- Wed, 2011-06-01 11:52
Hugely inspired by rock 'n' roll, swing, blues and orginal rnb, brother and two-sister band Kitty, Daisy and Lewis played their first gig in a pub near their North London home. Soon after, gig offers rolled in, leading to interest and their eventual signing to Rob da Bank's label Sunday Best, home to acts including Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Beardyman, Dub Pistols, Sound of Rum and more.
Now the group follow their self titled debut with the release of their second album Smoking in Heaven. I Like Music caught up with Kitty to chat about how the band have changed over the last few years, working with Sunday Best, jamming with Coldplay, filming the backwards video to their single So Sorry and more.
"I Like Music because… it's fun.” Kitty, Kitty Daisy & Lewis
ILM: You've just released your second album Smoking In Heaven. How does it compare to your debut?
Kitty: It’s completely different from our first album. The first album was all stuff we’d been doing for years and songs that we’d learned to play when we were little kids. This album is based on the same sort of roots musically, but it's all our own stuff and through writing all the songs, we had a chance to put in more of our influences.
ILM: How did the album come together?
Kitty: Most of the songs were written individually. Each of us would go off and come up with lyrics, the melody, the chords and then we’d all get together and just sort of jam and develop the song and see where it went. There’s about three instrumentals on the album too, they’re all really long! One of them is about ten minutes long! They’re purely just jams where we pressed record on the tape machine and just off we went for ages (laughs).
ILM: We spoke a couple of years ago at the Camden Crawl. How have things changed with the band since then, how have you developed?
Kitty: Yeah, it’s moved on a lot. When we first started, the band sort of happened by accident. It wasn’t like “oh, we’re going to form a band, let’s do this”, it was purely just what we’d been doing at home anyway. We brought it to the stage and then people just kept asking us to play here and there. We never really considered ourselves a band at first and then it just started to take off. It’s always just been about us enjoying it. About six years ago we met Rob da Bank from the label, then we released a single and the album and it all seemed to go down really well with everybody.
ILM: What’s it like being part of the Sunday Best family?
Kitty: Yeah, they’re really nice! They signed us because they loved our music and that’s what it’s all about, you know? It's really good.
ILM: Cool. Do you get much guidance from Rob da Bank?
Kitty: Yeah, they’re all really helpful, but for the music side of things, they just leave us to it. That’s why we don’t have producers and that kind of stuff. We’re like a family and we can be quite intimate with each other, so they leave the recording and everything up to us.
ILM: You've shot a backwards video for your single So Sorry. What was that like to put together? How long did it take to choreograph?
Kitty: When the director first put the idea to us, we were like “oh bloody hell, how are we gonna pull that off, that’s going to take ages!” But seriously, we just had one day of rehearsing, not even a day, like a couple of hours the day before, then the next day we just shot it all! We did around six takes I think – it was all pretty quick.
ILM: Are you pleased with the result?
Kitty: I didn’t even know how we were going to pull it off, but it came out really good! Yeah, I’m pleased with it!
ILM: What can we expect if we come to see you live over the summer?
Kitty: There’s a lot of new songs in the set now, there’s a few different instruments and a lot of energy. Just good music and good fun!
ILM: Out of all the shows you've played, which have been some of the most memorable?
Kitty: I’m not really sure. I reckon we go down best in Germany. The audience over there seem really good. Also the Coldplay tour. They were in huge stadiums which we’d never done before! Even though the audience were a Coldplay audience and weren’t there to see us, it went down really well with them and everyone was really nice!
ILM: Cool! Did you get a chance to hang out with Coldplay?
Kitty: Yeah, yeah, they’re really nice guys. We had a little jam with them one time! They always came after the shows and went “oh, well done”, they’re really nice!
ILM: Awesome. Have you got many festivals lined up for the summer?
Kitty: Yeah, we’re doing all the usual ones – Glastonbury, Bestival, T in the Park...!
ILM: What have you been listening to recently?
Kitty: I’ve been listening to a little calypso at the moment, my brother has been playing a lot of calypso records.
ILM: Who are some of your biggest influences? How have they shaped your approach to music?
Kitty: All kinds of people have influenced us. We grew up just listening to blues, jazz, 60s stuff, all kinds of stuff. We do listen to current stuff, even though we use old equipment and stuff, and we do that purely to get a quality sound. So yeah, all kinds of music, we just kind of do it in our own way.
ILM: What can we expect in the future?
Kitty: We'll just kind of see what happens and hope for the best. I'm looking forward to getting this album out and seeing how that goes down, then touring for pretty much the rest of this year and maybe start thinking about a new album. But yeah, we'll just feel it out and hopefully get our music out a bit more to those who want to hear it.
