*Cover Photo: Daisy The Great by Alistair Barrell
For Daisy the Great, a band from New York composed of vocalists Kelley Dugan and Mina Walker, creating music comes both naturally and unexpectedly. The band started off as a fictional idea when they were both attending New York University Tisch School of the Arts, but quickly became reality when the duo continued to pursue music instead of acting and officially formed their group in 2016.
Can you tell us a little bit about your early days as musicians or how you got started in music?
Kelley Dugan: “I started singing really young. My mom was an opera singer and I grew up doing a lot of theater and acting and playing piano. I just grew up in a very musical house. And as I was growing up I started to write music. I feel like I was twelve years old and writing about, like, a bitter divorce — like it was kinda weird. But it wasn’t like the type of songs I would make now. But it was sweet and some of the songs were kinda good.
I was doing that and then simultaneously doing a lot of theater and I was studying voice, like classical singing, and also singing a lot of jazz and just different styles, I guess. Then when I went to college, I was having a hard time deciding if I wanted to go to college for singing or for musical theater or for acting and I was kind of feeling pulled creatively in a lot of different directions. And so, I ended up going to school at NYU for acting because I was thinking at the time, “I have a lot of music training and I want to do both, so I’ll study acting properly for a while and then I’ll do everything.”
For Kelley, songwriting was definitely engraved into her future, something she had in common with Mina, who she met during a class project. When tasked to write a sketch for a comedy class, they decided to write a funny song and continued to collaborate on other creative projects going forward. The idea of creating a band stemmed from a musical they were writing about a fictional band, which eventually lead to their decision of making the project a real band, with them at the helm. Kelley shares that she experimented with stacked vocal arrangements, reminiscent of her time in a high school group called the Madrigals, who sang intricate harmonies.
“The band started around the same time when I was writing music that wasn’t for just my voice. I started to get interested in how I would write indie rock music for multiple voices and I had a batch of songs that I was like, ‘I can’t really perform these in the way that I used to perform songs by myself, I feel like I need people in the band.’ So yeah, we started the band and then it just kind of grew really unexpectedly – it was kind of just like this is really fun and we’re going to put all the energy we have into it. It’s just become our whole life.”
Similarly, Mina also had music introduced early on in her life and she began composing her own songs as a teenager. Reflecting on her formative years, she stated, “My mom was a jazz singer, and she was also obsessed with musicals. All that I watched when I was little was Singing in the Rain on VHS, and The Wizard of Oz on VHS and Guys and Dolls. I’d stand on my porch when I was like four years old, belting out songs that were not necessarily age appropriate for a four year old. And I remember people would come up to me and try to give me money and my mom would be like ‘no don’t give her money,’ and I was mad that she wouldn’t let me get paid for my hard work. I think I was exposed to performance at a very young age. I grew up right outside of the French Quarter in the Marigny in New Orleans and many of my neighbors were drag queens, so I would go over as a little kid to their houses and they would show me musicals as well. So I just had a very vibrant childhood full of song, but I actually didn’t really get into writing music until later. I did sing a lot and I always kind of felt like when I was singing that it wasn’t quite my voice when I was singing these songs from musicals and like jazz standards and art songs and things like that. I liked to sing but it didn’t quite feel like myself.”
She recalls listening to Fiona Apple in high school and how much she appreciated her honest songwriting and low vocals. Mina began to write songs on her computer, and notes that she didn’t have a lot of training with musical instruments aside from the piano and viola but kept doing it for fun. When she met Kelley, it was evident they shared similar creative goals. Mina would go on to learn to play guitar and bass as the band took off. Together, they would blend their voices to create the signature harmonies they are now well-known for.
Since this isn’t your first time in Boston, what do you love about performing in this city?
KD: “My mom actually went to school for music in Boston. I looked at schools in Boston, I ended up staying in New York because I grew up in New York but I do kind of have this sweet association with Boston about my mom growing up and doing music there. I have a lot of family that lives in Massachusetts so it feels kind of homey to me. The other thing about Boston that’s so funny is I went on my first camping trip ever with my partner and we went camping for one day and I was kind of out of my element a little bit– I was trying my best but it is a little challenging to me. And then there was this crazy storm coming in and we were like okay there’s going to be a big storm, what should we do? But then my boyfriend was like ‘okay I have an idea what if we just go get a hotel in Boston?’ – So we went to Boston and then we had a really sweet day in Boston that felt very dry and safe. Boston was like my oasis that day and I think I might have told the audience that when we played there. But it’s always fun.”
