Herts &amp; Beds

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/06/The-Staves-.jpg" alt="The staves folk band " class="wp-image-164804" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">L-R: Camilla and Jessica Staveley-Taylor</figcaption></figure>



Living out the dream of sisters everywhere, The Staves debuted their then-three-piece indie band in a local Herts pub over a decade ago, and have since climbed the ladder to play to huge crowds around the world &#8211; including multiple Glasto gigs. Safe to say, they&#8217;ve earned their cred in the folk empire, collecting stamps of approval from genre giants like Bon Iver. Now a duo, after third sister Emily left, they&#8217;ve released their latest album All Now and are set to put another feather in their musical cap by headlining the final Towersey Festival in Bucks (Fri 23 &#8211; Mon 26 Aug) and playing the main stage at Folk by the Oak festival in Herts on 21 July. Muddy catches up with the homegrown talents behind our latest musical obsession.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/06/Staves-for-website.jpg" alt="The Staves folk band" class="wp-image-164800" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-congrats-on-your-latest-album-how-would-you-describe-it-to-new-fans-nbsp">Congrats on your latest album! How would you describe it to new fans?&nbsp;</h3>



Jessica: I think this is the most confident and honest we&#8217;ve ever been on a record. We dive into themes of self-examination and facing your fears, but we also focus on womanhood and sisterhood. We&#8217;ve always sung in a three-part harmony with our sister, Emily, and she isn’t featured on this record as much as before. So we&#8217;re stepping up to say, ‘This is where we are now’, as people and as a band. We&#8217;re not apologising for anything. Instead, we’re showing the reality of things, warts and all. Hopefully, people will connect with that vulnerability.&nbsp;



Camilla: I agree, we’re not the same band we were 10 years ago, and this album reflects that. While there&#8217;s a sense of frustration in there, there&#8217;s ultimately a lot of resolve and hope too. You can hear it on the album, we sound bold and assured.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-this-is-your-first-record-as-a-duo-how-s-that-going-nbsp">This is your first record as a duo, how&#8217;s that going?&nbsp;</h3>



Jessica: It&#8217;s been quite a long transitional period. Our third sister Emily left the group in 2020, so it&#8217;s not as though we&#8217;ve suddenly become a two-piece. We had been writing together and doing gigs without Emily for a while, so making an album felt like a natural next step.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The time we spent making the album made us grow closer because we would sit together most days of the week, get an acoustic guitar out, and dive right into writing songs. We had this studio in Hackney we&#8217;d go to every day and it felt like going to school with our backpacks and packed lunches. We were together all the time.



Camilla: Making our first album without Emily&#8217;s input forced us to reevaluate how this band is going to work with just the two of us. When there&#8217;s a dynamic that you&#8217;re so used to, it&#8217;s very easy to cruise through the music-making process. But this time we had to be very intentional about everything, which was great. What we wanted (and I think we achieved it in the end), was for the songs to stand up by themselves without all the bells and whistles.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/06/The-Staves-ext.jpg" alt="The staves folk duo playing in a town" class="wp-image-164803" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spill-the-beans-which-boybands-did-you-swoon-over-as-teens">Spill the beans, which boybands did you swoon over as teens?</h3>



Camilla: To be honest, I was never into boybands, but I was a massive Spice Girls fan. We met Mel C ages ago and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I used to make up choreos to their music at school and dress up as her. When she was standing right in front of me it was so surreal.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Jessica: Me too! I thought boys were gross back then, but I loved the Spice Girls. But we were all (obviously) obsessed with Robbie Williams.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-isn-t-have-you-ever-met-robbie-nbsp">Who isn&#8217;t! Have you ever met Robbie? &nbsp;</h3>



Jessica: Camilla wasn&#8217;t there, but I did! I walked past him in the corridor at a studio in North London when we were making our previous album, Good Woman. He was filming Christmas songs with Jamie Cullum and he smiled at me &#8211; I was completely starstruck. But I had to be professional, so I didn&#8217;t run over to him.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/06/The-Staves-performing-.jpg" alt="The staves folk duo playing on stage" class="wp-image-164802" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-headlining-towersey-festival-is-a-big-deal-are-you-excited-nbsp">Headlining Towersey Festival is a BIG deal, are you excited? &nbsp;</h3>



