Monday, August 18, 2008

KiTTY, DAISY & LEWIS LIVE AT 100 CLUB 30/07/08

First thingS first – what you notice at the venue are the mamosas and pineapple chunks on the tables. Yes, the 100 Club has tables, it’s a bit like a café or a social club in the basement of a boring Oxford Street building. The second thing you look at is the audience – it’s a very difficult crowd to pigeonhole. There are the usual teenage music obsessives who’s down with everything that’s in this week issue of the NME, mixed in with representatives from an older generation, people who actually were around when this kind of music was created.



Kitty, Daisy & Lewis of course plays 50’s swing, roots music and old school R&B – and they do it well, especially considering they’re all teenagers. The siblings recorded the debut album in their Kentish Town home with their mother and father, who also play live with the trio. They're extremely talented, swapping instruments and singing duties all night long. They master the piano, trombone, accordion, harmonica, banjo, ukulele and lap steel guitar between them.

Their self-titled album has received criticism for being a bit samey samey, but I don’t think that goes for K,D&L more than any other album that is strongly centred around one sound and genre. True, only two songs are written by the trio but, again, they’re just kids!



Live, the tempo is great, the drumming frantic and the lyrics are classiclay 1950’s with Hawaii and Honolulu as strong influences. They all wear period clothes to match their sound – Lewis in a vintage suit and one of the sisters – no idea who – in a beautiful red silk dress.

The venue was crowed and steaming hot, but nevertheless, K,D&L rockabillied (new word?) everyone back to the swinging 50’s. First single Goin’ Up The Country is an awesome tune but also songs written by the Durham kids – Buggin’ Blues and Swinging Hawaii – went down well. More of that, please!

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