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I Blame Coco - 8 Minutes and 32 Seconds with Sting's Daughter

Last time Q spoke to Sting he said he would much rather be in his kitchen in Tuscany making music, than answering our questions. So going to meet his teenage daughter Coco, who apparently shares her father's dislike of interviews due to her self-professed social awkwardness, was a little daunting to say the least.

The setting is Manchester's Ruby Lounge, where Coco would later be entertaining a sold-out crowd of burley men and trendy students under her band name, I Blame Coco. After watching their set at The Secret Garden Party, a fan outside lets Q know his thoughts, "Best band I've seen since Oasis," he says. And yes, to reiterate, this is in Manchester. So no pressure then.

Q thought best to go easy on the girl and ask about a few of her favourite things, before approaching the harder-hitting stuff... Trouble is, that's kind of as far as it went.

Q: Hi Coco how are you?
Coco Sumner: Good, thanks.

Q: What are you drinking?
CS: Tonight I'm going to pace myself as it's Pete, our drummer's last night in the band.

Q: What is your usual warm up routine?
CS: We have a few drinks, chat to people, no weird rituals like cutting ourselves or anything like that.

Q: How is touring going?
CS: We've been touring in the splitter. It splits into two compartments. I sleep in it and feel right at home.

Q: Who is your idol?
CS: When I was younger it was Ian Dury. In fact I think it still is actually.

Q: What is your favourite track on your forthcoming album, The Constant?
CS: 'It's About To Get Worse'. It's the ballad of the record, the slow one.

Q: Do you have a worst habit?
CS: Not really - I'm not really a fan of bad habits.

Q: What is your favourite cover to perform?
CS: The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. We did that at Glastonbury with Liam Bailey. He came and sang it with us - he's brilliant.

Q: What is your favourite festival memory?
CS: Seeing Neil Young at Glastonbury last year. And then performing there this year, which was completely mind-blowing.

Q: Where is your favourite place to hang out when you're not on tour?
CS: Stockholm.

Q: When did you last wash your hair?
CS: Four days ago. Someone came up to me and told me about dry shampoo - I didn't really know whether to take it as a compliment or not.

Q: What are you reading at the moment?
CS: Nothing at the moment, although I'm usually reading all the time. I do like Harry Potter but I find it really hard to get into a lot of books because I've got a terrible attention span.

Q: What is your guilty pleasure track?
CS: Britney Spears' record Circus. I'm a sucker for it. I don't know why but I think it's brilliant. I really don't need to tell people about that do I?

Q: What is the best thing about playing live?
CS: I think its sort of a subconscious thing - I get this huge ball of energy and I don't really know what to do with it. I feel very at home on the stage performing.

Q: What do you like wearing on stage?
CS: Whatever's clean.

Q: Who do you admire in the music industry, be it personally or professionally?
CS: I like Plan B, in every way.

Q: Do you have any pet hates?
CS: Err... Chewing gum.

Q: (quickly hiding gum under tongue and apologising profusely)
CS: Oh no, I'm sorry, it was a joke.

...And it's at that moment that Coco is called to go on stage.

So no, admittedly Q didn't get chance to ask about being the daughter of a rock legend, or about the bump on the head in L.A which caused Coco to lose her sense of smell. But we did get in Britney, Fleetwood Mac, Plan B, hair washing, and just maybe offended her by chewing, all in less than ten minutes.

Coco later smashed the gig; ethereal vocals, stage diving and dad-dancing (honest) intact. Whether her band are giving those Gallagher brothers a run for their money is yet to be decided, but their lead singer was certainly a lot less mouthy.

I Blame Coco's debut album The Constant is released on October 4th. Pre-order it from their MySpace page here

I Blame Coco tour dates:
Tues 24 Aug Camp, London
Thurs 26 Aug 2010 Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
Fri 27 Aug Leeds Festival
Sat 28 Aug Reading Festival
Fri 10 Sep Bestival, Isle Of Wight

Tickets are available from our sister website Aloud.com

Words: Kaitlin Sullivan
Kaitlin keeps her own personal music blog here

11:01 AM | 19/08/2010