Exploring the eclectic sounds and creative journey of London's dynamic band, Daisy and the Deadheads.

This four-piece band, consisting of Daisy on guitar and lead vocals, Charlie on drums and backing vocals, Callum on guitar, and Olive on bass, seamlessly blends influences from anti-folk, Krautrock, and traditional folk music, creating a unique sound that they describe as "folk-wonk-pop." Join us as we dive into their creative process, the inspirations behind their latest tracks, and what drives their musical journey.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We’re a four-piece band from London comprised of Daisy (guitar and lead vocals), Charlie (drums and backing vocals), Callum (guitar) and Olive (bass). Some of our regularly cited musical influences include anti-folk group The Moldy Peaches, Krautrock band Can and folk singers like Peggy Seeger and Shirley Collins, though recently our music has probably moved further from the folk and closer towards the experimental rock and pop.

Your new EP Butter Wouldn't Melt just dropped. Can you tell us about the creative process behind this release and how it came together?

The process of writing and recording those songs was all really collaborative and enjoyable. We wrote Knots first, and that song marked a shift in our music towards heavier rock instrumentals. Baby was next; it’s very much led by the bass and drums and the vocals followed. It was probably the first song we’d composed in that way and definitely another shift in our creative process. Frog is the most upbeat of the three songs but, in-keeping with the other two songs, it features vocal distortions and a breakdown of the melody in parts. We recorded the songs with Chris from Klustersounds out in Kent. We had a lot of fun in the recording studio playing with echo effects on the vocals in Knots and adding some twinkly piano to cut through the moodiness in Baby. Chris also made a dub remix of Baby, which we loved, so we released it as a b-side.

The lead single “Frog” addresses the topic of difficult conversations. What inspired you to write this song, and how did the theme evolve over multiple rewrites?

Though Frog is one of our newer songs, the lyrics were written quite a few years ago by Daisy and she used to perform it solo with an acoustic guitar. The song is about struggling to communicate your feelings. Its upbeat tone, combined with the lyrics, describe various coping mechanisms - brushing aside questions, diverting heavy topics of conversation, resorting to humour and physical connection in order to escape feelings of vulnerability. The lyrics are suitably incomplete - they never spell out the situation in its entirety or arrive at the point of describing the feeling itself, but say just enough for people to work it out themselves.

Your music has been described as “folk-wonk-pop.” How did you come up with this unique genre label, and what does it mean to you?

It’s tricky pinning down a musical sound, and we deliberately tried to come up with something that encompassed broad and fairly opposing influences. Throwing wonky into the mix helped describe some of the lo-fi sounds we’re into, but also references Callum’s style of guitar playing, harmonic melody that writhes about and distorts, which has become a distinctive part of our sound.

What do you love right now?

When the weather is actually nice.

What do you hate right now?

UK politics is the first thing that comes to mind.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

Perhaps not a full album, but as a band we’ve been looking a lot to early 2000s pop music, the kind of thing that was everywhere when we were kids. We often play a cover of Toxic by Britney Spears at gigs and, more recently, Maneater by Nelly Furtardo. It’s been fun reinterpreting the heavily-produced electronic sounds in pop songs from that era using guitar and vocal effect pedals. Some of those same pop influences have been making their way into our own music too.