Kitty Daisy & Lewis

From North London emerged the Durham siblings Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, whose high-voltage performances and genuine embrace of rockabilly, vintage country, and early rhythm & blues quickly rattled the British roots-rock establishment. Their debut single appeared in 2005, at which point the youngest member had not yet turned thirteen. Born to guitarist and Exchange mastering engineer Graeme Durham and Ingrid Weiss, the former drummer for post-punk pioneers the Raincoats, the three children absorbed music from the cradle. In 2002, after their parents took them to an afternoon rockabilly show staged by Big Steve and the Arlenes, Lewis was asked to join the band on banjo while Kitty took the drum stool. At the group’s subsequent appearance in the family’s neighborhood pub, Daisy added accordion, prompting the siblings to launch their own outfit.

Graeme switched to rhythm guitar and Ingrid switched to upright bass to complete the lineup. As the youngsters’ instrumental range expanded—Lewis on guitar, lap steel, piano, and banjo; Kitty on percussion, harmonica, ukulele, and guitar; Daisy on vocals, piano, and drums—the trio became a fixture on the U.K. Americana circuit and began committing original songs to tape. Lewis assembled a home studio stocked with vintage analog equipment, and in 2005 the family released the single “Honolulu Rock,” with Kitty twelve, Lewis fourteen, and Daisy sixteen. A follow-up, “Mean Son of a Gun,” arrived the next year on both standard 7-inch vinyl and a limited 10-inch 78 rpm pressing. Their self-titled debut album, containing the single “Going Up the Country,” surfaced in 2008. The sophomore set Smoking in Heaven, heralded by the double-sided single “I’m So Sorry” / “I’m Going Back,” reached stores in May 2011.

After several years of live work, the band enlisted Mick Jones—formerly of the Clash and Big Audio Dynamite—to helm the next project. Jones rehearsed extensively with the trio before entering the studio, where fresh sonic ingredients were folded into their already distinctive blend. The resulting album, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis the Third, appeared on Sunday Best in early 2015. For their fourth record the siblings chose to produce themselves, issuing Superscope in 2017 as their first entirely in-house effort. The cover photograph was taken by Steve Gullick, and although ska elements were absent for the first time, every other stylistic influence remained intact.