One of Australia’s most celebrated bands, Something for Kate looks back over their 10 year career on a retrospective album entitled ‘The Murmur Years’. Why does a retrospective album have a new single called the Futurist? Bassist Stephanie Ashworth explains the irony…
OUTinPerth: Why did Something for Kate decide to do a retrospective album?
Stephanie: We had put 5 albums out and looked around and realized that we were the only band remaining on the label that we signed to all those years ago, which was quite a realization to have, that you are the last ones standing. So, we thought it was a good time to document that period before we move ahead to a new phase.
OiP: So many bands put together one or two albums and then break up. How has Something for Kate managed to stay together?
Stephanie: I suppose we just love doing what we do. We also play the kind of music that has never been an overnight sensation. And the label, despite people’s perceptions about Sony as a label, have never interfered with us or creatively demanded any concessions or compromise. We have just been allowed to do what we want to do for 10 years. So, we are happy creatively and in our relationships with each other.
OiP: Do you approach a retrospective album differently from a greatest hits album?
Stephanie: A lot of people think it is one and the same, but we didn’t want to do a standard greatest hits because we looked at a lot of greatest hits and felt like they were just cold, stark CDs that the record company had thrown together that didn’t have anything to do with the artist or the band. Wewanted to do something that was from our perspective and something that we cared about. Obviously you have to put singles on there, but we wanted to do so much more than that and I feel that we did… we put the 6 or 7 minute epics on there that are live favourites that would never have been singles.
OiP: It’s a bit ironic to have a new single called The Futurist on a retrospective album. What’s that song about?
Stephanie: It was a song that we wrote knowing that it was going to go on this album. I think it’s a song about a number of different things, about tough times, about our society and the difficulty that people have in living on a day-to-day basis financially and the government we are living under and of a character who is frightened of the future. I also listen to it and hear about a relationship between two people. That’s the thing about Paul [Dempsey]’s lyrics, he writes songs that are loaded with a lot of different meanings.
OiP: As this is a retrospective album, could you look back over your career and say what has been the biggest surprise?
Stephanie: I suppose none of us expected to have a bunch of number one albums and platinum records and that sort of thing. We are not a commercial sounding band in a lot of ways, so I was really surprised when that stuff started happening and kept happening. We were really excited that people could relate to what we were on about. It makes you feel like you have done the right thing as a songwriter in that you have managed to connect with an audience and the songs mean something to them.
OiP: You are known as a band with a dedicated fan base. What is the most bizarre encounter you have ever had with a fan?
Stephanie: I guess sometimes people get to the point they are not behaving like themselves. I’ll never forget watching a young girl break through some kind of barrier thing and run up to Paul and try kissing his feet. And I just remember him saying, ‘No, please don’t do this.’ And her just saying, ‘No, I want to.’ I was just like, ‘God, don’t touch those feet.’
OiP: Were you hoping she said yes or no after seeing the guy?
Stephanie: Personally, I would have killed him if it had been my partner and said this is not the right place to do this. But he continued with it and she came up on stage and said yes and the audience went crazy and it was really funny.
We have had a couple of marriage proposals on stage as well. I remember a few months ago we were playing at a big theatre show in Melbourne and someone managed to get on stage – I don’t know how because it was quite high up – and wanted to propose to a woman and he asked her to marry him. Then he couldn’t find her in the audience.
OiP: It sounds like you have had quite a few fans do embarrassing things, but has the band ever had any embarrassing moments of their own?
Stephanie: Oh, yes. There was a famous episode that happened only last year with our drummer in a live to air performance – it was going straight to the radio – and our drummer forgot one of our songs. It was one of the oldest songs that we have been playing since 1995. The funny thing is that he actually starts the song and it’s quite a specific drum beat. He just wouldn’t start the song. Paul turned around and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he just said, ‘Paul, I’ve forgotten.’ Paul was like, ‘Really, let’s go.’ And he just went, ‘No, I can’t.’ The audience were just in hysterics.
OiP: Where is the band planning to go from here?
Stephanie: Paul is in the middle of writing his first solo album, so we are going to take a little break while he does that. Then, we’ll make album number 6.
OiP: And what will you be doing on your break?
Stephanie: I’ve been forced to think about that. My whole adult life has been in a group dynamic. [laughs] I’m being forced to think for myself now. I’m probably going to do some photography work.
