DAISY
Photography by Seannie Bryan. Interview by Heather Hawke.
What do you get when you have four best friends on their way to take over the world, who’s sound has been dubbed “loud jazz” and “punk R&B”? You have LA-based band DAISY who’s fronted by lead singer and multi-disciplinary artist Daisy Hamel-Buffa (who you may know from her solo moniker DAISY WORLD) alongside bassist Alex Kasvikis, keyboardist Ben Roswell Salk and Matthew “Rat” Fildey on guitar.
They’ve been making self-proclaimed “music for kissing” since 2015, but this current iteration of the band only started coming together around 2018 (it was previously Daisy on keys and vocals, and Alex on bass with a rotating cast of musician friends and collaborators for their backing sound). It was around 2018 that Daisy started realizing that she didn’t actually like playing piano and that she also needed more space to grow as a performer.
After Daisy and Alex had watched Ben perform a few times with his own project, Universe, they instantly recognized how well he – alongside his complex jazz motifs – fit within the DAISY universe. The fourth member, Matthew, affectionately known as “Rat” to his bandmates, become the last piece of the puzzle almost a year later. Without being fully aware that the band was as much a fan of his work as he was theirs, they asked him to join as their guitarist soon after he moved from Seattle to LA.
In the two years since DAISY’s 2019 EP HAVE A SNACK EP, while the band have had unintentional year and a half hiatus, Daisy kept herself busy snagging solo features on Tyler, the Creator’s most recent effort Call Me If You Get Lost and Steve Lacy’s Apollo XXI. She also started a clothing line that exclusively features her hand painted designs.
After having spent a winter writing and mixing solely through virtual sessions, due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, the members of DAISY wanted to figure out how to make music together in person again. They first met outdoors in Daisy’s backyard to work on the songs, but it was limiting in ways: As they were outside, Ben says, “It was kind of hard to hear, couldn’t record demos.” But it also forced them to use a lot of imagination and truly envision the songs before heading up to Seattle, where they rented an Airbnb to record in for two weeks. Once in Seattle, the six of them (touring drummer Clayton Krauss and engineer Sam Rosson joined the band) functioned so much like a family during their stay that, as Matthew tells us, they even ate every meal together. The outcome of which is DAISY’s third EP S.O.M.E., which was released in October and stands for “suck on my energy” (a phrase frequently used by the band to describe feeding off the positive vibes of friends and loved ones).
DAISY’s web/socials: Website – Bandcamp – Soundcloud – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
Hi! So, these past 20 months have been pretty intense due to various reasons including the pandemic… Before we began, how are you doing with everything? How has this last year been for you and how are you feeling? How have you been coping with everything?
Daisy Hamel-Buffa (DHB): I think we’re mainly just so happy to be playing shows again…
Alex Kasvikis (AK): Yeah it was wild not having shows or tours or being able to see people (including each other!!!!)…. But we made it out the other side and we’re better than ever 🙂
I feel like the music industry has shifted even more so during the pandemic. How has it felt, to you, as an artist? Has it been freeing? Is it scary trying to question how to approach music making and then how to or if you want to creatively release it to the public?
Ben Roswell Salk (BRS): We’ve just never fully abided by what people say should be done… so in Covid we just kept doing our thing as safely as possible (outdoor rehearsals lmao).
Going back to the beginning. Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like growing up there? Did creativity/music/art play a big part of your childhood?
DHB: Growing up in LA was sick, I feel like it’s a place where art is not only supported but encouraged.
BRS: Yeah so many people are doing dope, creative things all the time.
DHB: It’s also just so gorgeous and beautiful it’s easy to get inspired.
AK: Rat and I both grew up in San Diego where art isn’t totally as supported. Like there were soooo few all age venues for us to play when we were teenagers it was hard. LA’s been my home for 8 years now and I’m never leaving dude it’s the best city on earth!!!
Matt “Rat” Fildey (MF): Yeah, I love LA, and find it to be a lot more inspiring for me creatively than San Diego! No shade to you SD, you are infinitely more chillaxed and I love it 😉 .
Tell me about your musical upbringing. What music did you grow up listening to? When did you first become aware that music was going to be a part of your life? What was your formal / not formal music education like growing up?
ALL: We all grew up listening to SO many different kinds of music, which is a huge part of why our sound is so genre less and freeeee!
MF: CLASSIC ROCK!!!
DHB: I honestly just wanted to be a Spice Girl so bad I manifested these vocals in my mouth.
AK: I’ve just truly wanted to be a musician my whole life lol, I think that goes for everybody here. Like we’ve all been singing and playing our whole lives.
BRS: used to play classical, now I play ROCK!!!
Talking some more about your formative years… What was the very first concert you attended? Did you play any sports / go to summer camps? When was the first time you felt super inspired by music? Were there posters on your wall when you were growing up?
DHB: When I was in pre-school I went to see Britneyyyy BITCH.
AK: My first concert was Iron Maiden lol. It was the first time I smelled weed and also the first time I saw a real boob.
BRS: Backstreet Boys. 4th Grade.
MF: *The Black Keys (* = whispered so quietly, the internet can’t hear)
What was your songwriting/creative process like for your new EP (S.O.M.E)? How long was the writing/recording process of it? Was there an event or a specific timeframe where a large chunk of the lyricism came out?
