Paul Dempsey

Tue 16th Mar, 2010 in Features

Paul Dempsey likes to play with words. He plucks them from the air and lets them swirl around until they get dizzy and jumbled. He stacks them on top of one another, lines them up side by side.

“I love writing lyrics,” he tells FasterLouder, “because I get to completely throw the rulebook out the window. You can use words more like colours. You can be loose with them. You may have a perfectly straightforward line but when it’s followed by another line it’s turned on its head.”

Dempsey wants to give Australian audiences one last chance to hear his solo wordplay before he flies away to write in America. In April he’ll head out on the “Burning Leaves Tour” and take in the capital cities as well as Margaret River in WA and Byron Bay in NSW. I’m surprised when Dempsey tells me that if he had his way he would tour non-stop.

“The last tour we did was straight after the release [of Everything Is True ]. It’s been out for six months now so that has given people time to discover it, but more so, I just love to tour. I love playing. I would play every night if I could. Basically that’s why I’m heading to the States. I’m shifting overseas in May, to New York. I want to write a new Something For Kate record. It’s a great place to write because it’s such a crazy, busy town. You can walk around the city all day long with a notebook, it’s a pretty inspiring place to write. I can get a spark of an idea from a newspaper or a book or a film or on the radio and it will just get me thinking. Mostly that’s what I do; I just think.”

While he’ll be based in New York for his thinking time, Dempsey will also play gigs in Los Angeles and at SXSW in Austin, Texas. It’s not the first time he has spent time in the States and he hopes that with this extended stay can garner a following from the ground up. “I’ll be happy just to live there for six months or longer if I can play a whole lot of shows. Then we’ll come back and record the Something For Kate record and hit the road again.”

It will be Dempsey’s sixth studio recording with band mates Stephanie Ashworth and Clint Hyndman and Something For Kate’s first long player since 2006’s Desert Lights. Not that Mr. Dempsey has been relaxing by the pool for three and a half years. In that time he has worked with singer-songwriter Brendan Welch, dance artist T-Rek, Melbourne band The Nation Blue and, of course, released his stunning solo album Everything Is True.

With such a prolific back catalogue surely there are times when he feels pressure to create, create, create and add to his impressive body of work? “It’s not like that; I’m just compelled to do it. It has a life of its own. Something just jumps out at me and I think about it and I’m kind of rolling away with it before I’m even consciously aware of it. Before I know it I just need to pick up a pen and paper and write it down. Once the process begins I’m compelled to see it through.”

No doubt the experience will clog Dempsey’s head with more words and characters and colours. Is song writing enough for him? His lyrics are quite visual – has he thought about translating them into short films?

“I’m glad you say that because that’s what I would hope to achieve. I like the idea that words can evoke strong images in people’s heads. I love film, as well. I’m interested in it but I wouldn’t want to flatter myself and juts go do it and think it would be good. It’s a far bigger undertaking than writing a song or recording an album.”

It would seem logical to assume that a man so connected to the writing process, so intimate with the words and ideas that he expresses, wouldn’t be too comfortable handing his babies over to a ‘sitter for the evening. But that’s exactly what happened to two of Dempsey’s tunes recently. The latest single from his solo effort, Bats was released with two B-side covers – or, as Dempsey sees them, reimaginings. Melbourne songstress Clare Bowditch puts her flavour on Out The Airlock and Oh Mercy snag the lyrics from Ramona Was a Waitress and sing them over a whole new melody.

“It was an idea that a friend of mine at our label had. I was kind of a bit sheepish or embarrassed about it and I didn’t really want to ask so I Ieft it to him. I didn’t feel I had to approve anything. They’re really not just covers; they’re complete reinterpretations. They don’t sound like the originals at all and I think they’re excellent. Clare’s version is so completely different. You know, my song is quiet with gentle guitar parts and she’s added these huge, pounding drums! There was no brief; they didn’t have to do some close version. It was just a really interesting experiment.”

The Burning Leaves Tour tour visits the following venues in April, presented by FasterLouder.

Wed 7 April – The Gov, Adelaide
Thurs 8 April – Artbar, Art Gallery of WA, Perth
Fri 9 April – Settlers Tavern, Margaret River
Sat 10 April – Fly By Night, Fremantle
Thurs 15 April – Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay
Fri 16 April – Hi Fi Bar, Brisbane
Sat 17 April – Metro Theatre, Sydney
Sat 24 April – The Forum, Melbourne

Tickets on sale now.