Seriously good
The Advertiser, April 18 2002

Paul Dempsey ventures out on his own after the biggest year of his career, finds LAUREN McMENEMY.

IT WOULD be fair to say that Paul Dempsey had a fairly good 2001. What with the rise of his band Something for Kate, multiple ARIA nominations, sold-out tours and an appearance on the renowned Cold Live at the Chapel series. And not forgetting he released one of the albums of the year in Echolalia. He would have to be pretty happy with himself. But talk to the man with the "serious" reputation and things don't seem that exciting.

"It was the best of years; it was the worst of years," Dempsey says with a laugh.

"People keep saying 'Ah, this happened and this happened, and wasn't it great?' and I don't know. I just feel like I had my head down the whole year working. We were flat out, busy the whole year.

"We weren't busy accepting awards and having parties; we were busy on tour. We were driving around playing shows, which we love doing. From that point of view, it was a fantastic year."

Bearing that in mind, Dempsey is heading back on the road - but this time, it's minus the band. His Singularity tour is his second solo outing, following 2000's Lack of Rhythm.

"I really enjoy it," he says of playing solo. "I really enjoy just the 'free-formness' of it. I cannot have a set list. I can play whatever I want because it's just me up there. I don't have to agree with anybody about what to play or how to play it. It's just me with an acoustic guitar and I can just follow my whims, or the whims of the audience. It makes me a better guitar player and a better singer because you can hear every mistake I make."

Dempsey credits the Lack of Rhythm tour with giving him more confidence in his performance because, he says, there is nothing to hide behind. "Normally, you're creating this wall of sound, but with a solo show all you can hear is my voice and my guitar playing," he says.

But as Something for Kate gets bigger and bigger - some are now putting the band in the same category as Powderfinger - Dempsey finds his serious lyrics are giving him a bit of a reputation. Read any given story on SFK and chances are he will be referred to as "the dark-and-brooding frontman".

"Between the three of us (in the band), we think it's really funny," Dempsey sighs. "I don't really care what people think because they've never met me. To me, I just think how utterly ridiculous . . . It's all speculation. And you can't stop people speculating, so more power to them.

"You've got to discuss things; you've got to question things. If people aren't educating themselves and discussing things and participating in some way about what we're doing and where we're going, nothing progresses. So I don't see anything wrong with a guy writing a few songs about some things that concern him about the world.

"But," he laughs, "I'd hate to sound all disturbed."

Paul Dempsey plays with Grant-Lee Phillips at Heaven II on May 10.