Daisy the Great Discuss Their Origins, New Music, and Performing Live

I had the lovely opportunity to head backstage at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway to interview Daisy the Great. The indie pop group is currently on tour with The Kooks and The Vaccines (check out our show review). They will finish out their tour with five headlining shows. Check out Daisy the Great online via their official website.

How did you guys meet, and how long have you known each other?

Kelley Dugan: “We met in college and have known each other for twelve years. We met in 2012.”

How long have you been in a band together?

Mina Walker: “Since 2016!”

If you had to describe the vibe of Daisy the Great in three words, what words would you choose?

Walker: “Honest, everchanging, and awesome!”

Who would be your dream artist or band to collaborate with?

Walker: “Fiona Apple.”

What is your favourite and least favourite part of being a musician?

Walker: “My favourite part is the shows and getting to be creative every day. My least favourite part is the lack of alone time.”

Dugan: “My favourite part is getting to turn something in your head into music and my least favourite part is not getting enough sleep.”

Since your latest EP just came out in October, can we expect a new album soon?

Dugan: “We’ve been writing a lot, so you can definitely expect new music. We’re not quite sure what it’s going to be just yet, but we’ve written probably 20 to 30 new songs in the last four months.”

“Persephone” seems to be a feminist anthem/quiet female rage song. Would you describe it that way?

Dugan: “I think that definitely speaks to a point of it. I think it also speaks to a side of me that is about longing. I say that it’s a love song on stage sometimes because it’s based off this one telling of that myth where the sirens asked for wings to be able to find Persephone when she was taken to the underworld.

“So it’s also a song about them being misunderstood because they are seen as these creatures that sing in order to crash the men’s boats, but that whole side of the story is potentially irrelevant because it’s actually about them singing to try to find this person that they love that was lost.”

Walker: “It’s also more of a song about losing a friendship.”

Dugan: “I think it’s definitely about being misunderstood and—”

Walker: “And not just as a woman, but being anyone who is misunderstood.”

Do you guys get nervous before going onstage? You don’t seem nervous at all right now!

Dugan: “I think it depends—some days not really and some days I’m more nervous. I feel very excited, I don’t necessarily feel scared, but I feel tingly.”

Walker: “I feel comfortable. I used to feel nervous and I’m very relieved that that’s calmed down a bit. I’m very excited, I still get butterflies.”

Tour Dates:

03/25 – Voodoo Room at the House of Blues San Diego, San Diego, CA
03/28 – Parish, Austin, TX
03/29 – Three Links Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX
04/01 – Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, IN
04/02 – Preserving Underground, New Kensington, PA

Daisy The Great on March 10, 2024, photo by Kenzie Magnan