Something For Kate On Making 'Echolalia' & The Time They Were Too Busy For Bruce Springsteen

In the latest season of the Rewind podcast series, host Steve Bell talks with all three members of Something For Kate about their landmark 2001 album, Echolalia.

Across five episodes, the band reveal tales of writers block, pre-production sessions in Thailand, their time in Garry Beers' (INXS) studio and the overwhelmingly positive reaction the album’s release received.

The band detail the rigorous studio time spent refining Echolalia with Grammy-winning US producer Trina Shoemaker, to the point that they missed a golden opportunity to meet a music icon.

Bass player Stephanie Ashworth recalls the moment with a chuckle, "Trina liked to work really long hours. In fact, I think one time we were working and Bruce Springsteen came to town and he invited us all to come hang out and go to his show and Trina said no. She was like, ‘No. We haven't finished the mix. You're not going.’ I'm not sure we've forgiven her for that yet.”

Ashworth continues, “It was really fun and lots of hard work… but really good memories.”

However, the band did get to meet another musical icon during the making of Echolalia. Something For Kate recorded the album at NSW’s Mangrove Music Studios (now known as The Grove) which at the time was owned by INXS member Garry Beers.

Ashworth remembers, “He'd just pop over with a, you know, a 1950s bass for me to use. He’d bring over a selection from the house. And he'd be like, ‘Oh, Steph, do you want to use this 57 P bass that I got?’ I'd be like ‘Sure!’ So he’d be like ‘Come up to the house.’ So I’d go to his place and see all the collection of 50 basses from each year from 1956 onwards." 

As revealed in Rewind, the Something For Kate trio arrived at the studio after a long struggle with writer’s block and a band trip to Thailand to kick-start the creative juices.

Something For Kate in studio in 2001. Image by Sophie Howarth

Something For Kate singer/songwriter Paul Dempsey describes how the decision was made to go on that pre-production jaunt, “It just got to a point eventually after several months of [writer’s block] we literally just walked out of the rehearsal room one day and into a Flight Centre. And you know, every Flight Centre I think is the same they all have that huge world map wallpaper, and we just kind of stood there and looked at it and just went, 'Okay there.' Like two days later, I think we were in Thailand.”

Drummer Clint Hyndman admits, that the trip did the trick. “We went to Thailand, just to have a bit of a break,” he says. “Which is kind of bizarre when I think about it now. But it helped, you know, like, we wrote a couple of songs… And I was just there cruising, but we'd like to do everything together as a band, but Paul took his guitar and knocked around and there were no drums or anything like that. I literally got a free holiday when I think about it, it was all part of the process. It's part of how... we've always tried to do it. It's changed a lot these days, obviously, because now we've got kids and businesses, etcetera. We don't have the freedom to just take off and do whatever we can.” 

Dempsey, Ashworth and Hyndman are joined on the latest Rewind by Echolalia producer Trina Shoemaker, former Sony A&R Craig Mathieson and John O’Donnell - who signed the band to Sony imprint Murmur. Missy Higgins also features in episode five, discussing the influence the band had on the next generation of Australian musicians.

All episodes of the five show season are available to stream now. Check out part one of Rewind’s oral history of Echolalia below on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or anywhere you listen to your favourite podcasts.

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Catch up on all previous episodes of Rewind here, and you can also check out all the other Handshake podcasts below:

• The Green Room With Tiana Speter - join host Tiana Speter as she chats with some of the biggest names in music, film and comedy
  
• That Sucks! - fortnightly musings about the worst of your favourite things
• The Take With Willie Mason - join ex-Australian and NSW rugby league Willie Mason talking all things sports