Theatre: Natasha Kozaily hits Wuthering Heights in Baby Bushka

It was only five years ago when Natasha Kozaily heard Kate Bush for the first time.

As a professional musician, Kozaily had been told she reminded people of the Wuthering Heights singer and she should listen to the legend’s back catalogue, but Kozaily didn’t follow their advice until the summer of 2017. And then her life changed.

“I grew up in the Cayman Islands and no one ever told me about Kate Bush, sadly,” she said. “When I did take the time to investigate, I became totally obsessed and I had the idea to put on a Bush dance party at a local club here in San Diego.”

That show in California was so well received that she decided to establish a band, Baby Bushka, that combines music, dancing and storytelling in honour of Bush’s legacy. Just 10 months after that first show, the eight-piece group embarked on its first UK tour – and one of Kate Bush’s collaborators came along to their opening night in London.

It was Del Palmer, part of Bush’s band when she played the pub circuit in the ’70s, and later a studio bass player and engineer on several of her albums.

“He came to see us on our first night in London, which was a big deal, and he gave us a lovely endorsement, which I think brought out the more sceptical Kate Bush fans who weren’t sure about us. Having his approval gave us a big lift and the tour was a success,” continued Kozaily, who owns and teaches at a school of arts in San Diego.

“I’m pretty sure word has got back to Kate, because Del said he had called her and told her we were coming to the show. We asked him to pass on a letter from us to her. He said not to expect a reply, but who knows, maybe she’s following the journey secretly. I like to think so! We told her how much her music had changed our lives and how grateful we are.”

Kozaily had no expectations of it being anything more than a one-off when she organised the club night to share her new-found passion.

“I had a pretty fleshed-out vision, but I didn’t expect it to carry on. When I fell in love with her music, I had this desire to sing it and bring it to life and share the music with everyone, because here she isn’t really well known. That’s what’s fun about playing in California – people don’t know of her so it feels like we’re converting people.

“When we played the UK, we were so scared to go over there in case we were booed. That first night in London, we played The Man With The Child In His Eyes as our fifth song and were stunned by the audience, who sang every word so loud that it brought tears to our eyes. It made me realise that, ‘Wow, this music is different over here – it means something else and is so powerful’, and we’re excited to feel that again.

“I love how endless her inspirations are. Her music is so weird but also it’s not. She’s such an authentic artist and she’s never done what’s expected of her and I respect that. Even in the way she’s managed her career, it’s so fascinating and inspiring. I’m sure it would have been easy to do what everyone wanted her to do – continue to play shows, interviews and promotion. But she did it her way and she’s remarkable.”

Baby Bushka is made up of a violinist, keyboardist, drummer, guitarist, bassist and three ladies at the front – Natasha, Nancy Ross and Lexi Pulido – do most of the vocals and choreography.

“Everyone comes forward at least once to sing lead,” Kozaily continued. “We perform her songs from throughout the decades. It’s funny, it’s sincere, it’s colourful and we take people on a journey.

“We’re excited to come back to the UK after two years of postponements and we have lots more we’d like to accomplish. I would love to move it from the punk rock venues we’ve been playing to theatres, and maybe do the Fringe. Right now, we do it all ourselves, but we’re hoping to get more support in that area after this tour.”

Baby Bushka, CCA, Glasgow, Saturday; The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sunday June 5