Something For Kates Echolalia was something for women in music
The cerebral rock of Something For Kate has always stood apart, but it wasnât just the music that distinguished their breakthrough album of 20 years ago.
Echolalia, the platinum album which the Melbourne band will play in full at shows around Australia this spring, was an anomaly for a rock release by Sony in 2001 because three of its major contributors were women.
Something For Kate - Clint Hyndman (left), Paul Dempsey and Stephanie Ashworth - will perform their platinum 2001 album, Echolalia, in full at shows in September and October 2021. Credit:Daniel Boud
âNone of it was a conscious decision, but I was raised by five women so Iâve always felt very comfortable working with them,â says Something For Kateâs lyricist, guitarist and famously intense singer, Paul Dempsey.
âIn fact I probably prefer it.â
Unlike most bands of the Big Day Out generation, Something For Kate has a female member in bassist Stephanie Ashworth. She joined in 1998 after Dempsey and drummer Clint Hyndman, who formed the band in 1994 straight out of school, had already gone through a couple of blokes on bottom-end duties.
The band also had a female manager at the time, Carlene Albronda. She would soon distinguish herself by hustling them the coveted support slot on David Bowieâs final Australian tour in 2004.
Most unusually for its era, Echolalia was also produced by a woman. Trina Shoemaker had engineered the first two albums by fellow rock-with-brains act Queens Of The Stone Age. However it was her work on Sheryl Crowâs albums that convinced Something For Kate to invite the American producer to Australia.
âSheryl wrote a message [in the CD liner notes] thanking Trina for letting her do what she wanted to do and trying new things,â Ashworth said after Echolaliaâs release.
âThat appealed to us because, not only had Trina managed to produce an incredible record, she was also willing to experiment.â
All of this female energy didnât markedly change the sound of Echolalia. Like Something For Kateâs previous two albums, Dempseyâs thoughtful lyrics (âYouâre not the first to think that everything has been thought beforeâ) sat emphatically on muscular, shape-shifting arrangements that likewise avoided cliche.
However Dempsey says Shoemakerâs presence did wonders for the confidence of Ashworth.
âSteph certainly felt more seen and heard by a female producer,â says Dempsey of the bassist, to whom he is now married with two school-aged children.
âEcholalia was potentially the first time where she felt comfortable saying exactly what she thought. I mean Steph practically mixed that record with Trina, who was teaching her how to use the desk and really listening to her opinions.â
Something For Kate, backstage at Newcastleâs Bar On The Hill, in 2001.Credit:Stefan Moore
The progress toward gender equality in the music industry represented by Echolaliaâs dynamic was being undercut, we now know, by what was going on at Something For Kateâs record label at the same time.
âIâd be lying if I said I was surprised,â says Dempsey of revelations of an alcohol-fuelled culture of bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination at Sony Music Australia, culminating in Juneâs sacking of long-time boss Denis Handlin.
âThe artist is always insulated from a lot of that stuff, and the imprint we were on [Murmur Music] was in a different building... But we certainly saw a lot of fantastic women leave Sony, when they just werenât getting promoted. Luckily weâve ended up working with many of them elsewhere.â
How Something For Kate sustained a career long enough for that to happen is largely due to Echolaliaâs success.
Yet Dempsey recalls today that the album almost never got made, thanks to crippling writerâs block on his part. At one point, he couldnât even stand to pick up his guitar.
âI was young, and I bought into this idea that I was lacking inspiration,â he says.
âWhen the songs werenât coming, I freaked out.â
His bandmates saved Dempsey by hauling him down to Flight Centre and booking the band a trip to a Thai island.
A day snorkelling was the circuit-breaker Dempsey needed to write Monsters, an exorcising of inner demons which remains Something For Kateâs biggest hit.
âIâm happy to say that 20 years on, I donât buy into the idea of writerâs block any more. Iâve realised that inspiration isnât some flash thatâs got to happen to you,â he says.
âI just work and work, and most of itâs crap, but eventually I get to something Iâm happy with.â
Something For Kate will play Echolalia, followed by a second set mixing material from 2020 album The Modern Medieval (their first in eight years) with other fan favourites, at shows across Australia in September and October.
Michael Bailey writes on entrepreneurship and the arts. He is also responsible for the Financial Review's Rich Lists. He is based in Sydney.
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