It’s been a quickfire few years for Daisy Grenade, and there is still so much for them to explore.

But when it comes to their new EP ‘So Much To Say’, it feels like Keaton Whittaker and Dani Nigro have struck a new and extremely vital chord. Though just five songs in length, the rainbow of emotions and sonic threads on show is beautiful and boundless. More than anything, it is open; perhaps the most open the duo have ever been in their art. It takes a lot to put this sort of cocktail together, one that possesses as much tongue-in-cheek mockery as it does raw heartache. But the girls make it look effortless, delivering hook after hook that will get trapped in your head and soul for months to come.

To find out a bit more about how this release came to be and the effect it has had on the pair, Rock Sound caught up with them.

How are you both feeling about where Daisy Grenade has found itself with this release?

Dani: I think we’ve gone on a really interesting sonic journey from our first EP to this third EP, where the Daisy Grenade DNA has always been there, but there have been some pretty substantial changes from the sound from the beginning one to this one. This EP feels very much like a centring and grounding of what the Daisy Grenade sound is to Keaton and me, and what we’ve dreamed it would be since the beginning. We gave ourselves a lot of time to experiment and try different things, and we’re very open to trying all kinds of things to see what works and see how things feel for us. But this particular EP, and these five songs, and lyrically, sonically, storytelling-wise, feels like a true, it’s coming from Keaton and me in a very pure, true sense, that I think we haven’t exactly gotten to express before.

Keaton: I think when we started this band, we didn’t know really what we wanted, or what we wanted it to feel like or sound like, and we were just kind of open to trying everything. We knew where our influences were coming from, but we didn’t know what felt like the best way to express that, and as we’ve grown and changed, we’re closer to what we want. Some of these songs we’ve been sitting on for two plus, almost three years, and I think it was just time that we put our foot down and say this is what we are going to do. Our sound is very eclectic because it comes from a million different places, and we don’t necessarily feel like we fit in one genre, but the musical landscape we’re in right now is so genre-less. And regardless, we don’t really give a fuck what label people put on this. We want to put out the songs we want to put out.

RS: What’s clear about this particular batch of songs, and what slots them together so nicely, is just open and honest you’re being with them. No stone is left unturned, and no feeling is left unfelt. It’s a pretty special place to be artistically, but also one that means you have to be prepared for what sort of catalyst it’s going to be.

Keaton: I think there’s a real strength to the softer, more vulnerable side of this record. I think it is very difficult for me to be super vulnerable, not just in music but in life. My regular demeanour is a bit harder, and I think had we not put out the two records we did before this, I don’t know how comfortable that side of these songs would be. But I think it’s something I hope is very relatable and that people will be open to.

Dani: We keep on talking about the intimacy and stripped-down way of speaking from a place we may not have spoken from before. But with that comes a lot of confidence, and I think I had an interestingly inverse experience: our first two EPS forced me, who is a very soft, vulnerable, and emotional person, to tap into a fiery, powerful strength I don’t often access. And now, with this EP, I get to go back and explore something that feels a little more comfortable for me. It’s still a challenge, still pushing me. In everything we do, we’re always trying to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. But we will always be perfect little opposites that work so well together.

What has it been like to see your own relationship change within that dynamic over the years? How different are things from when you were first friends, let alone bandmates?

Keaton: Dani and I started this because we wanted to have fun, and we had no idea what it would become. As things have progressed, we’ve faced different challenges we didn’t expect. Different situations you never could have expected to be on the table. We never had a plan, so as we write and record, we take everything as it comes and don’t judge how the other person handles it. I think, ten out of ten times, Dani and I end up handling a situation differently because we are such different people. But the thing that keeps us connected is that, like, even though I know she would handle a situation differently than I would, I trust how she’ll handle it, and I respect it 100% of the time. So, the basis of our relationship is mutual respect. There is a song on this record where we had a 45-minute conversation about one word, because we knew we would get to the core of what we are both trying to say. So I think, as it evolves and changes, both in our personal relationship and our working relationship. As long as that mutual respect is the baseline, I think we can hit anything that comes our way.

Dani: This all does feel like a unique experience. I have not had any experience like this in my life. Our friendship was very new when this band started. We had just become friends, so our friendship has grown perfectly alongside Daisy Grenade. They’re incredibly intertwined, and we work really hard to maintain a healthy working relationship while also nurturing a relationship outside of it. Because if it all becomes just work and order, like, what are we doing? We both find that crucial to having a healthy working relationship, because if we don’t have a nurtured and cared-for personal relationship, how are we going to tackle all the incredible challenges that constantly come up on the business side?

RS: It also comes down to the people that you’re working with. You’ve written with The Wonder Years’ Dan Campbell on this EP, for example. There are people at your label, DCD2, whom you look to as heroes as much as mentors. But they have all been through these same things as you are. Finding your feet, understanding how open you want to be, and developing relationships that are both personal and professional. It must be reassuring to know that you aren’t the only one having to navigate these challenges.

Dani: We pride ourselves on the people we choose to collaborate with and the people we keep in our circle. We’re very grateful for this series of pinch-me moments that keep coming. But then we are also just so proud and grateful for the boys in our band, our creative director, our photographer, and the people on our team. We have these very, very close, important relationships that we have to try to nurture outside of this, because what makes this work for us. It means we’re constantly able to have moments when we have an idea, and everyone on our team is always like, ‘I was just thinking the same thing’. We have a very beautiful mind meld between all of us.

Keaton: It’s the same with the film we have made out of the videos for these songs. We decided to have a different director for every video. So I directed one, Dani directed one, Jamie, our Director of Photography, directed one and then Hannah, our Creative Director, directed two. We all had really different ideas, and the styles were very different, but when we saw them together, they felt like they made sense. That was really validating. It’s kind of how we felt about the songs in the first place, so that felt right to us alongside them.

RS: What would you say that this particular moment in the Daisy Grenade story, and these songs, have taught you about yourself and this band that you may not have been aware of before?

Dani: It is, once again, that there is extreme power in vulnerability, and people resonate with it. Our fans are really craving something real, tangible, and human, and I think we tapped into that. That was really important to us in every aspect of this EP. The cover art, our socials, the videos, everything was human-made by human hands, and I think we as a world are really craving that.  I think that’s something we will take forward as we continue with everything.

Keaton: I think it’s been becoming less concerned about how these songs are released. We’re putting out these songs because we like them and we feel connected to them. Like, the weird dubstep drop at the end of ‘Girls Are So Lucky’, it made me smile as we put it in. The inherent intimacy of putting something out because you’re unafraid of how it is going to be received. Dan Campbell said something to us, where he explained, ‘It’s not about what you say in a song, or the way you say it, it’s about how it’s unique to you’. It’s all about the fact that it’s coming from you. I think that is really important to us, and it’s also where the name of the record came from. It doesn’t matter what it’s about, as long as we say it the way that we want to say it. What about it will touch people? I’m just hopeful that it does.