JOIN USWhen the three sisters from a little town called Watford, near England, take the stage, their voices embody what any musician knows as ‘the perfect harmony’. They are ‘The Staves’, an acoustic rock act comprising of Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor.
They recently performed a numbingly idyllic set at Bacardi NH7 Weekender, which saw the highest number of people crowding the stage in the two days of the festival. Metrolife catches up with the trio, who have gone from singing at local open-mic nights to touring with indie folk act, ‘Bon Iver’. “It’s been really great. I think things have naturally grown and that shows from the fact that we don’t do open-mic nights anymore,” says Jessica, the middle sister.
One look at them and it is evident that the three are sisters — no three strangers could harmonise as perfectly and effortlessly as them. But the youngest, Camilla, confesses that there’s more to them than meets the eye. “We’re actually fighting all the time, which is good because we can be really open with each other. We laugh more than we fight,” she smiles. The big sister, Emily, chimes in adding, “I think it’s good to have difference of opinions because we’re all really passionate about music. The clashes stretch the band musically and constantly challenge us.”
When it comes to the process of songwriting, all of them do everything — there is no division of labour in terms of writing the lyrics, composing the melodies and doing the arrangements.
“We don’t have a set process or system for writing a song. It really depends on the song and every song is different. Sometimes, it’s a solitary process and sometimes, the three of us work it out from scratch,” notes Camilla, adding that their recently
released debut album, ‘Dead & Born & Grown’ is as honest as the trio can get.
When asked whether the three have completely different musical influences, Jessica reminisces, saying, “Our parents listened to the ‘Beatles’ and that had a massive influence on all of us. Then there was Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and ‘Simon and Garfunkel’, which played a lot in the house.” Camilla nods in agreement adding, “But obviously, as you grow older, you branch out of your parents’ tastes and start exploring music on your own.”
This was the trio’s first trip to India and though they couldn’t indulge in spicy food as they’d hoped, they had a wonderful time here. “From whatever we’ve seen of Bangalore, the place is incredible. In less than 24 hours, we’ve come across monkeys, goats and horses! I love the trees here. As a child, we’d have climbed them and built tree-houses on them!” wraps up Emily with a smile.