Something for Kate Signs to Murmur Label
The Buzz
July 1996
'Something For Kate' have been creating rumours for over twelve months
or so about a mysterious 'local' band whose music is 'going to go places.
'Oh yeah, sure. Recently these rumours were confirmed when the band
signed to the famous (silverchair) Murmur label (part of the Sony Music Machine)
and we were finally able to catch up with the guys in the centre of the
monger mill and find out a bit about these graduates from Padua College
in Mornington there. 'Something For Kate' have released their first EP
'Subject To Change' and have a follow up three track single already laid
down for release. fast guys! We spoke to 'Kateperson' Clint, the
powerhouse drummer and soon to be former Christmas tree 'apprentice nurseryman.'
Now a name like 'Something For Kate' is a little unusual, sort of a new age
sensitive type guy name. It actually started out as somthing of a reminder,
when Paul had to write something for one of his friends, he wrote it down on
a bit of paper. There are a few other unusual things about 'Something For Kate.'
The guys (Julian and Paul) first got together after getting their names offa the
Au Go Go noticeboard, whilst Paul and Clint had known each other through the
painful days of school.
Secondly against the stream, the guys of 'Something For Kate refer in their press release
as being "keen to not get stuck in the indie ghetto". Why, we wondered, this thing
about being "indie." Why this feeling for "indie" having a bad tag?
"We're not trying to get away from it at all. We consider ourselves to be part of
the indie scene, even though we're now signed to a major label". The earliest
Something For Kate rehearsals saw songs created on the spot, some of which have
survived to this day. Paul is quoted as saying "It just felt right straightaway."
Clint remembers that the songs on the CD were written about a year ago and that
"they all fitted in perfectly straight away. Like everything just fell into place."
It's fairly unusual that a band get signed to one of the biggest labels in the land,
so, we asked, how come this band made it to the land of silverchair?
"We were playing a few shows around Melbourne and so on and Chris our A&R guy,
his assistant told him about our demo tape. He bought it and played it.
He came along to a few of our shows and saw us. We met with them.
It happened a fair while ago, about nine months or so. We originally recorded the demo
just to get gigs in pubs. It was just cheap. We spent seven hours recording it,
we just threw down seven tracks. People decided to ask for it so we sold it.
We didn't originally plan on trying to sell it. We didn't plan on quality.
We only had twelve hours and we just had to throw down some tracks. The quality wasn't
all that good."Cracking the Melbourne scene can be incredibly hard and any band that turns
up with dreams of getting $500 a gig (and we at the Buzz have met a few - who haven't)
might get some inspiration from Clint's story.
"It took us a year to crack it there. We were playing Tuesday nights, Monday nights for
about a year. We got to know a few bands out there and got some better shows.
That's the market we really wanted to corner. We're still trying to do it.
We started off at the Punter's Club playing to no-one. The way we cracked it was to get
to know other bands that could get us some shows. It's a really hard scene to crack.
There are so many places to play. So many good bands around Melbourne. It is hard to crack.
When we started we were playing for virtually nothing. Playing for door deals that worked
out about ten bucks each. A lot of the time we ended up playing for nothin.
We didn't mind, we were still trying to build our name up. Even now we get hardly anything.
We're getting a bit more now. Originally we wanted shows just so we could be enjoying ourselves."
So what we thought is it like being signed to a major label and THE silverchair label at that.
"It doesn't mean any more than being signed to an indie label. It's probably only a little
bit better organised. We get no pressure to change anything. It's just as good as an indie
label, but you've probably got a bit more money to spend and it's a little better organised.
When we're on tour we still pay for all the hotels and all the food. We still stay in the
backpacker inns. It's not the highlife. We've got a better distribution of the product.
It's nothing special."
With a seven track EP under their belts, we were faced with asking the drummer something
about the music (often a risky business).
Well we went to the last track which Paul had named after Clint. It's called surprisingly
'Clint.'
"It's just a song Paul had written and I thought he had written it about some girl,
like all this sort of stuff. I thought well let's just call it this girl's name.
So just to piss me off called it 'Clint' for that reason."
From the relationship of the lead track Subject To Change.. "Everything I say is nothing /
And nothing I say is anything" to the calm before the storm in Slow.. "Now I'm stuck here
in a cartoon / With a bubble by my head / So you can write in exactly / What you'd like me
to have said" there's no hiding behind metaphors or other people's experiences for band
songwriter Paul Dempsey. Clint believes that the album holds a message for a lot of people.
"Because it's so personal for Paul that when he does play live he puts so much into it.
All the lyrics are very personal to him. We all feel that way."
Clint's mother is also quoted in a number of lyrics (we are hoping to interview her at some
future date), but Clint is very keen to point out that it is Paul's mother not his.
No doubt he still has to have his clothes washed and be welcommed round for the Sunday roast.
Startrek fans can add another collectable to their list with 'Picard's Lament' a really heavy
track designed much for your typical trekkie, songwriter and lyricist Paul being heavily into
the 'trekkie thing. Future plans are undecided but the rumourmill (which wasn't far wrong in
the first place) indicates that negotiations are underway for a U.S. tour with silverchair.
'Something Foe Kate' are Julian Carroll bass guitar, Clint Hyndman drums and Paul Dempsey
vocals/guitar.
If you're interested write to 'Something For Kate' P.O. Box 2235 Prahran 3181.
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