Books, gigs and rock and roll... at Morecambe Library

Shelley Booth BBC Lancashire

Daisy Dares You is not your typical pop starlet

Remember when a library used to be a dull and boring place and so much as a whisper was met with a shush?

Not anymore... well certainly not at Morecambe Library when Daisy Dares You came to town.

Daisy - whose debut single Number One Enemy which also features Chipmonk is storming the charts - played there to a packed crowd of screaming fans.

The 16 year old is on a nationwide tour as part of the Get It Loud In Libraries campaign to promote reading.

Banging out tunes

Encouraging peers to read a good book isn't very rock and roll but then Daisy Coburn who is signed to Sony Music is not your typical pop starlet.

"I might be young, but I'm really not some blonde little dolly girl," she declares on Sony's website. "And I'm not [going] be a helpless artist. I know what I want, and the only way it'll come out that way is if I do it."

It's no empty threat.

She writes and produces her own material and plays a wide range of instruments as she demonstrates when I arrive at the library; she's banging out tunes on the drum kit and guitar.

She rejected Sony's original idea for the video of Number One Enemy and instead they ran with her idea of an Alice In Wonderland theme.

I don't have a complete aim; I don't want to give myself expectations. Daisy Dares You

Although she got to sit under a giant cup cake, filming the video wasn't all glamour with long hours and a less than fragrant pig to contend with.

Daisy explains: "We started filming at four in the morning and didn't finish until ten o'clock at night. I was dead at the end of the day but it was fun; it's time-consuming but it's good."

Daisy - who was short-listed in the BBC's Sound of 2010 - says she's had a ball rocking out at libraries. "I've really enjoyed the library gigs."

Bubblegum pop-punk

Gig-goers of all ages checked out the Morecambe leg of the tour, "Younger audiences are so much fun, they just want be at the front and dance around."

She may be promoting reading but does she really find time to read in between making her bubblegum pop-punk, personal appearances and working with pigs?

Actually, she does. She spends much of her spare time reading poetry which she says has helped her song writing.

She's currently got two books on the go. "At the moment I'm reading a book called This House Is Haunted about a haunted house that my nan used to live next to in Enfield.

"She told me about the story and there's a book about it so I'm reading that and a book about Patti Smith."

Daisy is a prolific reader; she loves reading poetry

While she often has her nose in a book, she avoids the gossip columns in newspapers and online having had her fingers burnt already with misquotes. "I've just moved out and have no TV or laptop so I just don't see it."

So what of press reports that rock queen Courtney Love has taken her under her wing? Well, they are somewhat exaggerated according to Daisy. "I met her; I met her briefly once. I am a massive fan of hers, but I haven't hung out with her."

For a teenager snapped up by a major label and with a hit record already up her sleeve she is level headed about the music industry and her aspirations.

"I don't have a complete aim; I don't want to give myself expectations. I really want to be able to travel with this, see places I've not seen like America and Australia."

She added: "I just love playing live and want to be able to play loads."

Judging by scramble to get Daisy's autograph as she came off stage, her audience loves her playing live just as much as she does.