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LITTLE BIRDY |
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 On this page:
*Little Birdy interview
*Little Birdy Discography (all available on Whammo)
*Little Birdy Australian Tour dates
LITTLE BIRDY- THE WHAMMO INTERVIEW - SEPTEMBER 28, 2003
The Steele family's Perth home is like an incubator for musical talent. Luke of Sleepy Jackson fame has already led his band onto the world stage with a unique brand of country crossed with art-rock and since the release of their Let Your Love Be LOve EP the Sleepies have been lauded, released in several territories across the globe and nominated in 5 categories at the Aria Awards for their brilliant debut album Lovers. Obviously, when I heard that Luke's sister was making waves with her band Little Birdy, I was interested to give their debut single Relapse a listen. While no clear similarities existed between Little Birdy and The Sleepy Jackson, one link became obvious: quality. Katy has already superceded her sibling in one important area: the band has a concrete, stylised sound and consistency in songwriting. Relapse soon became a regular favourite on Triple J radio and the recently released self-titled EP raised the stakes with its strong tracklisting, including the infectious I Should Have Known. A chat with Katy was long overdue and I caught up with the 20 year-old songwriter/musician when the band returned home from overseas showcase gigs...
Whammo: Your lyrics seem quite personal.
Katy: Yeah they are. I don’t really write anything that’s not personal. It’s kind of hard not to. It’s kind of like a relief. I’ll sit there write a song and either feel really drained after I've finished or feel really f**king good. I think when you put everything into a song it's just like putting a whole part of you on the page. It’s hard not to be personal when you rely on it every week, you know?
Whammo: I reckon the girls in the Australian Music Industry are gutsier lyrically. I had a bit of a girly night the other night. I got all the female vocal stuff that I had listened to once or twice and played it all. Sarah Blasko, Magic Dirt, you and a few other things. Especially with Adalita and her lyrics with Magic Dirt, she just… well, she doesn’t hold back. It’s so heavily personal and then I listened to yours and even though you’re not throwing it in the face of the listener, when you dig deep it’s you’re wearing your heart on your sleave. I think it’s pretty gutsy.
Katy: Yeah, I think it is as well. There’s a lot of music out there that just goes straight over your head because you’ve just heard it a million times. There's so many bands that just sing about picking up down at the pub or 'she’s so hot' or 'he’s so hot'. It’s like 'f**k man, there’s just so much more to life than that shit'. They’re free to do that if they want to but I don’t personally get a kick out of it.
Whammo: Yeah, I don’t think that that stuff lasts.
Katy: It doesn’t no, no. You look at the classic records that have lasted through time and they’re the ones that actually say something that matters. You’ve got Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Aretha Franklin, even though she didn’t write all her songs. They just sing words of truth. What’s the point of singing a song about something that doesn’t matter? Music’s there to help people through stuff you know?
Whammo: It’s a waste of time to be inane.
Katy: Fully. I think people forget how important music is.
Whammo: Obviously it’s important to you. Obviously it’s important in your family.
Katy: Yeah it is! It’s one of those things that goes without saying. It’s the only thing in the world that cheers me up. Just playing piano by yourself and… f**king feeling it. Music is just one of those undeniable things that you just need, that you crave constantly (laughs).
Whammo: Not everyone’s like that. I find those people bizarre. I find the people who only have 20 CDs.
Katy: yeah I know! (Laughs) Don’t you like music, man! That’s cool. That’s their thing. They probably get a kick out of listening to George Michael over and over. I suppose they probably watch movies and get the same kick out of movies, which is something that I don’t really get: watching shit movies all the time.
Whammo: When I’m president, Katy, they’ll be rounded up.
Katy: And shot?
Whammo: Yeah. I just don’t have time for people who don’t like music. I know that sounds rough, but that’s just the way I feel. I just don’t get along with them, Katy.
Katy: Yeah, I’m the same. It’s like: "f**k, you can’t talk about music?" I don’t really want to talk about politics or anything for the rest of the night. I like talking about food and music. That’s about it.
Whammo: So… You did a gig overseas didn’t you? How was that?
