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We treaded into a delightful corner of the singer-songwriter world when we came across Daisy Kilbourne’s All The Hurt, an album that sounds like an obsession of Laurel Canyon at its peak. While the nostalgia resonates clearly, with supple melodies and sun-laden lyrics, Daisy’s idyllic version of the past feels very present. We love her honest approach to an era too-quickly crossed over into lazy tropes, and the whole album feels of the moment – "Someone To Hold’ especially. Keen as ever to know more about her and this prodigious work, we caught up with Daisy across the Pacific:

OnesToWatch: Why are you an artist? 

Daisy Kilbourne: That's a good question, actually. I just think that musicians are the cool people, obviously. But, my dad was a musician and a producer and he played all the instruments, and he always had a studio at any house that we were living in. He passed away, sadly, when I was 16, but I had just started getting into music around that time. So I was like, someone in the family's still got to be a rock star. I took that weight on. I just had always been surrounded by music growing up and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. 

Love it. What a gift to leave you with. 

Yeah. Got to keep going, continue the legacy. 

Heaven forbid you didn't have these musical abilities, could you imagine yourself doing something else? Do you have a pivot, a proxy career? 


I love fashion, and my mom is a fashion designer. She helps me get a lot of my outfits for shows, and everyone's always like, where did you find this? I can't take any credit. It's all my mom. I think that's where my love for 70s fashion comes from, and then the 70s music inspiration comes from my dad. 

You illuminated it a bit in the way that your father passed this on, but do you remember when you first wrote a song with the intention of sharing it with people? 

For my family, it would have been 10 years ago. My sister was writing a song overseas, when she lived in London. I'd taught myself guitar off YouTube pretty much, and she was like, you should try and write a song. The next Skype we had, I played this song I wrote for her, and she thought it was really good… I cannot remember most of it, but I know it was terrible and she was probably just being nice. But the first time I played a song for someone who wasn't my family was probably for my music class at school, probably year 10. It was about my dad and he was still sick at the time. I remember my music teacher just started bawling her eyes out. Now my journey and my plan of my life is to just make people cry at my gigs. I fear I won't be fulfilled unless people are crying to my sad songs. 


I think you have the prerequisite melodrama required to be a good artist. Given you've been writing for some time then, what is your process? 
Are you melody first, lyric first, or chord structure? Do you topline? Do you start with themes? How do you go about it? 

I am probably the most untraditional musician, in the sense that I don't know any theory about music and I don't really have a process. I just sit down, try and write every day, or at least play the guitar every day. Sometimes I’ll write little notes if ideas come to me, but I'll never have a melody come to me. It'll more often be lyrics. 

Love it. You say you write every day. Why is that routine helpful? 

The routine keeps the muscle moving. Sometimes you’ll come up with an idea that you’ll come back to weeks later that completes a song. Sometimes absolute shit will come out, I’ll think I should give up. I used to get really upset if I was trying to write a song and I couldn't write something. I’d think I've already written all the songs I can. 
There's nothing left in the tank. But obviously it's just writer's block and you're not going to write something profound every day. 

Let's talk about your most recent single. Who is the "Man from California?” 

I actually can't remember his name. 

Oh, wow. 


But I was working in a cafe and he had come in a few times, and we got on really well, really quickly. He grew up in Laurel Canyon in the 60s and 70s. So this was a much older gentleman. And I was like, wow, this sweet old man lived my dreams, so I'm going to get to know everything about it. He seemed like such a legend. He lived this awesome life in Laurel Canyon and then moved down to Geelong. The third time we chatted, he gave me a hug before he left. I’m a hugger, so I didn’t think it was weird. But then he went in for a very awful, massive squeeze of a hug, and all of a sudden it felt different. He proceeded to whisper in my ear… he had very different ideas about where our relationship should go. I was just in shock and pretty much wrote the song in half an hour to process what just happened. At least I got a song out of it. 

Well, I'm sorry that happened to you, but you did get a great song out of it, so, I guess both things can be true. 

