Gig Reviews
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis – Far Out
It’s a famous-five, family-fab show making music that sounds like the fifties; two sisters Kitty and Daisy plus brother Lewis. Multi-talented and interchangeable on drums, guitars, banjos, ukuleles, accordion, keyboards, harmonica and xylophone. A trio of creative, musical siblings indeedee-dee; but hang about, there’s more. On double bass and bass guitar is bare-foot mama, the dead-neat Ingrid Weiss (ex The Raincoats – a post punk, 80′s cult band) and on rhythm guitars and banjo, don’t-you-rock-me daddy-oh, “3-chord Graeme Durham from Bombay”. So Mum and Dad are on stage with the main stars, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (KD&L). In fact, BassMum almost steals the show.
Everything about Kitty, Daisy & Lewis takes you back to the 50′s, apart from their age (about 19, 23 and 21 respectively). From the high-waisted baggy pants, nylon seamed fishnets (“possibly held up with suspender belts” mused The Vulture wishfully), vintage equipment, high-rolled hairstyles and sepia sounds.
Kitty
The Metro is not used to this granny-grade audience, getting it on with the air heavy with 4711 eau de toilet and Old Spice after shave. Young swing dancers are threaded up in polka dot headscarves, bronze suits, pointy bras (on the girls), check shirts, string ties, floral frocks, quiffy hairstyles held together by Brylcream, perms and pins. Out of sight man.
Getting into it, Vulture was wishing they’d brought something to stuff in their ears! The blast is you know, non digital, early stereo “hi-fi”, sort of valve-driven, moth ball music, straight out of a Grundig, green-eye reel-to-reel.
From the eyrie up in the gods at The Metro, the Vulture freaked out, when we could only see one (yes one only) wahwah pedal onstage. No computers and no drum machines, gain repeaters, over-dubbers, distortion boxes; no Moog and not a sign of a Theremin.
Daisy
Dig this, upgrading equipment only happens when they find a vintage kit that’s in better working condition than what they’ve already got – or it’s older. They are happiest going forward when they are going backwards. Karma.
Make love not war – this is great entertainment, the Vulture was fractured. Nothing square about this show, it’s full of energy and excitement, anthem stuff, epitomised by an absolutely knock-out rendition of Canned Heat‘s ‘Going Up The Country’. Hey baby, if you don’t start tapping your feet and waving your arms to this music, you’ve had a head bypass. The driving rhythms from that snare drum hit you somewhere between the groin and a place where no sun shines, even for a Vulture.
Yes, no doubt we were spaced out. Hearing echoes from Sun-session Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters, Bill Haley, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, Louis Prima and Carl Perkins. Early rock ‘n roll, rockabilly and original rhythm and blues roots (not today’s crappy version of R&B) before it was cranked by Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. That dates the Kitty, Daisy & Lewis style to 1954-55 era.
Lewis
There was also a rip snorting cameo appearance by trumpet cat Eddie “Tan-Tan” Thornton – he played on The Beatles‘ ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’.
You can buy their music on vinyl or CD. Turn on, tune in and drop out. The Vulture was soaked in tears of euphoric nostalgia as we were transported back by the foot-stomping jive to old nests from days gone.
The whole crew
Trip out and see Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. You’ll love ‘em. After the Gold Coast Big Day Out and last night’s Metro sideshow, there’s BDO in Sydney on Australia Day, a sideshow on Friday 27th at The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, Sunday 29th January BDO Melbourne, followed by a couple of shows in Wellington and Auckland.
Let it all hang out man. Peace.
