Paul Dempsey needs little introduction. Frontman for Something For Kate, newly minted solo artist and studio producer in his spare time, Dempsey is currently in the US performing solo at SXSW and preparing for his decamping to New York.
Email interviews usually suck. This one doesn't. Dempsey eloquently discusses how the US sojourn is going, progress on new Something For Kate tunes, future plans and a gentle reminder about brain eating minors. For real.
(Main pic: Daniel Boud)
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SXSW 2010. Who's good, who's bad, and how have you been going?
It’s pretty overwhelming. I started out trying to stick to a list of things I wanted to see but after a day or two it was proving somewhat futile so I decided to just go with the flow and let friends drag me to things, and I’ve seen some great stuff. Probably my highlight was seeing Band of Horses play in the Central Presbyterian Church; it’s pretty cool how every single building in Austin just gives itself over to being a live music venue for the week, even the church - a pretty cool atmosphere for a rock show. I saw another band called Warpaint that I really liked. Saw my friends Kashmir again which was great, caught the tail end of Midlake which was excellent.
My shows have been really enjoyable. It’s easy to feel like a needle in a haystack here sometimes with so much going on but once you start playing you forget about everything else and it just feels good. Makes its own kind of sense and I’ve felt really good about the crowd reactions etc.
You're doing SXSW right now and approaching a move to the US for a little while. Is there a sense of being on the cusp of a new phase, personally and perhaps artistically?
Obviously moving to the other side of the world for any length of time is a big change and it’s exciting and scary. I’m just looking forward to playing shows constantly and writing new songs for a Something for Kate record. I think that being in New York and being far from home is definitely going to have an influence on the writing that we do, either consciously or unconsciously. It’s going to be great to just walk around the city with a notebook and let it all unfold.
There’s also the sense of a new phase because after having time out from Something for Kate for the last year or so while I did my solo stuff, it now feels like a completely new band with a clean slate. Clint (drums) and Steph (bass) and I have had a few rehearsals in the past few weeks and started kicking around new musical ideas, and it feels like anything might happen. We have the desire to make a new record and no idea what kind of record we want to make or how our new stuff might end up sounding. And that’s a pretty exciting feeling. It’s wide open.
I'd presume you'd have to constantly be reintroducing yourself to people and audiences overseas. Is that exciting or a drag?
It’s been frustrating in the past to have great shows and great crowd reactions [overseas] and people who want to get your record or come see you again and you have to turn around and go home and lose all the potential momentum you might have built. That’s why I’ve decided to just go there and stay for a while and play and play and play and try and hang on to some of that momentum. Not because I aspire to ‘crack the market’ or whatever, it’s simply that there are enough highly populated cities on the [US] east coast that you can play shows frequently and independently and hopefully build your own sustainable thing.
Heading into the unknown, are you feeling like you're a solo artist or bandleader?
Not really one or the other. I appreciate the fact that I can do both and I’ll always do both. Something for Kate has its own particular dynamic and its own band chemistry, and the solo stuff is a different thing again. I really enjoy the chance to work by myself, or with Clint and Steph, or with an ever-changing back-up band for the solo thing. It keeps everything fresh and it gives me a lot of different channels and outlets for different ideas. And I learn a lot by playing with different people all the time.
I'd imagine a Something for Kate record and subsequent touring is a shared experience, whereas perhaps this one is more internal. Which is more confronting?
Both. It’s great getting on a roll by yourself and not having to stop and explain where you’re going - you can follow your internal creative rush. But the flipside is that you can also often hit a creative wall and then you wish you had bandmates there to bounce off.
It’s the same with Something for Kate. Sometimes we just get on a roll and write a whole song in an hour which is great. Other times we spend a whole rehearsal with our instruments discussing/debating a song and never playing a note. Which can be not so great. But it’s really important that the three of us are all happy with where a song is going - it can take time to reach that equilibrium!
How has Everything is True stood the test for you? Are some songs emerging as more rewarding now, or vice versa?
I haven’t listened to it since it came out. I love playing the songs live and I feel like they’re still evolving. They come out a certain way when I play by myself and then they sounded a certain way with Shan Vanderwertt (Dallas Crane) playing drums live for the last few months, and now Mike Noga’s (The Drones) playing drums so that changes the equation again. It’s hard for me to listen to my record because to me it’s a document of the songs at a certain point. But the songs keep growing and re-writing themselves every time I play them, so I feel very different about them now then I did recording the album.
When you first approached the solo record, did you always think it would be fleshed out with band instruments? Ever harbor ideas of doing a Nebraska, holing up in a hotel room with an acoustic and a four track?
I did consider that but that would take a huge amount of discipline from me. When I write I just immediately hear multiple other instruments playing multiple different parts and then it’s a process of convincing myself which parts don’t need to be there. I always have a tendency to overdo it, I can’t really help it - every time I run through a song I hear another new part. Clint and Steph are great at paring down all the crap I come up with.
