Fresh as Daisies

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]I[/dropcap]f you’re a fan of indie music, you may have been blessed enough to stumble across CCFX’s song, “The One to Wait.” It was, and is, a favorite for electro indie lovers. Unfortunately, the Pacific Northwest CCFX broke up too soon after its inception—but soon thereafter, Daisies was born.

One of the band’s founding members, Chris McDonnell, along with some of his former CCFX bandmates are embarking on a new music project, known as Daisies. The new group blends indie pop styles with a harder drum and bass edge, featuring collaborators from McDonnell’s longtime band Trans FX. Unlike some of McDonnell’s previous endeavors, Daisies embrace traditional pop music.

With all that musical maneuvering, it’s a wonder how McDonnell has time for press. But the musical scholar and daily cannabis consumer talked with CULTURE about Daisies’ background, influences and how they use cannabis creatively.

Tell me a little bit about your musical history, and how Daisies came to be.

We have been making music for a while, and wanted to start a new group with it. I’ve been doing Trans FX for a long time, and more and more I have been getting different people to sing on the songs. Daisies is with my girlfriend Valerie [Warren] singing, she sang two songs on the Showroom Dummies, Trans FX’s last album.

So I was making all these new tracks to do another CCFX album, but then we broke up. That band broke up but I had a bunch of songs produced for a woman to sing. Valerie has a wonderful voice, and she’s the main singer. We’ve been playing music together for about a year, and we use a lot of the same people from Trans FX and CCFX, it’s kind of a continuation of the same thing.

Who are some of Daisies’ musical influences?

Saint Etienne is one of the biggest, most blaring influences on what we’re trying to accomplish with using samples, and kind of more beat-driven indie music. We’re going for a throwback indie vibe is the concentration for the song with the backing sound a little harder and more on point, with some breaks and a little drum and bass influence, kind of that 2000-era electronic music. So we’re kind of juxtaposing those elements.

“I don’t think it has so much to do with getting high, it’s more the natural break that smoking weed provides.”

Does cannabis influence your creative process or your sound?

Yeah, I think it does. I like to go in and out and think it doesn’t, and that I could not smoke and do the same thing, but when I don’t smoke that’s the first thing I notice affected, is the creative process. I don’t think it has so much to do with getting high, it’s more the natural break that smoking weed provides. Like if I’m working on beats, and there’s a good point to stop, it’s like “oh time to go smoke!” I mean people do that with cigarettes, but I like to do that with weed. It’s my break, gives me a breath of fresh air and lets me reset my slate. I’m not trying to get really far out there, that’s not what I’m looking for anymore. I’m more of a maintenance smoker, which is why I like sativas.

What’s your favorite thing to listen to when you’re consuming cannabis?

Brown Rice by Don Cherry is really good. But mostly, honestly, I just like to put on a mix on YouTube so I don’t have to think about it.