It’s hard growing up in the public eye, even harder growing up on the road. Katy Steele, front woman of Australian rock band Little Birdy, most certainly knows this. But with growing up comes maturity, a quality Steele has developed in abundance. And it shows, particularly on the forthcoming new album from Little Birdy, Confetti, which is to be released in May.
‘The journey I’ve had for the last five years has been rather insane,’ Steele said of the lead up to the release of Confetti. ‘I started playing music when I was 17 … Little Birdy started when I was 18, and when I was 19 I was doing a record. I was thrown in to a lot of stuff.
‘The second song I ever wrote was Relapse. I literally was learning how to write songs weeks before we recorded Big Love. It was just such an intense thing to go through. I literally had no idea what I was doing. I was so new to that world. Yeah, I’d been brought up in music but I’d never actually played music, I’d just listened to it a lot. I had it in my blood but I hadn’t worked it out. I think I knew five chords.’
Now, at the age of 25, it’s fair to say Steele is no longer one of the young girls of rock, but rather one of the women driving it. No surprise really. Steele has a musical pedigree to die for. Her father is legendary blues musician Rick Steele while her brother is Luke Steele, crooner for Sleepy Jackson. Luke’s recent project Empire of the Sun,was the runaway success of the past summer that saw him collaborate with Pnau’s Nick Littlemore to much acclaim.
But back to Katy. Little Birdy formed in 2002 and, like most bands do, they recorded a demo. When this demo was leaked to local radio stations, what ensued was a whirlwind of attention, not only from the public but music industry professionals alike. Within a matter of months, Little Birdy had cut their first recording, a self-titled EP. Within a year, their debut album BigBigLove had been released to nationwide critical acclaim.
Two years later their second album, Hollywood, received mixed reviews. Steele apparently took some of these reviews quite personally and it wasn’t until a musical hero in the form of Paul Kelly offered her a unique opportunity that the songbird that is Katy Steele began to find her feet… and her wings.
‘I got asked to support Paul Kelly as a solo just on the West Coast of Australia, but it was theatre shows so it was just me with a guitar,’ Steele explained. ‘It was quite an intimidating thing for someone who had never played solo to play solo in front of thousands of people. So you could imagine I was quite anxious and quite intimidated by the idea.
‘I locked myself away and was practicing like crazy and I wrote a whole heap of songs specifically for that tour, because I if it was just me and a guitar then I needed to have a message and my shit together with my song writing. So I locked myself away and wrote these songs. A lot of the songs on this record were written at that time because they were written for just vocal and guitar.’
The result is what Steele describes as a ‘very honest record’ based around notions of simplicity, purity and romanticism. ‘We just wanted to make something that was as timeless as possible,’ she explained. ‘In short, we made something that we still wanted to love in 20 years or 30 years time. And I think I will. I feel like this album is the first album we’ve ever made because the vision was just so clear and pure.’
And it shows. Confetti is an exercise in restraint. Produced by Little Birdy, it’s an album which is influenced largely by Mowtown and Stax, but more subtly by Hank Williams and the country singers of the ’60s – records Steele listened to relentlessly while writing the songs.
‘People have said that there are times where it seems really kinda empty, but that’s the whole point. Like, when you listen to those ’60s records and you have a string line come in, you want to notice that string line. I don’t want things to be like covered over. It gives it more meaning when there’s nothing else surrounding it. It’s clearer.’
It’s an album where less is more, leading Steele to quip that she has a newfound trust in her band mates. ‘I really respect a musician who knows when not to play,’ she purred. ‘The three guys in the band are just amazing people and amazing musicians. They’ve really stepped up to a new level. I’m just really thankful that what they added to those songs was perfect, for me.’
Together, the fact that Little Birdy has found a new common ground – one forged in solidarity and respect – is evident. The crisp production is graceful and lilting. Overall, the band has captured a more accomplished sound, one that is driven and directional. But while the band has seemingly found a new place from which to work, Steele does still concede that there are some things that she deems essential to her position in the band.
‘I think ego is the root of all evil for a band, and luckily we don’t have any… except for me. I think you have to have a certain amount of ego to be a lead singer, let’s be honest. I think the good thing about where I’m at now is that I’m really, really confident in myself but I’m not arrogant, because I realise there are a whole lot of people out there who are a lot better than me. You have to have a certain amount of ego to promote a record though.’
Confetti is out May 8 with Little Birdy heading west to play Capitol on May 30th. For your chance to win a copy of the new CD or tickets to see Little Birdy live in concert, log on to our Giveaways section and register to win!
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
