We caught up with Kate Miller-Heidke at Peats Ridge Festival on New Years Eve (just before we went out to celebrate) and spoke about recent shows, tours and the release of her new album.
You have certainly played Peats Ridge before. I know you were queen of Woodford one year and you’re certainly amongst the new year’s festivals in Australia over the years.
It’s so funny we’d just been in Woodford for the week as well and last time we were here, everyone we met we said “We just came from Woodford” and they’d all say “Oh, I heard that festival is all sold out now” like we’re all so mainstream. It’s really commercial there now, but… Well, you can bring food, just not glass.
I completely understand the ‘no glass’ rule, if somebody gets angry, they can hurt someone with it if it’s lying around, and it can create fires and things like that.
Yeah, I didn’t think of it like that.
I’m pretty sure everyone here has smuggled in booze, [laughs] not me, of course.
It’s not like it’s Peats Ridge people searching the cars. It’s an independent security company and they were fighting with the people in front of us and they had two kids in the back and they were emptying their bags and stuff. Sorry, we’re a bit off topic…
No, it’s alright, we’re here at Peats Ridge and we should talk about it. People talk about everything you’re up to all the time, you don’t get to talk about Peats Ridge too often.
[laughs] Yeah, well, then we had to stop because there was two hundred horses. Daily they get moved from one paddock to another.
Yea, there’s the whole horse riding area around because that’s what this place is normally and there’s the quad bikes as well. And people get woken up in the morning because of the quad bikes. Are you camping here tonight?
Yep.
Very nice, so you just got in today?
Yeah.
Well, let’s look back over the year. It’s been a pretty busy year for you. You started a year overseas. I know I was over at a festival and you did a set right after or right before Karnivool, as you said today, you’d never see something like that in Sydney, that’s for sure.
Well they were doing that acoustic thing, but they’re lovely, I really like that band. My brother is obsessed with them. He’s only ever been to one of my gigs, but he’s a Karnivool junkie.
How was the experience overseas? Because I knew you spent a bit of time over there and there was the Lilith fair as well?
Yes it was great. A friend and I had actually been living in London for the last 18 months or so. After we moved there we started having to tour America, so we did two tours opening for Ben Folds over there and a recent tour opening for Stephen Page.
Awesome. He left the band, didn’t he?
Yeah, he got kicked out.
First gig I ever went to, the Irvine Ambler Theatre, it was Barenaked Ladies with Semisonic in 1999.
Wow!
That was my first ever gig.
Well, they’re not that very well known over here but they’re massive in America.
Of course. Especially Canada because they’re Canadian heroes. They’re fun. One Week got played everywhere I suppose, but beyond that, you talk to someone in Australia and you think they’re a one hit wonder.
Yes. So many songs of theirs are amazing so.. Yeah, all that touring we’ve done has been really great.
I understand that you have a show in the next couple of days as well?
Yeah.
Going back to the intimate venues, not that you haven’t played them overseas and certainly not Australia for a while?
No, there’s a core group of maybe forty or fifty fans or so that are my hardcore fans who knows every lyric, singing along. I just wanted to do something nice for them, so I’m doing just a small private gig.
So after that, are you going back to London?
No, after that, I’m going to rural Queensland to write the next album.
I heard that you’ve already started writing for it?
Yeah.
So is there a timeframe for it? When are we going to hear some new material?
It’ll definitely be out by 2011
Well, great! We’re looking forward to hearing that. I was looking today and
I felt like the album just came out two months ago but it was almost two years ago. But you haven’t stopped.
Yeah, well America is just so huge. I was there six months and I still haven’t seen half of it.
What were some of your favourite places touring around the States? I’m sure there’s been multiple stops in some places now.
Yeah, well the obvious ones where I have some friends like New York and LA. Some of the small college towns have been really great. Florence, Kansas, North Hampton and Massachusetts were really good. We spent some time in West Virginia which was pretty amazing. A lot of people there had never met an Australian so that was cool. I love Austin, Texas.
That’s a magical place isn’t it? You walk down Sixth Street and you get bombarded with music and you go ‘this is my world’ you just fall in love with it.
At the time I found it kind of overwhelming.
It is. Was it your first time there this year?
Yeah.
It was mine as well. It was too much fun.
We had six gigs in four days or something so it was very hard work.
And then you came back and performed by request with Crowded House down at the Hunter Valley. That was great fun. And what was that experience like? It was a pretty special show.
It was lovely. I’d never been to the Hunter Valley before. I am a fan of the wines. But getting to watch Crowded House up close. Neil Finn was lovely.
Yeah it’s been such a great year for you and congratulations on it. I hate to go back so far, but the first time I saw you was with the Jerry Springer opera. You got to be operatic but you got to be stupid at the same time.
As a piece of music and a work of art, it was so great and getting to meet all those people. I’ve still got some very dear friends that I met doing that. I was just working with the composer in London on his new show, which I did for two months. Yes, lots of great friends came out of that.
I love seeing people that I know had only ever done traditional opera and they were up there singing these stupid songs and it was just so much fun. It was a pity it was such a short run. And as it’s always said, without Opera Australia and the Sydney Opera House it just wouldn’t have happened.
It was funny just all the publicity it got in the UK where it ran for two years. A lot of the publicity cane from rabid, Christian groups. I guess they were hoping for that to happen in Australia but no one really gave a shit and that something that really made me proud to be an Australian. No one could be bothered.
They’re just too busy dealing with abortion issues really.
Hopefully they just don’t do anything.
It’s certainly not like that UK or America, you don’t hear about protests. And even the state of the music industry, you look at a place like Melbourne and that is something that they protest about. And as you’d probably heard about The Tote closed at the beginning of the year but when it closed there was marching in the streets!
Yeah, but I think it was representing a larger issue.
But the point being that we seem to get behind more relevant issues.
Yeah, with the anti-war protest the turn out seemed kind of lame.
Half the time, some people don’t even know what they’re pretesting about.
And it never seems to be enough people to change things.
I love seeing a group of people that actually know what they’re protesting about. And they make a change. And now there’s a green member in parliament because of that sort of ground swell. Anyway, thank you for your time and congratulations. Are you going to be collaborating with your husband on your album?
Yeah.
Congratulations and happy new year!
