When we catch up Daisy, we know that the band are “somewhere in France”, and that Daisy is talking to us from the toilet, as it is the “quietest place in the venue”, but we're keen to learn some more tidbits. As it happens, Daisy is incredibly approachable, as far as you can be by telephone, and crucially, very, very patient. Our recording device decided to be on recording strike and we had to type at the same time as listening.

The below record is what we got, it's all there, barr perhaps the odd paraphrased word or two.

352Digital: It's odd that if you try to say your name in any other order than it now appears, it just does not sound right, was there ever any dummy spitting with regard to who went first?
“It wasn't actually us that decided on the name. The band just happened along naturally. We had no name and no real ideas for one either. In the early days we were thinking almost constantly about wanting to have a name that didn't pigeon hole us. Tapestry Goes West, a Club Night in London held a really nice, really small festival with the 1st one having a kind of cowboy theme. It was slightly cheesy but it had a nice vibe. The promoter just happened to write our names down in that order and it stuck.”

One of the most frequent and annoying questions KDL face, individually or alone, is 'Where did you get your vintage styling'? Of primary concern for Kitty, Daisy and Lewis (KDL) is that their sound is not specific to one single element or genre. When we ask 'what is rockabilly?' for example: Daisy is somewhat defensive in reply; “We don't think that we are rockabilly, it's not..., you can't describe lots of genres as rockabilly simply because their fashion or hairstyle says 'rockabilly'”. This is, of course, the answer we are looking for, KDL are forever labelled as many things. 'Retro' being a prominent one. “Look,” says Daisy, “a quiff can mean rockabilly, we've had quiffs, but that does not define us. We play blues, country, ska and a lot of different things. This lazy idea is completely wrong. Lewis wears a 50s suit and Kitty likes the 40s dress, so there are elements, I suppose, but it is not defining.”

352Digital: What is the most amount of press engagements you've gotten through in one day?
“Erm, in Hamburg, We had two-days sat in a hotel room and literally every ten minutes or so a radio person or magazine person was coming in. It can be tiring, yes. But it can also be nice working away from performing or being in the studio.”

Touring can be arduous, “Family is important, and it is tough sometimes working in such close proximity to your brother and sister.” But you get the impression that Daisy wouldn't change it for the world, besides, they couldn't do this solo could they? “We've been playing together for so long that there's an obvious connection. A lot of our influence comes from our dad – the songs he used to play to us. We'd all be dancing and singing along. Picking up whatever instruments were lying around and start strumming.”

It appears to 352Digital that the three of them like a bit of hairspray, who is the most likely to cause problems with the Ozone layer? “Kitty for sure,” laughs Daisy, “Lewis uses murray's wax. Not so much is going on with the quiffs, these days. We're not trying to get away from the rockabilly thing. It just got a bit boring. But Daisy likes to curl it up. She can fill a room with hairspray.”

At just 23 years of age Daisy has been in the industry for many years, and as a result has done the hard slog on the smaller venue circuits. Now the band are keen to headline only and 'break America'.

2011's Smoking In Heaven was a pretty successful, if not earth shattering, record, how hard was the recording process? “It was ok. We recorded it at home, where our studio is. But we were a lot more clued up for the second one. We've changed stuff around. The equipment is changing all the time. We had a very old keyboard that needed fixing and we spent ages looking for the right technical person to do it for us. We were searching for years and, as a result, we had to re-record three songs.”

Writing the material comes from getting a hook or melody on their own means getting together for jam session quickly leads to new songs being developed. “We play instruments differently so it just depends on who can lay down which part and if that suits. Lewis is tinkly on the ivories, whereas I play more with more melody (laughs).

The album title does not have a specific meaning. Daisy says the name came up in a dream her father had. In it Daisy's mum “thought of the title, and my dad remembers, in the dream, thinking it was awful. When he woke up, he thought it was actually quite catchy.” We suggest it could be seen as rebellious; “yeah, there could be that. Rebellion, no– smoking bans, rules in general. You can believe what you like about heaven, though I don' t believe in it AT ALL and it is a bit of doing what you're not supposed to.”

Given the fact that, even though they abhor the comparison, there is the sense that KDL sound like a group from Stax or Motown times do they feel that they perhaps belong to another era?                                                                                                                                    “Not really. It seems normal to us. Not a lot of people our age were listening to the same music us, that's true but, well...it's just what we love doing. We like modern music as well but we're not thinking that we should be singing Britney Spears tracks. To be honest, we've not thought about it too much.”

352Digital: You've toured with Coldplay... tell us the truth, they're horrible people aren't they?
“(Laughs) No, not at all. That's the thing, the perception is that they are boring. When we went on tour with them they were really nice people. Maybe they're just fed up of the media. They seem like normal people, no arrogance. They hang out, they have fun. It was good for us to open for them. Chris was a fan, we heard that he mentioned us in an NME interview and then he requested us to support them in the US. It was a good thing – being able to play in front of a different crowd and to so many people. But at the same time we need to concentrate mainly on headlining from now on.”

In 2012 KDL are heading to America. In April they'll play some shows in NYC, LA and San Fran. “We are not that well known and we've only played some small shows, but we've built up a decent fanbase. It'll be interesting to see how it goes down.”

America aside, what do KDL, or more specifically, does Daisy know of Luxembourg? We delivered a pop-quiz:

How much do you know about Luxembourg? True or False!

- It is a Grand Duchy?
 “What's a Grand Duchy?” 352 explains about a province. “True” – Correct.
- It is part of Belgium?
 False - Correct
- The biggest export is wool?
 TRUE – Oh dear.
- Luxembourg was discovered by Columbus?
 False (after a worrying pause) – Correct.
- The Prime Minister is Jean-Claude Juncker?
 True (pure guess) – Correct.

Daisy recommends you check out:

Pokey La Farge – He plays ragtime, fast hillbilly blues, he's from America, plays a washboard, and has a really authentic voice. www.pokeylafarge.net
Blind Boy Paxton – American, again. Taught by his grandmother, he's 20 years old but sounds like an old blues guy. He came to record with Lewis and brought only his guitar and a banjo. He's constantly playing music. www.myspace.com/jdogsblues

Daisy would like to tour with Motorhead! “Lemmy likes his old stuff. A different crowd, yes but it'd be fun.”

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis will perform live at the Rockhal on Monday 13 February at 8pm.
Tickets cost 25 eur.
Support from Gemma Ray.

You can win tickets to the show by clicking HERE!

www.rockhal.lu

http://www.myspace.com/gemmaraymusic