our small little room and start playing and listen back to the tape and if it's not quite rocky we'll do another one. We're all playing together, it's not super rehearsed, it's just kind of we do a couple of rehearsals and then just choose the best track. In some cases if we can't get it I'll go the pub and come back and it might work."

I ask about the band's name. It's hard to imagine any siblings settling on the order their names will appear, but the story is one part accident and one part apathy.

"Oh well, as I told you when we originally started playing, there was a guy, Barry, who had a festival. And he said do you want to come and play at the festival? He said, 'What's your band's name?' and we said, 'Oh we haven't got one', and then the next thing we know we look at the poster and it's Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. And we were like oh shit, we'll just go with that then."

In December Kitty, Daisy and Lewis return to Australia following their first tour a year ago for the Meredith Music Festival. Evidently they liked it enough to brave the mammoth trip from England. "We really enjoyed it. The gigs were packed out and the people were great. It was really nice."

"I didn't think it was going to be like that because the Australian reputation in London is not that great. All they're kind of known for is drinking lager and being rowdy and stuff like that. But I'm glad to say in Australia they're not like the Australians over here. They're really nice people and really nice places. We really enjoyed it."

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis return to Australia in December for Falls Festival, Southbound and Sunset Sounds festivals, as well as headline shows in Melbourne and Adelaide.