A hopping set that had a wistfully nostalgic crowd wiggling in their fishnets. Photo / Georgia Schofield
A hopping set that had a wistfully nostalgic crowd wiggling in their fishnets. Photo / Georgia Schofield
Since their last visit to these shores Kitty, Daisy & Lewis have shifted away from the Honolulu rockabilly edge and moved to a jump-blues place where baby-faced brother Lewis really starts to shine. The gap-toothed young man has emerged as a subtle ringleader to this family act, orchestrating a hoppingset that had a wistfully nostalgic crowd wiggling in their fishnets.
The Durham siblings, plus Mom and Pops, put on the kind of show that wouldn't seem out of place in a dusky back alley bar where everything is in black and white - the type of grimy juke joint you wanna keep a bit secret. Except in reality it's The Powerstation, and the talented trio has sold the place out. Again.
The youngsters take to their instruments like demons, slapping and beating the sound out of them. Initially the arrangement consists of longhaired Kitty bashing at the keyboard upfront, while older sister Daisy, dressed in a devilish sailor suit, takes to the drums in a side-saddled fashion. Meanwhile, Lewis is crooning Don't Make a Fool Out of Me from downstage.
The next 90 minutes is mostly a blur. Somewhere in the middle their trumpet player Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thornton, an old kaleidoscope of a man, bursts in to blast out a few ska-esque numbers with the family.
The siblings move organically between old and new songs, and shift fluidly between different instruments. The only thing relatively stationary on the stage is the rhythm section, held by black double-bass slapping Ma Durham (Ingrid Weiss, formerly of The Raincoats) and their guitar-welding father Graeme. Their three tight-knit progeny not only switch between the more conventional band instruments of drum, guitar and keyboard, they introduce new sounds into the mix constantly, including banjo, accordion and harmonica. All executed without even a whiff of a setlist.
The energy falls a little flat when Daisy sings the black sheep of a song, Messing with My Life, the second single from their latest album Smoking in Heaven. But following the "last song" fake-out from Lewis, they resuscitate the vibe for another few tracks, treating the audience to the highlight of Kitty's howling harmonica solo on Say You'll Be Mine. Eventually they more-or-less resume their original configuration with Daisy wildly hammering away on the skins, to close the set on Mean Son of a Gun, which is accompanied by rapturous applause.
Despite pulling out a few chestnuts, their boundless talent has gained the Londoners an impressive strike rate of three sell-out shows in Auckland, their backwards evolution in music drawing a medley of a crowd, dressed to the nines and ready to dance. Here's hoping it continues.
Who: Kitty, Daisy & Lewis Where: The Powerstation, Auckland When: Tuesday 31 January