I would definitely like to force myself to make an album sometime where I limit myself to an acoustic guitar. I think over time I’ve gotten a little better at the less-is-more approach. It’s funny, because when I work with other bands I’m very good at convincing them to leave things out.
It feels like your lyrical ideas on Everything is True are a little warmer, or less directed 'at' or 'about' a subject than in SFK. More interested in sharing a dialogue perhaps, even if innner. I don't know if this is because the sentiment is coming from the direction of a solo artist rather than a band idea, but I think it tends to scan as such. Am I making this up?
No, you’re not. I always felt very aware in SFK that my lyrics were also representing two other people. And so I was a little wary of what kind of sentiments I would or would not express. And I think you’re right as well, that with a solo act, the listener has the perspective of one individual saying this stuff and that it is the thoughts or feelings of one individual, so obviously that is automatically more ‘personal’. Basically I felt like [on the solo record] I could be a bit more personal without compromising anyone else.
Were there moments of doubt during its creation?
Yes. Plenty. I completely underestimated how hard it would be in the studio for a month playing every instrument one after the other. Usually you get to have a break when it’s someone else's turn to do their part but I didn’t think of that until I was right in it.
Paul Dempsey - Out the Airlock
The album seems to have struck a chord with fans. You keep on playing shows and they keep on comin’. Were you ever concerned that the SFK fans might not follow on? Or of resonating with an audience outside of that?
I really had no idea how it would be received. Obviously I am chuffed with the positive response it’s had. I definitely considered that it could end up being the obscure, forgotten SFK side-project. But SFK has always been extremely lucky to have a very loyal audience who’ve stuck with us regardless of prevailing trends.
Most artists - especially in Australia - seem to have a reasonably short shelf life. Something For Kate and yourself as a performer seem to have managed to transcend such a thing. Something For Kate still sell out shows, and you can announce a solo show days beforehand and a constant fanbase will ensure it succeeds. Does it boggle the mind to understand why fans keep returning?
I would like to think that people continue to come to our shows and buy our records because they think we’re a good band? One could put forward many other theories I guess. I think we have a great respect and rapport with our audience because they know we’re not about to turn around and try to be something we’re not, in an effort to be more popular or successful. And because we have hopefully gotten better over time. (It seems there is a natural tendency to assume that bands should get worse with time...)
Where is Something For Kate at right now? Do you feel like you're writing for two projects?
Rehearsing and coming up with new musical ideas for which I will write lyrics when I’m in NYC. And no. I wrote a couple of new [solo] songs in the past couple of months but I’m only working on the Something for Kate record for now.
You were recently at the SLAM rally in Melbourne. How important has the Melbourne scene been to your music, as well as the city itself? Could you have written the same music coming from...Cairns?
Perhaps I could I have written the same music but I certainly would not have had anywhere near the same opportunities to play to people. We would not have gotten anywhere if it weren’t for the multitude of fantastic venues around Melbourne where we were able to go and play in front of people and build a following and meet like-minded bands. There is such a rich and diverse community of artists and music fans in Melbourne that frequent these venues every night of the week to share in something that is truly a huge part of Melbourne’s identity and reputation here and abroad.
I can’t believe that the government so grossly underestimated how important venues like the Tote are to the cultural life of this city, and they were clearly rebuked for being so out of touch on the issue. Melbourne would simply not be the same city without it’s live music culture.
Nerd question: what gear are you using at the moment?
I’m still using old Fender guitars through old Fender amps and Maton acoustics. I got over my addiction to buying effects pedals and I’m sticking with some custom made pedals from MI Audio in Sydney.
Is there anything on the musical horizon that maybe isn't Something For Kate, nor Paul Dempsey?
Before I came over to the US I was in the studio with a band from Sydney called Papa Vs Pretty producing an EP for them so that’s pretty much all I listened to for a few weeks. Great band. I’m keen to do more producing and I’ve also been asked to write music for a potential film project later in the year but we’ll see.
Scared of Horses. Ever again?
Maybe. Never say never.
Insert story:
Once the juvenile sea squirt completes its most important task of finding a suitable rock under which to make its home, it eats its own brain.
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Marcus
PAUL DEMPSEY - 'BURNING LEAVES' TOUR - APRIL 2010
7 Apr - The Gov, Adelaide SA
8 Apr - Artbar Art Gallery of WA Perth, WA
9 Apr - Settlers Tavern Margaret River, WA
10 Apr - Fly by Night Club Fremantle, WA
15 Apr - Great Northern Hotel Byron Bay, NSW
16 Apr - Hi Fi Bar Brisbane, QLD
17 Apr - Metro Theatre Sydney, NSW
24 Apr - Forum Theatre Melbourne, VIC
myspace.com/pauldempseysolo