Kate's big year
                    RITCHIE YORKE
                    04nov01
                    IT WAS just hours before the biggest show on the current Powderfinger New
                    Suburban Fables 2001 tour (at the Perth Entertainment Centre before almost
                    10,000 fans) and support act Something for Kate lead singer Paul Dempsey
                    was in top form.

                    "The 'Finger are sounding great – they've probably played more shows this year
                    than any year for quite a while," he said without a skerrick of envy.

                    SFK perform a 45-minute set in the show, and Brisbane's Festival Hall gig
                    tonight would have been the last of the tour had it not been for extraordinary
                    Melbourne and Sydney demand which means the bands go back to those
                    cities this week.

                    Festival Hall manager John Wren was quick to point out that no Oz act had
                    duplicated the 'Finger's three-shows-in-a-row at the venue, "not even Cold
                    Chisel or Australian Crawl".

                    This has been a prolific and highly successful year for SFK. Not only did their
                    third album, Echolalia, receive six ARIA nominations, but it soared over the
                    platinum sales mark.

                    Twenty Years has just been released as the third single from the album.

                    "It has a few levels to it, and the most obvious level is that it's a song about
                    what we call the rat-race," Dempsey said.

                    "What a funny idea that is! Anybody who's happy about being a rat in a race
                    needs examination.

                    "It's about disillusionment, the fact that the majority of the world's workforce is
                    in casual or temporary employment. The song has a certain sarcastic edge to
                    it as well."

                    Dempsey said the trio was thrilled with the unexpected success of Echolalia.

                    "We always try not to place any expectation on a record because it's up to the
                    general public to decide."

                    However, the band was thrilled to be "getting out to more people because that's
                    kind of the point of being in a band".

                    SFK play their final Briz show with Powderfinger at Festival Hall tonight, and it
                    is sold out.