Facts & Fiction
by Ritchie Yorke
Sunday Mail, August 17 2003

You make music because you want to share it with people. And obviously, the more, the merrier

SOMETHING for Kate's enigmatic frontman Paul Dempsey once observed that the very purpose of music was to articulate those things that words could not. Be that as it may, Dempsey is at pains to explore the issue of words most intensely in the Melbourne trio's fourth album, The Official Fiction, to be released tomorrow. But it's not just any words. And certainly not specifically about words that rhyme, as in song lyrics. It's more to do with the weight of words that have found their right time. The band has made that clear in the promo material accompanying the new release: "The Official Fiction is an album concerned with the political, the personal and the general . . . it's an album about propaganda, rhetoric and spin . . . it's about how you receive information and how you process it; how that shapes your perceptions of everything around you and inside you as well.

"It's about your world view, your personal relationships and how these things are spun to achieve a certain communication."

Which is heady stuff.

"I have a strong interest in the subject," Dempsey told The Sunday Mail from his Melbourne home. "It's hard to pin down, but it's something I'm very interested in. I don't have any particular stance about it -- I see it as a very nebulous thing. That's probably why I'm so interested in it."

The current British Government inquiry into the suicide of defence analyst David Kelly, a scientist central to claims that Prime Minister Tony Blair's government exaggerated the case for war in Iraq, arises in our conversation.

"I'm really interested in all of the manoeuvring that goes on. Obviously the Labour Party in Britain is doing a lot of manoeuvring right now. And damage control," Dempsey said.

"They will choose which information suits them to be made public and what information doesn't."

He said the album title did not reveal itself until the end of the recording process.

"We were overseas on tour when I got this phone call saying if I didn't come up with a title within five minutes, they'd have to put the album release back. So I kinda came up with it on the spot.

"I guess I work best under pressure. I like putting those two words -- 'official' and 'fiction' -- together when it's a contradiction in itself."

The Official Fiction was recorded over a two-month period earlier this year. Most of the work was completed at Mangrove Studios, the rural facility near Gosford in NSW owned by INXS member Garry Gary Beers. This was where Something for Kate's previous album, the near-double platinum Echolalia, was created with the same engineer/producer: Trina Shoemaker (Queens of the Stone Age, Pearl Jam, Sheryl Crow and Whiskeytown).

"It was a combination of things from last time -- the studio, Trina, the vibes. It's just an enjoyable way to make an album. Why change it?

"Obviously I think this record is very different than the last. The music has changed. But the working scenario remained."

An added benefit of the new album was the opportunity to record some special string parts in California with friends who are members of the admired Los Angeles string quartet The Section. One of the tracks they worked on was Deja Vu, which has captured much recent Oz airplay and acclaim. It reflects the quality tone of this album, which surely will be one of the foremost Australian albums of 2003. This week the three SFK members -- vocalist/guitarist Dempsey, bassist Stephanie Ashworth and drummer Clint Hyndman -- are getting their new songs into performable mode. They kick off the Non-Fiction tour at the Great Northern Hotel in Byron Bay on September 11. Dates in southeast Queensland follow that weekend and regional coastal Queensland later in October. That means no SFK show at Livid, but Big Day Out is firming up. And now, as the band proudly points out, they've got a stage repertoire of more than 100 tunes.

"We love to play live. We want to do as much as possible," Dempsey said, and 2003 gigs as far afield as London, New York and Berlin underline it.

Commercial radio's embrace of tracks from Echolalia has resulted in significant change on SFK's live agenda -- and it's all for the better.

"You make music because you want to share it with people. And, obviously, the more, the merrier," Dempsey said.

"We were happy to go out and play bigger rooms with bigger audiences. It's more . . . there's more excitement.

"It would be ridiculous to put so much effort into making music then turning around and being selective or elitist in defining who gets to hear it.

"We're just glad that anybody's playing anything of ours at all."

SFK members are looking forward to the soon-to-be-announced Powderfinger tour as much as their own.

"I like their new album Vulture Street," Dempsey said. "It sounds like a band having a lot of fun. I think that new album live will be the thing.

"They're going to put their foot to the floor, turn everything up and I think their show will be really hot."

* The Official Fiction is out tomorrow. Something For Kate, Sands Tavern, Maroochydore, September 12; the Troccadero, Surfers Paradise, September 13; The Arena, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, September 14.