Katy: Yeah, we did a couple. A couple in London, a couple in New York and one in L.A. Yeah it was good. I mean, it was pretty much what we expected: just record companies standing in the back, watching and sussing us out. Obviously that was kind of freaky. The whole thing of just being in a new country and the different accents and everything was amazing. That’s the first time I’ve been to New York and to London. All of us actually. It’s the first time we’ve been over there, so it was insane. We want to go back there straight away (laughs).
Whammo: Yeah, it might be the only way you get to hang out with your brother!
Katy: Well yeah! That was the only time I saw him! Was when we were both over there. He was playing with My Morning Jacket. And I saw him for one night and he was going to Canada the next day and we were going to L.A. And we were just like “Hey man! Alright catch you later!”
Whammo: “Yeah I remember you!”
Katy: “I’ve seen you before!” Seeing him, yeah that was really cool. But I think with overseas, we just went over there, tried to get our foot in the door and have a good time. That’s the main thing. We can’t really expect to get a deal straight away.
Whammo: Well you know the labels are in a fantastic position with being able to sit on their arse and take their time anyway.
Katy: Exactly, yeah.
Whammo: Meanwhile, we’re just working hard and going ‘Hey, hey look at me! Look at me! I make music! I make music!” And then they kind of go “Yeah, actually I think you’re really good but I might just wait a couple of years and see what you’re like then.”
Katy: Yeah, exactly.
Whammo: It’s very weird. Lets talk about the music. It must be - and I won’t dwell on this - it must be a cool little foot in the door that Luke’s gone on before you and gotten all this attention. At least it makes people go, “Oh yeah right, that’s his sister.”
Katy: Yeah!
Whammo: That’s kind of cool isn’t it?
Katy: Yeah, it's awesome! It’s just the fact he’s my brother and we’re blood. I don’t even know if they’d find any similarities between us but at least they’d know we’re from the same kind of place. It’s been really surprising. He’s been doing this so much longer than me. It’s just really bizarre for me. I just didn’t even think of myself as a songwriter until this year. I was just in my bedroom, going along at my own speed. He was always the one doing gigs every weekend, playing here and playing there. I was always the one going along and watching from side of stage. It’s just bizarre that we’re both doing the same thing.
Whammo: I can imagine. There must be some pretty strong musical genes happening in the family. What are your folks like? Are they fully into it?
Katy: Yeah, my dad’s a musician. He’s been playing for his whole life. That’s all he does now, just a muso and my older brother Jesse plays drums as well. He used to play with Luke actually. My dad plays every night, everywhere. He plays country gigs. He’s just an amazing performer. He plays and everyone watches him and you know he’ll play a song you know. He plays all the classics, he does covers and stuff as well but really cool covers like Kristofferson and Creedence Clearwater and Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones. Just rock and roll, country rock and blues stuff. The audience just f**king loves it. I’ve had the luck of being able to grow up with an amazing entertainer. And you know I think you can’t help but grow up with a bit of that in your soul.
Whammo: I think I envy you in that because you know I’m very musical but I, like my mum is one of those people that would have 10 albums. You know what I mean? And it was always like “turn that down” or like “do you have to be so loud?” or…
Katy: I know! I’ve got friends that are the same and I’m so blessed. I remember every Christmas or every family celebration- music is the number one thing. Luke comes back off tour and we sit around and listen to records. Music’s all that matters. It’s beautiful. Music saves the family. It keeps us together.
Whammo: That’s awesome.
Katy: I’ve got so many cool memories of Christmas time listening to Happy Christmas by John Lennon when I was like really young. I’ve just been brought up on awesome music. Can’t ask for more than that (laughs).
Whammo: Totally. It is a kind of different deal, Little Birdy. At first I thought Oh yeah it must just be Katy running the show. Luke kind of does that with Sleepy Jackson, he admits that. But it’s a band.
Katy: Yeah. It’s definitely a band. But there’s still a songwriter. I still write a lot of the stuff at home and bring it in. So it’s definitely a band. There still is that element of someone running the show in a sense. So, it’s not as extreme. There’s no way I’m as extreme as Luke.
Whammo: I know, I’ve been in bands with people like Luke and you either just had to hop on or hop off.
Katy: I’m just lucky that I’ve been able to watch and learn (laughs). I’m definitely different from him. There’s an element of that inside of me but that gets restrained by watching what he does. I think I’m a bit more levelled out than him.