Camilla: We can’t wait. It&#8217;s so special for us to be performing so close to our home county, Herts. It&#8217;s like coming back to where it all started.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Jessica: It’s also one of our last festivals of this summer, so it’s a special one for us because we’ll be on the last leg of the tour and (fingers crossed) the sun will be out by then. It&#8217;s also bittersweet to performing at Towersey&#8217;s last year but it&#8217;s nice to be involved in such a landmark year for the festival. And I&#8217;m so excited to see Billy Bragg.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-give-us-your-top-festival-tips">Give us your top festival tips</h3>



Camilla: Spontaneity and toilet roll is all you need. You can ruin a festival by trying to plan too much into every move, so just go in ready for anything to happen&#8230; and explore.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Jessica: As musicians, we have a different festival experience, which has its pros and cons. You stay clean the whole day, which is great, but sadly you miss out on being in the thick of it. If you’re planning on being in the action you need comfortable shoes, suncream, water and a festival buddy you can wander around with. That’s all you can plan; the rest is in the hands of the festival gods.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-which-of-your-gigs-is-your-all-time-favourite-nbsp">Which of your gigs is your all-time favourite?&nbsp;</h3>



Jessica: It has to be Glastonbury. The first time we went, in 2009, we didn&#8217;t have a manager and we got a gig through a friend who was running one of the stages. The headliners were massive that year – there was Blur, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen &amp; the E Street Band. It was a great milestone for us as a band, and as fans of the other bands. I&#8217;ll never forget the moment Blur&#8217;s Damon Albarn sat on the drum riser and put his head in his hands with tears in his eyes. I’ve been doing that move in soundcheck ever since.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Camilla: Playing festivals is the best thing ever. Things can go wrong at the drop of a hat but that’s part of the magic – you’ll never play the same way twice. That&#8217;s true for all live performances in general, but it&#8217;s heightened at festivals because there are so many factors: the weather, the sound, and the crowds. Each festival is always its own thing.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/06/The-Staves-laughing.jpg" alt="The staves - two band members sitting in a stairwell laughing" class="wp-image-164801" style="aspect-ratio:1.4992503748125936;width:640px;height:auto" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-put-us-on-to-some-new-music-which-albums-do-you-have-on-repeat-right-now-nbsp">Put us on to some new music. Which albums do you have on repeat right now? &nbsp;</h3>



Jessica: I’ve been listening to Bess Atwell’s new album, Light Sleeper. She’s a great singer-songwriter, you should check her out.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Camilla: Mine is a band we’ve toured with. Listen to Memorial’s latest record, Redsetter – it’s fantastic.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-tv-shows-are-you-hooked-on-right-now-nbsp">What TV shows are you hooked on right now? &nbsp;</h3>



Camilla: The new season of Bridgerton was my go-to on tour. I&#8217;ve got my quibbles about it because it gets a bit silly sometimes, but it’s just so addictive!&nbsp;&nbsp;



Jessica: I’ll be honest, I stopped Bridgerton after Regé-Jean Page left. I just thought, ‘My work here is done.’ I recently watched Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Bridgerton, in the comedy-drama Big Mood, and loved it. It&#8217;s a great examination of mental health and sooo funny. Plus, Nicola is brilliant in it &#8211; as always.



We&#8217;re already packing our glitter wellies and loo roll ahead of the big day at Towersey in August. Break a leg, ladies. 



Fancy a listen to The Staves?&nbsp;<a href="https://staves.lnk.to/AllNow">All Now</a> is available to stream on all platforms and you can see The Staves live at <a href="https://www.towerseyfestival.com/artists">Towersey Festival</a> at Claydon Estate, Buckingham, on Sunday 25 August 2024, and at <a href="https://www.folkbytheoak.com/the-staves/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Folk by the Oak</a> in Hatfield on 21 July. 



Want more festival news? 



<a href="https://herts.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/summer-festivals-hertfordshire-bedfordshire/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Check out your hot summer festival guide: What&#8217;s on in Herts &amp; Beds</a> 



<a href="https://herts.muddystilettos.co.uk/reader-treats/win-family-ticket-folk-by-the-oak-festival-hatfield-park-hertfordshire/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Win family tickets to Folk by the Oak on 21 July</a>



<a href="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/arts-culture-things-to-do/towersey-festival-family-buckinghamshire-oxfordshire/">What’s so special about Towersey Festival?</a>

Sister act: Muddy meets Herts folk band The Staves

You may also like