Something Different
Illawarra Mercury, August 21 2003

Fans expecting a similar sound from Something for Kate's new album will be disappointed, writes GLEN HUMPHRIES.

One thing you'll never get from Melbourne band Something for Kate is more of the same. According to bassist Stephanie Ashworth, the band made sure nothing on their new CD, The Official Fiction, covered musical ground on earlier albums. And there's a good reason for that, Ashworth explains: "Otherwise we'd just be a jukebox.

"There's just no point for us. I remember when I was a lot younger, you get attached to certain albums and you want the band not to move on. You want them to sit there and keep writing songs that sound like that. 

"But (they) can't. As a band or an artist, it's not stimulating. Once you've done something, it's a done deal, it's time to move on."

So who decides what's old and what's new? Simple. Ashworth, guitarist-singer Paul Dempsey and drummer Clint Hyndman - the trio who are Something for Kate.

"We have a very strong panel of self-editors - the three of us," she says. "Nothing gets by that sounds familiar, that feels familiar or isn't pressing our buttons. Everything has to go through all three of us.

"I definitely believe there's nothing on this record that goes over similar ground from the last record, thematically."

It helps that songwriter Dempsey constantly needs new subjects to write about. That's why he gets on a plane and travels when working on material for a new album.

"In the past we have gone together, the three of us, to a deserted island somewhere," she says. "Somewhere overseas, somewhere far away. Traditionally, that's what we do before Something for Kate albums are written.

"For this one, Paul went to a few different places to get some space. He did a long trip around America, where he was actually touring. He also went to Japan, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

"When you're travelling in different places you get out of your routine and things become a little heightened. It's kind of the way we like to approach albums."

Perhaps it's a reflection of the times in which it was written, but there are themes of propaganda and spin doctoring in some of the songs. Both are more common features of the political landscape after September 2001. Ashworth admits there's an element of politics on The Official Fiction but is loathe to have people dismiss it as "their political album".

"There are lots of personal moments on this record," she says. "There's a lot of things coming from within Paul, not simply looking outwards to world events.

"It's half and half. It's got a political thread but I'm sure there's a lot of albums with political threads. You can't reduce it to them being just that."

Choosing a title like The Official Fiction might make it easier to draw that conclusion. But Ashworth says the title could also be a reference to people putting different spins on their personal relationships. Other than that, she's reluctant to give an "official" explanation for the title. That's in line with the band's policy of leaving the meanings of albums and songs unexplained - it lets everyone create their own meaning.

"That's why we don't have lyrics and discuss the meaning behind every song too much," she explains.

"It takes away from people's listening and imagination. I don't want to hear the band I like explaining away every single moment of the record I've just got, because it leaves no mystery for me.

"There's no wrong or right; people can interpret the songs however they like."

Ashworth does find it a little surprising that so many of Something for Kate's songs are interpreted as love songs. Some have even gone so far as to use one of their pieces as a wedding song. Ashworth finds it amusing, but she's quite happy for people to find romantic meaning in their songs.

"You're not going to say to people, 'You can't have that interpretation', because they can - and that's really cool," she says.

"It's just funny sometimes, the whole thing that every song's about relationships between guys and girls.

"It's like Paul always says: it's like going to the cinema and being handed a copy of the script before you go and see a film. You don't want to explain everything away. People need to use music for whatever they need to use it for."

Surprisingly, it takes the band a while to work out what the songs are about.

"We often don't hear the lyrics until we're in the recording studio, which is interesting because I was trying to do the artwork and had a very skewed idea about a lot of things because I hadn't heard too many of the lyrics," she says.

"He's (Paul) very secretive. He just likes to hold onto things for himself for a while and I totally understand that.

"When we made this record, I didn't want to send copies of it to anybody - none of us did. You make something and you just want to hold onto it for a while."

But they do have to hand over the album to the record company eventually. Once that happens, it's out of the band's hands - both literally and figuratively.

"We set about writing songs that we feel for, that do something for us," she says.

"When there's a body of work there, we go and record it and then we give it to the record company.

"That's where our relationship with it, in a certain way, ends. We're handing it over and we don't want to be a part of any of that element once they take over."

It's not that they dislike their label - it's the commercial side of things that holds little interest for the band. The label gives them a remarkably free rein when making albums.

"They hadn't heard a single thing when we made this record, which is kind of unusual," she says.

"I don't know if it's just us, but we have this relationship where they let us do whatever we want to do. People think of major labels as these overbearing ogres but we have a lot of freedom. We can pretty much dictate terms with everything.

"I think it's really important to know that your record company has faith in what you do and what you're feeling.

"I'm sure there's plenty of cases in the world where people are expected to replicate something that's done well in the past but we're just not one of them.

"They would never ask us to do something like that because they know they'd get a very honest answer back."

Something for Kate's album, The Official Fiction, is out this week. The band performs at the University of Wollongong on September 18.

SFK's official story

Guitarist and singer Paul Dempsey met drummer Clint Hyndman while in high school. Before the name Something for Kate was thought up, the band played at least one gig under the name Fish of the Day. Stephanie Ashworth was the band's third bassist when she joined in 1998. For the first few months of her time in Something for Kate, Ashworth also played in a band called Sandpit. The song Photograph, from the Beautiful Sharks album, appeared on the soundtrack to the TV series Dawson's Creek. When preparing songs for a new album, Paul Dempsey writes ideas for song lyrics in a notebook. Once the album is finished, he burns those notebooks. The band recorded a cover of Dreamworld for the Midnight Oil tribute album The Power and the Passion.

Their web site includes a list of books, CDs and films the band recommends. Go to www.somethingforkate.com