← Back to portfolio
Published on

Hit Different: How Something for Kate's Paul Dempsey evolved as a performer

Dempsey, New York solo gigs and “feeling like a musician again”

Music journalists Mikey Cahill and Marcus Teague break down Paul Dempsey's maturation as a front man, as well as his return to songwriting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Something for Kate front man and guitarist Paul Dempsey looked up at the crowd, as they all silently waited for him to lead them into another song during yet another concert.

“If you all move, you’ll probably enjoy this a bit more,” Dempsey said through his microphone, as Hit Different host Mikey Cahill was there back in 1997.

“The next song came on and people started moving and moshing, and it just instantly changed the whole complexion of the day,” Cahill recalled to Dempsey on Hit Different.

“I saw how you just did this in a very ego free, selfless way of just bringing everybody with you.”

But the intentions weren’t purely to inspire the crowd further. Instead, Dempsey, maturing as a performer, was worried the Something for Kate faithful weren’t enjoying their performances.

Dempsey, at the helm of the band, felt “like they weren’t enjoying themselves or whatever”, as he underwent a process of identity discovery as a performer in the early stages of Something for Kate’s career.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

“At a certain point I realised that the audience were standing really dead still for actually a really good reason, because they were actually just really transfixed and paying sustained attention to something,” Dempsey explained to Cahill and Marcus Teague.

“They were enjoying it to that degree that they were just dead still, eyes on the stage, mouthing the words, so I stopped feeling worried that they were bored, and I started feeling grateful that they were that engaged.”

A key reason behind Dempsey’s evolution as an artist and a performer came when he travelled to New York, where he constantly performed solo acoustic gigs to different crowds than he had been used to with Something for Kate back in Australia.

This story continues below.

We covered it on Hit Different, a weekly podcast that puts music culture in context.

Instead of performing at festivals and to indie Australian crowds, Dempsey lived in New York from 2010 to 2012, where he “played so many solo acoustic shows in so many places” and “literally going back to square one”.

“You really had to work, you’re not playing to fans who you knew were singing every word anymore, and I realised that you needed maybe more than just songs, and that you had to get the crowd involved with a laugh or a story,” Dempsey said.

“You play on a line-up at some club in New York City on a Tuesday night, and there’s five other people playing that you’ve never heard of and they’re all incredible, so you really have to put your best foot forward; I felt like I really started over again after being in a band for 15 years.”

The impact on Dempsey’s versatility as a performer was clear to both Teague and Cahill, with the pair pointing out how he had changed since returning to Something for Kate.

“I remember seeing you and I thought ‘Dempsey’s become a comedian’. You always had a bit of comedy, but your between the song banter became so charismatic and effortless,” Cahill noted. It’s held Dempsey in good stead for whatever’s come his way, including when COVID-19 interrupted the promotional tour of Something for Kate’s latest album Modern Medieval.

After being held in limbo waiting to begin their tour, Dempsey has once again found his creative rhythm in recent times, as more song writing hints at the potential for more Something for Kate content in the near future.

“If I didn’t start having some sort of creative outlet amongst home schooling my kids, then I was going to lose my mind, so I’ve started dividing up the day differently now,” Dempsey said.

“I get down to writing and then work again late at night, I’m getting stuff done and I’m being creative.”

“I feel like I’m a musician; I was getting to the point where I was starting to worry that I didn’t know what my purpose was anymore, but now I’m back working on making stuff.”

Hear the full story on Hit Different, a free weekly podcast that puts music culture in context.

Subscribe to get sent a digest of new articles by Sean Mortell

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.