You guys are touring with The Kooks and The Vaccines, how do you feel about performing with them?
Mina Walker: “We’re so excited. Once we announced it, every single friend was like ‘Oh my God this was on all of my playlists in high school.’ We didn’t realize that it was their [The Kooks] reunion tour of that album, Inside In/Inside Out. We’re super, super excited for this tour. We’re very grateful for the opportunity to play in front of these audiences and to play with these bands that are so iconic. It feels very unreal to be able to share the stage with these bands and we’re very excited.”
Do you have any particular musical influences and what do you like about them?
KD: “I think there are a bunch of different layers that are influencing us all the time. I think I definitely love a really strong vocal. Mina was talking about Fiona Apple, I totally grew up on Fiona Apple as well. Lady Gaga went to my school that I went to growing up, and she was older than me, but I was kind of like watching her rise. She was also a huge inspiration to me as a creative force. I was always singing Gaga songs at the piano. I was just always in awe of how she seemed so creative and so ambitious and driven. I think anyone that feels like a creative bolt of lightning performer like Bowie, I would say as well, I was really obsessed with when I was growing up. And then there’s also a softer side that I think also really influences us like I really liked Laura Marling growing up.”
MW: “I get very influenced by books. I think just like anything that feels like it’s like a genuine original thought. That’s usually, when I’m listening to music, what makes my ears perk up is like specific lyrics that feel just so specific to the person saying them and so genuine to the person saying them. I feel like my music tastes kind of goes all over the place. Like my influences change over time. I’d say artists like Nick Drake, artists like Connie Converse. I like a lot of beautiful, atmospheric music which is not necessarily what we make, but I think it does influence me. I think my influences are changing all the time because I think that someone will show me something and then I’ll do a deep dive into that type of music and even if it doesn’t sound like the music I’m making I think it does play a part into what I create.”
When you guys are on the road, what sort of hobbies do you take with you?
MW: “I just started crocheting at the beginning of this year. I think I saw something and I was like, ‘I can do that’ and then I just went on Youtube and got a bunch of yarn and crochet hooks and taught myself how to crochet. This tour will be the first tour that I will be crocheting on, but I did bring some supplies to crochet. And I like to read, I like to go on long walks, I like to paint and draw, doodle, write in my notebook.”
KW: “I feel like on tour definitely is kind of hard to do a lot of things but one of the things I started doing when we were in Europe– we went on a European tour in September– I started doing Duolingo. My partner is from Switzerland and so he speaks German and when we were on tour we were playing a ton of shows in Germany and Austria and I was like ‘okay this is my opportunity.’ Like I was talking to his grandparents and I was like, ‘I need to learn this language right now.’ So I started doing Duolingo and it was so funny because I have kept up my Duolingo since then, like I’m on a 150 day streak or something like that.”
From your most recent album, what songs do you feel like your fans connect to the most?
MW: “That’s an interesting question because I feel like it’s hard to tell unless you’re playing it live. When we released the album there’s some songs on it that I’m like, ‘oh this song doesn’t have as many listens as I think it should, or like my favorite song on the album or something.’ And then when we are live– I just don’t think it’s always an accurate representation because when we’re live and we’re singing the songs, there are songs that people all sing along to that I’m like, ‘whoa, I didn’t even know people knew that song’ but everyone was singing all the words and crying so I guess there’s a connection to it.
I feel like different people have different connections to different songs on the album. I would say I noticed on tour the song, “Tell Me Have You Been Dancing” from our album, maybe it’s because when we sang it live we did it just the two of us so it was easier to hear the audience but we eventually just stopped singing that song and everybody sang it with us.”
Among the many favorites, a lot of fans seem to connect with the songs “Aluminum” and “Glitter” from that album. Kelley added that she feels a lot of people connect to “Cry in The Mirror,” too. She recalls that during their first headline tour last spring, the first show they played was in Boston and they were stunned by how many people sang along to “Time Machine,” which wasn’t highly streamed at the time, so it was a memorable moment for them. “It definitely set the tone for the entire tour,” shared Dugan.
Are there any upcoming projects that you are looking forward to?
MW: “We’ve been writing a ton of music the last few months. Since we got back from our Europe tour we kind of went into our own little writing bootcamp. Me and Kelley would just like meet every day and write songs and then we met up with the band and arranged the songs and wrote more songs together. So yeah, we’ve been writing a ton of music so that’s what we’re excited for– bringing those songs to life.”
Daisy the Great will be performing with The Kooks and The Vaccines at MGM Music Hall at Fenway on March 8th, 2024. Tickets are available here.
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