Whammo: I really like that you’ve crafted the songs as a band.
Katy: Yeah. That’s exactly what happens. Obviously there’s someone that writes the songs. I write a lot if it and bring it in but it changes. It’s hard coming in from being someone solo - writing songs by yourself where it’s your own baby - and then you bring it in and it’s three other peoples’ song. It’s really hard getting used to that fact. That’s something that I was trying to say before without sounding too f**king arrogant (laughs). Just because I’m like Luke where all we really care about is songs and you get really precious about the fact that it might not get its true life span. You just want it (the song) to do the biggest things it can do. With the guys I’ve found, they’re just the best band. Every time I play something to Simon, straight away he comes up with an awesome guitar line and knows exactly what I want from it. They’re all really understanding and cool.
Whammo: But if you ever have any reservations about the purity of your songs and the fact that they do have to change for the sake of compromise, I think the proof is in the pudding. All you have to do is listen to the EP and know that the compromise is a good thing.
Katy: I realize that but thank you. These guys are fucking awesome and these songs wouldn’t be the way they are without them.
Whammo: It seems like you already have your own sound, do you agree?
Katy: We’ve just done what we’ve done from the start. I don’t think it’s going to be changing dramatically at all. I think we’ve already written a lot of the first album already. A lot of the songs we play live would be awesome if they were recorded. We’re just getting to the stage now where we’re being really picky about what we play live. It’s going to be a lot easier to put an album down. After we finish this 5-week tour I think we’ll be a lot more focussed on the album. It’ll be similar to what we’re doing now but maybe a bit more rock.
Whammo: How long have you been writing songs?
Katy: Well I taught myself piano and guitar and I’ve been doing that since I was 17, so about 3 years.
Whammo: It’s not long.
Katy: I believe, with any songwriter, if you put time into it and you listen to a hell of a lot of music, then you’re going to have more of a chance of getting somewhere (laughs). You know? There are so many bands out there that just want to be rock stars straight away. They don’t go home and write songs at 3 o’clock in the morning, staying up all night because they’re passionate about it. You’ve go to have passion for it. I’ve spent ages in my bedroom, just…crying over songs sometimes. It sounds really full on but if you love something then you do it all the time. That’s why this last few months has been amazing because I’ve spent the last 3 years just playing these songs to my boyfriend or playing them to Luke when he’s home. To actually be playing these songs to people and for them to like them is just surreal. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do but I just can’t grasp the fact that I’ve got a chance to do it.
Whammo: I’m not going to get personal but you did mention your boyfriend so…do you reckon it’s hard to write love songs when you’re ‘in love’?
Katy: Actually, I’ve written my best songs when we were going through hard times (laughs). I’m actually looking forward to this tour because I think I’ll write some good songs. I’ll be depressed, away from him. So yeah, I think it actually is harder to write love songs when you’re in love. I think that’s true. |
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 LITTLE BIRDY
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While her brother Luke receives critical acclaim as the resident mad scientist for The Sleepy Jackson, Katy Steele's focus seems to zero in on vocal delivery and the power of fine lyrics. Little Birdy, the latest Perth act to attract the attention of the media, is a band in the true sense of the word and while her sibling takes the reins of his combo, Katy is well-supported by a creative group who record so cohesively that it actually sounds like the determined effort of one mind. Relapse, the first single, still bares that element of flawed innocence that struck me the first time I heard its minimal instrumentation and demanding melody. The true test of any developing artist is the quality of b-sides and Little Birdy pass with flying colours, obviously having some type of collective consciousness when it comes to penning tunes together. It's a rare gift that can't be taught or bought and this Perth 4-piece has something special together that promises to grow. We may be privy to the beginning of a legendary act, withstanding the usual political, personal and artistic rigours of being in a band. With Katy on vocals the picture is complete. Her mixture of Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks and Bjork qualifies her for mainstream attention. Hopefully punters will be magnetically attracted to her so the less obvious strength of the song writing and musicianship can be unveiled.
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Litle Birdy: Australian Tour Dates
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October
26....The Troubadour, Brisbane
30....Gaelic Club, Sydney
31....Northern Star, Newcastle
November
1.....Corner Hotel, Melbourne
2.....Grace Emily, Adelaide |
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