By Jimmy BlakeNewsbeat reporter


Since releasing their second album, 2015's If I Was, The Staves have cultivated a place for themselves at the top of the UK folk scene.
The trio, Jessica, Emily and Camilla Staveley-Taylor, have just finished a UK and Ireland tour by topping the bill at London's Bushstock Festival.
"We made it!" laughed Jessica, speaking ahead of the set.
The following group chant of "lads, lads, lads" indicated their headliner status hasn't gone to their heads.


The group previously played at Bushstock in its first year in 2011.
Between their appearances at the festival they've toured the world and released two albums the second of which made the top 20 in the UK and was produced by Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon, who the sisters refer to as "our Gandalf".
"Different things hit you at different times," explained Emily.
"Every time we've played Shepherd's Bush we've always had to drive back to Watford or stay in some Travelodge out of town.
"But last night we got to stay in K West with all the other bands. It's weird, things like that mean a lot.
"It's like 'look how far we've come'."


In 2016, the sisters swapped their hometown of Watford for Minnesota, where they've been living for the last year with "a bunch of Americans" being added to their touring crew.
"The level of musicianship is so high and the people are all really nice. It's a home from home," said Emily.
"It's lovely, it's got that collaborative sense. Justin's [Vernon] definitely a part of that and there are a lot of musicians affiliated with it.
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That sense of collaboration is something they've adopted in their approach to performing.
Camilla explained how being involved in events like Michelberger Music in Berlin, which involved hundreds of artists including Bon Iver, The National and Alt-J collaborating for five days before showcasing what they'd worked on had been "a life-changer".
"The spirit of that festival is something everyone has tried to hang on to."
"We love collaborations and things like that and immersing ourselves in whatever scene we're in."
See The Staves' post: This is one happy bus!
She added how being able to "Berlin it" and not force themselves to focus on a single project at a time has changed their attitude to releasing music, too.
"Sometimes the way everything, including festivals and tours, is set out is like an album cycle even though people don't always listen to music like that anymore.
"That doesn't always correspond with your creativity."


Although there hasn't been a full Staves album since 2015, they've released two EPs in that time and are starting to think about what's next.
Camilla continued: "You don't have a complete blank space then get inspired and write a whole body of work and release something. That's not how it works."
"We've been trying to just put things out when we want to rather than being like 'we've got this song, let's make sure we sit on it for two years and put it on an album and strategically release it'."
"We feel like it is time to concentrate on a larger body of work. We do have songs in the pipeline," said Emily.
Jessica added: "I think we want to do an album and we have been writing but we've got nothing yet I'm afraid."
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