Festival Artist Focus: Something For Kate

Answered by: Paul Dempsey - singer/guitarist

Which festivals can we find you at? Scene & Heard Festival in Newcastle on 4 Nov.

Sum up in five words your typical festival season experience. Who used this portaloo last?

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen at a festival? Ten thousand people in the jungle in the remote highlands of North Eastern India chanting, "Steve Vai! Steve Vai! Steve Vai!"... And then y'know... Steve Vai.

Name your top five essentials you can’t live without while on the festival circuit? Friends. Cryptic crossword. Beer. Sunscreen. Designated driver.

What’s been your favourite backstage moment during a festival? The first one that springs to mind is standing side of stage watching Devo with Robert Smith and his mum and dad. Or Wayne Coyne from Flaming Lips delivering a bit of an OH&S briefing while a bunch of us squeezed into animal suits to dance on stage with them.

What are your festivalgoer pet peeves, the things you wish people wouldn’t do at a fest? I just hate hearing that members of any crowd have been harassed or groped or made to feel in any way unsafe or uncomfortable. A music festival should be a place for everyone to have a great time and hopefully enjoy a sense of camaraderie and community.

Three songs that are on your festival pump up playlist? War Ensemble - Slayer. Joey - Concrete Blonde. Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads. I seem to recall these three being drunkenly yelled along to in the van with some regularity. Usually on the way home though...

Aussie weather can be a hectic force come festival season. So, if you had to choose: mud pit or dust bowl? Definitely mud pit. You can still breathe in a mud pit! I remember playing at Meredith one year before they had the sweet set-up they do now and it was so dry and dusty that I was coughing up dirt for the next week.

Which acts are you most excited to catch during your festival season? I'd be keen to catch Mitski at Laneway. Still haven't been able to see Middle Kids play, which I hope to do somewhere soon. And I daresay I'll be getting along to Download to see Slayer again before they call it a day.