Paul Dempsey

Paul Dempsey
Background information
Born	(1976-05-25) 25 May 1976 Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Alternative rock, Australian rock, folk
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards, drums
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Sony/BMG, EMI
Associated acts	Something for Kate, Scared of Horses, Give Goods, T-Rek
Website

Paul Dempsey (born 1976 in Melbourne) is an Australian musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter of Australian rock group Something for Kate. He has released a solo album and has also produced and co-written albums for other artists.

Music career

Something For Kate

Dempsey formed Something for Kate six months after leaving high school in 1994 with school friend, drummer Clint Hyndman.^[1] They recruited bass player Julian Carroll after advertising in a record store, played two shows and released a demo tape before being signed to Sony subsidiary label Murmur Records by A&R representative Chris Dunn. All members were 19 years old.^[2]

Dempsey wrote all songs and lyrics, and after releasing two EPs, the band went to New Zealand to record their first album Elsewhere for Eight Minutes. The second Something for Kate album Beautiful Sharks (1999) earned a Music Critics' Award for Best Australian Album and Best Australian Live Band, in addition to two ARIA nominations.

Echolalia, Something for Kate's third album, was followed by the selection of Dempsey for the Best Male Vocalist accolade by the readers of Rolling Stone magazine and the album was nominated for five ARIA Awards. It debuted at #2 on the ARIA Charts and subsequently sold more than 140,000 copies, thereby attaining double platinum status.

Dempsey began suffering writer's block^[2] and depression^[3] and toured the U.S. and Europe with the band while he tried to write lyrics for the band's fourth album. It was not until 2003 that The Official Fiction was released. The album debuted at number 1 on the Australian chart and Dempsey's lyrics revealed a sense of anger at the political events of the time.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, after another bout of writer's block and debilitating depression,^{[citation needed]} Dempsey and the band were based in Los Angeles, US to work on their fifth album Desert Lights. The album was released in 2006 and again debuted at number 1 on the ARIA Album Chart in July.^[4]

The sixth SFK album Leave Your Soul To Science was released in early 2013 and the band commenced a national Australian tour in support of the album in June 2013. Dempsey revealed his ongoing enthusiasm for live performance prior to the tour: "I enjoy getting out and playing more than ever. I get more impatient and frustrated that I can't do it more often."^[5]

Solo career

In 2007, Dempsey began writing for his solo debut and produced an album, The Gleaner, for Melbourne singer-songwriter Brendan Welch. He played a variety of instruments on several of Melbourne dance artist T-Rek albums, and contributed keyboards for Melbourne band The Nation Blue's album, Protest Songs.

Recording was completed for Dempsey's album, Everything Is True, in April 2009 in Los Angeles with mix engineer/ producer, Doug Boehm. The first single, "Out the Airlock", was briefly offered as a free download on his website before being released through iTunes on 15 May 2009 and the album was officially released on 14 August 2009, peaking at No. 5 on the ARIA chart. The album was nominated for three Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards^[6] as well as a Triple J Award for Best Australian Album of 2009. It was named iTunes Album of the Year for 2009, voted by Triple J listeners as one of the Top 10 albums of 2009, earned him The Age's EG Music Award for Best Male (voted by the public)^[7] and named as one of the Best Albums of 2009 by Rolling Stone magazine.

Following the release of the solo album, Dempsey and partner Stephanie Ashworth (bassist in Something for Kate) relocated to New York, United States, for two years in 2010.^[5] While in the US, Dempsey formed a backing band, but also performed solo shows, and in a June 2013 interview, Dempsey explained:

In our two years in New York I think I played more shows in that two years than I had in the previous 10. I felt like I was being what I regard as a working musician, actually going out and playing music every night or several nights a week. As someone who's been doing it for nearly 20 years, I think it is important to put yourself in situations where you feel like you're doing it for the first time and you still have something to prove to an audience and—most importantly—to yourself.^[5]

Other projects

In 1998, he recorded an album with other musicians as a side project under the name "Scared of Horses", for which he wrote all songs. In 2003 he also produced and played drums, bass, guitar and keyboards on The Givegoods' 2003 album I Want to Kill a Rich Man, the side project for Tom Morgan and Evan Dando (from the Lemonheads).

Dempsey has filled in as a guitarist for Brisbane band Fur, and Perth band Ammonia. He also played drums for two shows with Bluebottle Kiss and drums in his sister's band, John Smith. In 2007, Dempsey co-wrote & produced the album, "The Gleaner" for Australian singer/songwriter, Brendan Welch.

In April 2010, Dempsey produced and mixed the third studio EP, Heavy Harm (released on 13 August 2010), by Sydney rock band, Papa VS Pretty.^[8]

In October 2011, Dempsey performed with the Black Arm Band, Archie Roach, Mavis Staples, Ricki Lee Jones and Joss Stone in 'Notes From the Hard Road and Beyond" as part of the Melbourne Festival at The Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Paul played guitar and performed a duet with Joss Stone also singing with Mavis Staples and a version of A Hard Rains Gonna Fall with Shane Howard.^[9]

Television

Dempsey appeared as a panelist on RocKwiz on 24 February 2007, performing a solo version of "Monsters" and George Michael's "Careless Whisper" with Kate Miller-Heidke. He also appeared on Good News Week on 26 October 2009, performing the song "Fire" by Bruce Springsteen as part of the "Strange But True" segment.^[10] Dempsey appeared on RocKwiz again on Sat June 8 performing a solo version of "Survival Expert" from Something for Kate's album, "Leave Your Soul to Science" and Hall & Oates "Out of Touch" with Emily Lubitz.

Personal life

Dempsey has suffered bouts of clinical depression^[3] and has also complained about periods of writer's block.^[2] In a 2010 interview he explained:

I think a lot of people who suffer from depression feel guilty. They feel like being selfish, they feel like they shouldn't talk about it because they sound like they are whining. I think it is important to not be like that and talk about it, so that people think that it is OK to talk about it. If anybody sees me talking about it and therefore thinks that it is alright for them to talk to their friends about it, than that is a good thing. I get a lot of emails and a lot of letters from people who tell me that they are going through the same thing or that they had battles with depression as well and that it gave them some sort of strength or consolation to know that someone else that they respect goes through that as well. It is a lot of people! It is one in five people in Australia.^[3]

In 2006, he married bandmate and longtime partner Ashworth in Las Vegas, Nevada,^[11] and they are parents to a son Miller, who was born in 2011.^[12][13][14] In 2010, the couple relocated to New York, US for two years and Dempsey revealed his intention to return to the American city in a June 2013 interview.^[5]

Discography

Solo

Albums

• Everything Is True (2009)(#5 Australia)
• Shotgun Karaoke (2013)

EP's

• iTunes Live from Sydney EP
• We'll Never Work In This Town Again
• Fast Friends

Singles

• Bats
• Ramona was a Waitress
• Out the Airlock

with Scared of Horses

• An Empty Flight (1998)

with Something for Kate

• Elsewhere for 8 Minutes (1997)
• Beautiful Sharks (1999) (#10 Australia)
• Q & A with Dean Martin (reissue) (2000)
• Echolalia (2001) (#2 Australia)
• The Official Fiction (2003)
• Phantom Limbs: Selected B-Sides (2004)
• Desert Lights (2006) (#1 Australia)
• iTunes Originals – Something for Kate (2007)
• The Murmur Years (2007)
• Live at the Corner (2008)
• Leave Your Soul to Science (2012) (#5 Australia)

with The Give Goods

• I Want to Kill a Rich Man (2003)

References