Sherlock's Daughter Interview: SXSW 2010

When Arthur Conan Doyle penned his Sherlock Holmes classics, it's hard to imagine he knew his title character would be the inspiration for an electro-pop band from down under made up of four guys and a sultry lead singer. The band, Sherlock's Daughter, is preparing to wow American audiences with its performances at SXSW. Lead singer, Tanya Horo, spoke with Spinner about the band's unusual name, how the members met and her own addiction to nachos.

How would you describe your sound in your own words?

I would say it's kind of eclectic. I guess there are pop elements within the music and electronic elements within the music. It's all about personality fused into sound. It's electronic pop I guess.

How did Sherlock's Daughter form?

It started off just solo where I had written heaps and heaps of songs and then decided I wanted to play them live. So it started with friends like the guitarist was my flat-mate at the time and he knew some guy as school who was a mad electronic guy so he came to rehearsal and the place where we rehearsed was the drummer's house and he just started jamming with us. It just came about that way maybe two years ago.

What are your musical influences?

We all have a similar love for Moondog who was amazing. David Bowie. Animal Collective. There are heaps of influences and they all kind of come together in the music and make it a bit of a meshed up sound I think.

How did you come up with the band name?

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 'Sherlock Holmes' and Arthur Conan Doyle is one of my favorite writers. I think I'm slightly obsessed with him in a really unhealthy way [laughs]. I was reading Sherlock Holmes while I was kind of deciding I want to perform songs live. For some reason I was doing my Myspace and needed a name and while I was reading I was just like, "Sherlock's Daughter! That'll be mad!"

How did the rest of the band react to that?

They were okay. It's quite a feminine name and they're guys and they've got testosterone but I think they're okay with it. If they're not, they haven't told me. I'm sure they've come up with other names they've wanted to use, but the name's kind of stuck. A lot of people like it. Band names are really hard. It's stuck now.

Where there any other names you considered?

That's it [laughs]. I didn't consider anything else. That was it. Once I've made a decision I kind of stick with it and don't think of any other options that cross my mind. Otherwise I become unbalanced [laughs] and think, "Oh no, what have I done?!"

What was your first celebrity crush?

It was probably David Bowie in 'The Labyrinth.' Is that weird? It's probably definitely that.

What's your biggest vice?

Probably nachos [laughs]. They've ruined me a couple of times in my life.

Well there are a lot of nachos in Austin.

I know! It's like my drug. I won't come out and play. I'll just be in the hotel room eating nachos. I love nachos. I'm eerily addicted to them.

David Dennis Jr. is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.