It’s been some time since Kate Tempest has felt the warmth of her South London home.
But, after a massive 2019 travelling in support of her newest album, ‘The Book Of Traps And Lessons’, the prolific English poet/rapper isn’t using her break from the road to take a break from writing.
“I’ve got these big projects that really need my attention and I just haven’t been able to give them my full attention when I’ve been on the road,” she says. “So, I’m just relishing the chance to just get stuck into these things that have been crowding my brain for the last six months.”
Pen has barely left paper since Kate began her career. Over the last decade, she has written poetry, plays, a best-selling novel, released three fiery, politically-charged albums of hip hop and spoken word, and performed to massive audiences, becoming one of the most recognised poets in the world. Kate is returning to Australia for the first time since 2016.
“It’s crazy!” she says of the acclaim. “I don’t know how it comes across and how people engage with it. I completely forget that somebody else looks at it and sees it as a finished thing. If I try to extricate myself from my work and try to understand what it looks like or how it’s being read or heard, it blows my mind.”
One fan Kate is still shocked by is legendary producer Rick Rubin. For her latest album, Rick invited Kate and her musical collaborator Dan Carey to his Malibu studio, providing ideas and support that changed her creative process.
“I felt really lucky to have Rick’s attention and so overwhelmed by the whole experience of being there in that studio in Malibu,” she says. “Normally with Dan and I, the first thing we think of is so exciting that we just run with that. But with Rick, we would go through periods of that kind of creativity, and then we’d play him twelve songs and he’d say only two of them were worth pursuing. So, we had this whole new pace inflicted upon us by this incredible pair of ears that is Rick Rubin.”
The last time Kate made her way to Australia, her tour began with a bang. She featured on the political panel show ‘Q&A’, and her fierce performance went viral.
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” she laughs. “I was jetlagged, and I’d just been asleep backstage ten minutes before. Then it was like, boom, perform a poem. I felt so overwhelmed by the whole experience. It was such a bizarre way to enter the country.”
Click here to enter to win tickets to see Kate Tempest live in Brisbane.
For her return, Kate will perform alongside Dan [Carey], bringing to the stage the energy that ignites in her work.
“We’re a duo on stage, and it’s much more visible, everything is bigger and more profound, more pronounced,” she says. “It can be a little bit terrifying just before going up, but what happens is by the end of it we’ve all gone on this mad journey together and what’s happening is by the end of the shows the connection is unlike one that I’ve experienced before.”
Kate Tempest Tour Dates
16 February – Perth Festival18 February – Melbourne Recital Centre
19 February – Queensland Performing Arts Centre
20 February – Factory Theatre (Sydney)
27 February – Adelaide Festival
