Something for Paul
by Joel Dullroy
Courier Mail, May 17 2002

PAUL Dempsey is doing something for himself, heading out on a solo jaunt around the country. The Something For Kate frontman has been craving to perform an acoustic guitar set after years of perfecting the electric rock sound with his two bandmates.

"SFK is the main focus of what I do musically, but it is nice to do something different once in a while," Dempsey says. "At solo shows I can do other versions of songs, I can play something different to what I usually do, I can play an old SFK song and give it a different feel, and play new ideas. I can do whatever I want, I don't even have to write a set list." 

This weekend's two gigs at The Zoo are highly anticipated, with supports from former Grant Lee Buffalo frontman Grant-Lee Phillips and Tylea from Brisbane band Gota Cola.

"Once I decided to do a solo tour, I immediately started to think about who I wanted to get as a support act," Dempsey says. "I've always been a fan of Grant Lee Buffalo and Grant's solo work, so I thought it couldn't hurt to ask. It turns out he was just as keen to tour here with me."

The Gota Cola connection came about after the band joined SFK as support on a national tour last year: "We got along really well, so I decided to invite Tylea along."

As for Something for Kate, the band have recently released the fourth single off their monster album Echolalia, and they're back in rehearsal mode.

"We've been in rehearsal pretty much every day for the past two months. Some days we do our best, some days we don't have much to work with. There certainly isn't any pressure from our end. The pressure comes when you really have to question yourself -- is this really the best I can do?

"If what we're working on isn't as good as what we've done before, there's no point in us doing it."

Paul Demspey plays The Zoo, Fortitude Valley, tomorrow and Sunday night with Grant-Lee Phillips and Tylea.