It could be worse. But it could’ve been so nice. He could’ve given me a shoebox of old photos from the 60s with all kinds of Laurel Canyon lore. We could have had a good thing going. Just not the good thing he wanted. 
I did actually visit Laurel Canyon a few years ago. It was magical. 


I’m glad that experience didn’t ruin the magic for you. 

Of course. I think it's so peaceful. It reminds me a lot of my hometown, Daylesford, which is this very small, green town. Laurel Canyon doesn't even feel like you're in America anymore. It’s this little haven. 

Going back to “Man From California,” when you release a song, do you have certain ambitions for it, or do you just let the world take the song where it leads? 


I let the world take it where it wants to go, where it needs to go. But I also do have hopes that it connects with the right people. I feel like that has happened with every song. 
It might not be a shit ton of people, but as long as it's helping one person through something, that means I've done my job. If it wants to blow up, it could do that. 

We’re not going to stop it. I'm going to pivot to a series of fun questions. If you could dream up a perfect festival lineup – with you included or not – who would be on the lineup? 


You won't be surprised by this one, but headlining is Joni Mitchell. Another artist who I've been obsessed with is Arlo Guthrie. He's hilarious and the best. A more recent one is Bonny Light Horseman. Obsessed with their music, obsessed with everything that they do. I'd love to see Way Dynamic. Just read the Woodstock lineup and I'd be happy. CMAT's amazing.
I saw her for the first time this year in Melbourne, I was just blown away. I'm not religious, but that felt religious. 

If you could transport yourself to the most peaceful, zen state, where would you be and what would you be doing? 

I'm going to sound like such a Joni Mitchell freak fan, I would transport to – not her house while she's in it, that would be weird – but her house in Laurel Canyon where Graham Nash wrote “Our House” with her. I walked past the house, once, and the gate was open. I didn't go in, but I wanted to. I would just love to be able to go into that house and write and be at peace, not have any technology, no phones or anything. Just relax how they would have done it in the day and know that there's echoes of those songs and that amazing relationship in that house. 

I'm a big believer in the historical aura of places, so I love that. Okay, let’s say a bunch of your friends are hungry after a fun day: can you cook up a meal? And if you can, what would it be? 

This is a good one. I love cooking. I used to be obsessed with the Food Network TV station when I was younger. It's still my favorite. I would probably make a wicked plate of nachos or something. Crazy, crazy big ol’ tray of nachos. Got all the good shit on there. Spicy margaritas also. 

Given you're vegetarian, what do you use as toppings? 

All the regular things, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, salsa. I like to fry up like street corn, put that on there, and then refried beans.

All right. Last few questions. I would love a non-music recommendation – something you’d put your friends onto. 

I’m going to recommend a book I read. I can't remember the name of the author, but I believe it's called The Soul Catcher. It's a book of short stories, which I wouldn't usually go for, but I bought the book thinking it was just a novel.
All of these short stories are about when someone dies, whoever's in this little realm afterwards thinks that they need more time to spend with someone that they loved. They say you can pick any inanimate object and live in that object to keep an eye on your loved ones. Each short story is someone else's death and who they're going back to visit and what object they choose. Someone picks a camera, somebody picks a massage chair in their living room. It's really interesting and it's also really beautiful. 

Sounds beautiful. I would also love a music recommendation. 

Do you know Dr. Hook? There’s an album called Sometimes You Win and it's got like the coolest cover ever, with dice and faces printed on them. If I had to put a new release in there though, I’d say Flyte’s album, Between You and Me, which came out last year. 

That's great. Last thing I’d like to end on is your words. Shoutouts, promo, anecdotes, jokes, anything you want to share. 

My first ever album just came out and I’m very excited. I've been doing this for a long time, and to finally have a body of work feels incredible. I’m very proud of it and I can't wait for everyone to hear it. I'm also doing a little tour. This isn't going to be for the people of California. It's going to be for the people of Australia. And I would just say, wherever you are, have a lovely day. I hope the sun's shining. and go listen to some Dr. Hook. 


This was so lovely, thank you Daisy. 

Thank you!