KITTY Durham laughs when I suggest to her that growing up must have been like a punk version of The Waltons but admits that it’s not too far from the mark.

After all she and siblings Daisy and Lewis were multi-instrumentalists from a very young age, dad Graeme is both a guitarist and studio engineer and mum Ingrid was the drummer with The Raincoats.

Last year Kitty, Daisy and Lewis released their fourth studio album, Superscope and next week they come to Manchester as part of a live tour which marks their tenth anniversary as a band.

“We’ve always made music together,” said Kitty. “So for us that’s normality. We’ve done it for so long, to us it doesn’t seem weird but I guess from the outside it’s quite unusual.

“Now that we are a bit older with our own individual lives, we don’t spend as much time together as we used to but we still enjoy working together.

“It’s not like when we were kids sitting round the dinner table.”

For many families, the idea of being in a band together, particularly one that’s lasted for 10 years, would seem unthinkable but Kitty said that it has never really presented any problems.

“Everyone has arguments. That happens in any band,” she said. “But because we are family we know each other so well so we can hurl abuse at each other if it comes to it but then go and have a cup of tea together and just chill out. We don’t bear grudges.”

Superscope was a follow-up to their album The Third, which they produced with The Clash’s Mick Jones.

With its mix of R&B, blues, soul and even reggae Superscope has a live feel to it.

“That was intentional,” said Kitty. “With The Third there not only were the five of us from the band in the studio making decisions, we had Mick Jones as well. It was was cool and it worked well and we were very pleased with that album.

“We wanted a full, rich production so we had strings and horns and the sound was quite epic. But for the new record we wanted to try something different.”

Adding to the live, almost retro feel to Superscope, several tracks were recorded as live and a couple of the songs were written in the studio.

“The final song, Broccoli Tempura, started with me and Lewis just jamming and it was completed within half an hour,” said Kitty.

Having their own studio has also helped the band develop their own sound.

“It’s really handy for us,” she said. “We can work at our own pace day or night and do whatever we want.”

Following the release of The Third, Kitty Daisy and Lewis toured extensively for almost two years.

“Daisy’s got a baby now so things have quietened down a little,” said Daisy, “but we have a whole summer of festivals to look forward to after the current tour.

“Hopefully we’ll find time to get back into the studio later in the year.”

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, Gorilla, Manchester, Thursday, May 17. Details from www.seetickets.com