ALL: We arranged this project distanced, masked up in the backyard. Some of the songs are super old and some of them came to be during that first covid summer when we all felt crazy. We also recorded the EP in Seattle with our boys Sam Rosson and Clayton Kraus (SHOUTS OUT OUR BOYS!) in August 2020, so it’s all very wrapped up in that wild isolated time. Huge huge love to Sam and Clayton for riding with us in our little pod!
Did you have any parts of the tracks off of the S.O.M.E EP (whether it be lyrics, beats, harmonies) around the time of 2018 EP Have A Snack or before?
DHB: “We’re Alright” is actually one of the oldest songs in our catalogue. I wrote that shit straight outta high school. “Eastside,” “5th & Westy,” and “Shade” are our freshest bebes.
Where were you at physically, mentally when you wrote the lyrics/music for the S.O.M.E EP?
DHB: All of these songs were written in such different times and emotional states.
Did the writing process change since the last time you worked on music? Is that process something that’s shifted for you over time?
AK: This EP was the first recording since this exact iteration of the band came together. It definitely felt super cohesive and open and sweet.
MF: Yeah, this was my first time recording in this band, and it was a dream come true! Everyone really focused on making sure that all ideas were considered, and I’m really proud of how it all came together!!!
Do you find it helpful to be intentional when it comes to writing the lyrics / music? Like “I’m going to sit down and work on a song.” Or is it more ephemeral, like you’ve been kicking something around in your head for days, weeks, months, and then suddenly it comes spilling out? Or is it a mixture of both?
DHB: That shit just happens when it happens. If I try to control my inspiration, I end up just fighting with myself. At this point, I’ve learned to not judge myself when my creativity isn’t flowing and just patiently wait for my lil muse to show up again.
As this was your third EP, what mindset did you have going into the creating / recording process of it? Did you feel any sort of limitations when writing or recording it? Which songs were the easiest / most difficult to create? What song(s) are you most proud of on this record? Why?
AK: For me personally, producing the record, I went into this record wanting to be open to all ideas that we had and knowing that if we achieved that we could make something that sounds like nothing else ever. I think we succeeded 🙂 I’m most proud of “Eastside.”
BRS: Having to meet outdoors in Daisy’s backyard to work on the songs was limiting in ways: it was outside, kind of hard to hear, couldn’t record demos. But it also forced us to use a lot of imagination and truly envision the songs before heading up to Seattle. Most proud of “5th & Westy.”
DHB: The most difficult song for us to arrange and produce was “Shade” for suuuuure. We had MANY different iterations of this track before it became the song it is today. I was worried we weren’t gonna be able to make it hit but alas we prevailed and now it’s one of my favorites on the EP. I fucking love all of the songs, especially the freshest ones.
MF: I’m most proud of “Eastside” 🙂 It’s a song that really came together naturally, and everyone knows that the true bangers basically slide right out of yah. Also, I feel like we pushed ourselves to make it sound different than anything we’ve done before, and just doing new things gets both myself and the rest of the band JUICED.
I read that the E.P.’s title (S.O.M.E.) stands for “suck on my energy,” a phrase frequently used by the band to describe feeding off the positive vibes of friends and loved ones. When and how did the album title come about in the album creation process?
TOGETHER IN UNISON: It started off as a joke, a working title if you will, but at some point, we all looked around the room and said, “Oh shit. That’s it. YES.”
What was your favorite part about the writing / EP creation process?
AK: Living in an Airbnb in Seattle for a couple weeks with my best friends was so much fun.
DHB: Writing songs is just like an insane and lovely feeling. I think my favorite part of writing is when you’re in the middle of writing a song and you’re so excited about it that it’s constantly stuck in your head and you wake up and run to the piano every morning. I love that shit.
BRS: Drunky’s Two Shoe BBQ down the street from the studio was clutch.
MF: I liked eating every meal together 🙂 It felt like we were a family haha.
Your music videos are so fun! What has been your favorite treatment of a video so far? Any fun behind the scenes stories from the making of it?
BRS: The guy who rented us the car in the “Eastside” video forgot to tell us he didn’t put gas in it. So we ran out of gas in the middle of filming while running out of daylight. We love that video and making it was really fun.
On that topic, how hands on are you with the making of / direction of the visuals (music videos, press images, artwork) that accompanies the music? Do you feel like the art that accompanies one’s music is more / less important than it used to be? How do you feel like social media / the internet impacts the intention behind all of this?
ALL: We are incredibly hands-on and intentional with every single thing that we put out!
Does traveling influence you as an artist? Are you inspired by the places you go, or do you think your work would sound about the same no matter where you created it?
ALL: We all love LA so much but recording SOME in Seattle opened us up to exploring other cities to work in. Where will we make the next project …? TBD 😉
How do you recalibrate before getting on stage and at the end of the day? How do you get in the correct mindset?
ALL: We breathe together before we get on stage. And Ben leads us in a sexually charged tantric chant. Just kidding…or are we? But we DO ACTUALLY breathe together to remember that no matter what happens, it’s the 5 of us against the world.
Have you had any mentors along the way?
AK: No mentors necessarily, but the best part of being in a band is that we all just get to be a fan of all the other members all the time 🙂
DHB: BIG facts these dogs are my mentors 100%. We’re all sucking on each other’s energies BOOOOOY!!!!
BRS: I’m inspired by these fools all the time, it’s crazy.
MF: I love my dogs! Woof woof!
