Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, The Ruby Lounge, Manchester

“Journalists will see what you’re wearing and then describe the music they think you play from that,” asserts middle-child Lewis Durham, with guarded cynicism. “If we suddenly went onstage with pink Mohicans and nose rings they wouldn’t call us rockabilly,” he quips while pre-quiff backstage in Manchester.

Although this colourful picture is somewhat hard to imagine, its rebellious connotations are not to be taken lightly. In front of us sits a trio striving for self-determination, keen to depart from 2008’s highly acclaimed debut. Eight out of ten tracks on the previous record were cover versions which these siblings had been surrounded by since being knee high to a double bass. “My dad would just sit us on his knee and start playing,” explains Kitty, the youngest at 18-years-old. “We had to get away from the perception the covers created,” adds older sister, Daisy. Recently released, ‘Smoking In Heaven’, is their first foray into song-writing.

The black-and-white artwork of 2008 has been left behind in favour of a Technicolour sleeve in which all members hold cigarettes. Facial expressions are impaired by plumes of white smoke, in an image hazy not with nostalgia, but an assertion of adulthood. In the dressing room too, language used is more fitting of the aforementioned punk rock Mohican and certainly makes this no place for children. “Sometimes I think are these songs any good or are they shit,” asks Lewis, in one of many frank answers.

The projected maturity is only stifled when their parents (also backing musicians), enter the room. “Daaad, Get out,” moans Lewis at one interruption. “When people write about us they all say the same thing, they’re this age - they’ll say that first - and then they’ll say they’re a family, they went to school and play rockabilly,” he articulates while being once again disturbed by an intrusion. This time it’s mother of the family, Ingrid, who enters. “I know you’re going to bollock me but I need my bag,” she searches.

Onstage there is no question about who is in control. The three highly competent and incredibly confident musicians swap instruments around, where other bands may well pass herbal smokes. What is striking about tonight is not just the command Kitty, Daisy and Lewis have over their audience, but the conviction with which new lyrics are sung. ‘I’m Going Back’ sees Daisy wrestling with alcoholism, “one more shot to hit the spot, maybe a couple more… Let me hit the floor,” she rasps. Lewis stares defiantly into the crowd while forcefully bemoaning a relationship breakdown during ‘Don’t Make A Fool Out Of Me’, and as the spotlight hits a suited frame, it’s his father who is in the shadow.