Kate Rowe
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Interview With Kate Rowe By Chris 9/1/09
Kate Rowe is an amazing singer songwriter from Sydney
I discovered her music online and was hooked. Good interesting lyrics and solid songwriting and vocals.
Her debuit album Simplest Of Things is a must have.
So read and go buy her music folks, it’s really good..
1. Are you happy how the album turned out?
Yeah, I love the arrangements and the general sound. It was a lot of fun
to record.
2. What was the inspiration for the album?
The idea was to make something that sounded fun and happy, and was
suitable for all ages, but also contained songs you could really think
about in depth.
3. what inspires you when writing music?
I’m intrigued by little details, and how something small and seemingly
inconsequential can make a huge difference in someone’s life, or represent
some much larger thing. I also love fantasy and science fiction, and those
two themes often end up finding their way into my subject matter.
4. How has radio helped with your music?
A number of radio stations have been really supportive. Sometimes they’ll
feature the album for a week, or ring you up to tell you they’re featuring
it on a program that night.
5. What is it like being an independent artist in Australia?
Sometimes it’s like wading through treacle trying to organize gigs and
stay motivated on your own. But I’m sure every independent artist out
there will agree there are fantastic adventures to be had and truly golden
moments: my favorites have included supporting the Kazakhstan Kowgerls in
front of a full house at the very gorgeous Adventure Bay Hall on Bruny
Island in Tassie (it has a stage shaped like a ship’s prow, a ship’s wheel
and abalone shells covering the stage lights), and performing at the Blue
Mountains Music Festival in NSW … and meeting other songwriters, and
getting out there and chatting to people in the audience who want to tell
you their stories is always so interesting.
6. How did the recording of the album go?
The album features John Stuart on lead guitar, Julia Day on drums and
Andrew Ireland on double bass, as well as me on vocals and rhythm guitar.
We spent 3 days playing all together in Sound Heaven studios in the Blue
Mountains in NSW, kept the double bass and drum tracks, then re-did some
of the guitars and the vocals. It was the best fun.
7. Have you been affected with venues hiring DJ’s instead of live music?
Not really. I don’t do heaps and heaps of gigs, and I guess I’m more of a
theater restaurant/cabaret/festival-type act anyway, so it doesn’t really
affect me.
8. How did you get involved with the Apollo Bay Music
Festival.?
I applied for the first time this year and am so excited to have been
accepted … I can’t wait!!
9. What do you hope the album will do for your music career?
Basically it’s just good to have these songs in concrete form. I just hope
it provides entertainment for people.
10. What has been the response like to your music?
People seem to like that I write interesting lyrics, and that I tell
unusual and funny stories in my songs. It’s been a good response mostly,
though a friend did confess recently that he would be happy to go the rest
of his life without hearing ‘Fred the Dog’ ever again … it tends to go
round and round in your head after you’ve heard it a couple of times (look
for the video on YouTube if that sounds appealing, it was filmed at the
Casterton Kelpie Muster in South Australia!).
11. Who have you enjoyed playing with the most?
I love the Spooky Men’s Chorale, and have supported them at a number of
gigs … it’s always fun!
12. How did you get into music?
I studied piano as a kid for ten years, then took up guitar when I was 24
and started writing songs … inspired greatly by The Waifs who were
playing a lot in Sydney at the time. I started performing in Paris a few
years later when I was working there as an English teacher.
13. What don’t you like about the music industry?
Like I said above, it’s challenging being an independent artist,
especially financially, but rather than complaining, it’s probably more
useful in my case just to keep working on songwriting, and performing, and
getting gigs, improving all of these things and slowly finding more and
more like minds to play to and with. I could go into some long diatribe
about the music industry but it would probably just be an excuse to avoid
the work. 🙂 What I DO like about it is the chance to experience new and
exciting thoughts and ideas … my own and those of other musicians and
audience.
