Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians
The moment the walk-on music hits, you can feel it—the pulse of a country learning to believe in its own sound. We sat with Kate Ceberano to trace how that pulse became a life: from Melbourne’s alternative scene and a pivotal “no” to Stock Aitken Waterman, to I’m Talking, Brave, Jesus Christ Superstar, and a 60th birthday tour that plays like a living mixtape of Australian music history.
Kate brings the stories behind the headlines into sharp focus. She remembers the studio accident that turned into Models anthems, the sunburnt crush of Australian Made crowds, and the stubborn ingenuity of recording Bear Witness on early digital tech with real-time fixes from London. She talks about craft as a calling and a strategy—why songwriting keeps artists afloat, how Pash grew from one perfect memory, and what it means to watch an audience run a thousand private films to the same song. There’s reverence for lineage—Mahalia Barnes seeking her blessing, Michael Paynter’s vocal fire, and the responsibility of honoring a role like Mary Magdalene—and clear-eyed pride in firsts like the Order of Australia and induction into the Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The conversation also moves into the art of surviving between spotlights. When COVID stopped the wheels, Kate launched Friday streams to raise money for Support Act, painted guitars to keep crews paid, and spent years creating a hand-stitched quilt with master quilters in the Philippines and local artisans—a psychedelic ode to Australian flora that travels as the band’s fourth member. We talk bikes, festivals, and a tiny scoop, but the heart of it is simple: authorship over shortcuts, community over ego, and music as the time capsule that binds us to who we were and who we’re becoming.
If you love Australian music, creative resilience, and stories that make your chest ache with recognition, press play and ride with us. Then share it with a friend, and drop a review with the Kate track that shaped your life.
What has Kate Ceberano been up to lately? Let's find out!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cheryl Lee (00:00):
At Radio Chick Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking Itpodcast where we'll have music,
news reviews, and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians andartists.
For this episode, you get to bea fly on the wall as we
interview the amazing KateSoprano for the telly.
How do you fit such anillustrious career into just
(00:22):
half an hour?
We decided that we're gonnahave to do part two when she
comes back to Adelaide nexttime.
Apart from all of her musicalachievements, Kate received the
Order of Australia forsignificant service to the
performing arts in 2016.
She made history to as thefirst woman to be inducted into
the Australian Songwriters Hallof Fame.
(00:45):
She received a Ruby Award asartistic director of the
Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
And she's also done a whole lotof fun things on the jelly.
A judge on the inaugural seasonof X Factor, crowned champion
in 2007 on Dancing with theStars, mentored Australian
(01:05):
swimmer Daniel Kowowski on ItTakes Two, returned the
following year to mentor AFLplayer Russell Robinson, who was
runner-up.
The family tree was featured onWho You Think You Are.
She was a presenter on Getaway,relief host for Carrie Ann
Kennelly's morning programme.
(01:26):
Was on the mask singer.
Is there anything this ladycannot do?
And apart from that, she is anamazing bloody human.
Please enjoy the chat we hadwith Kate.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favourite artists, simply
go to that radiochick.com.au.
I'd like to welcome you to thisepisode of Rider TV.
(01:47):
It's part of our Legend series.
And I'm so pleased to introduceyou to a lady who actually
needs no introduction, KateSabrano.
Thank you so much for joiningus in the studio today.
You're in Adelaide on tour foryour Australian made tour, which
we'll talk about in a littleminute.
But we've got a lot of historyto talk about in a very short
(02:08):
amount of time.
Kate Ceberano (02:09):
Do we have to?
Did we just talk about likethere seems to be an awful lot
of backstory, but okay, I'm I'mup for the challenge.
Cheryl Lee (02:18):
I'm known for my research.
Yeah, I can see that.
That's amazing.
So we'll maybe just touchbriefly on because it's been an
amazing 40-year-plus career.
Yeah.
I've been so blessed to see youalmost from the beginning.
This was the first time I sawyou perform.
That's um New Year's Day.
(02:39):
Australian Lee, look at that.
Kate Ceberano (02:41):
Oh my Australian Made.
New Year's Day 1987.
If I had that singlet, I'd wearthat on this tour, The Wife
Beater.
What a great one.
Look how cute you are.
21.
Cheryl Lee (02:54):
Daughter's that age now.
Oh wow.
Yeah, so that was the veryfirst time I saw that you
perform that.
That was a great concert.
You've created a great touraround it and a fabulous album,
which we'll talk about.
But Jeepers Creepers, you'vedone a lot.
When you were a teenager, youwere courted by the very famous
Stock Aitken and Waterman, andyou didn't do it.
Kate Ceberano (03:17):
You didn't go there, did you?
You stayed in Melbourne.
Well, I'll have to explain howMelbourne was in itself an
eco-culture of bands that wereslightly alternative.
Not slightly alternative,actually, we're talking Nick
Cave, the very early primalhunters and collectors.
I mean, I was raised as one ofthe tribe, and I'm talking saw
itself as a very experimentalfunk band that was also created
(03:40):
within that eco-culture.
To us, it doesn't seem toalways make sense, but the idea
of someone else's hand atauthoring your sound seemed
disingenuous to us.
And I speak about the band andthe way we were thinking.
In fact, I read Mark Seymour'sautobiography on it, and it
explains exactly how we wereallergic to that.
(04:01):
Yeah.
I mean, I could be laughing allthe way to the bank now if I'd
gone and applied myself fully.
And with all respect toStockhake and Waterman, they are
they were and continue to be aphenomenon, but they weren't
going to be my destiny now.
No.
Well, we're glad that you madethe decision that you did.
I'm glad I made the decision Idid.
I I must confess, no one startsin the business thinking
(04:21):
they're going to be there at theend because it's a sort of like
a uh well that would be a pipedream, especially for
Australians.
We don't sort of love to sortof overextend ourselves.
So at the age of which I metyou, which would have been on
stage for The Australian Maid, Iwas only uh 20.
Yeah.
And to me, the idea that I'd besinging or doing anything or
(04:42):
wouldn't even know myself when Iwas near 60 was just no.
It wasn't even there.
It wasn't even a good idea.
We were that age, like 30s old.
30 was serious.
My grandparents were 30.
Exactly.
And I've just had my 60th, andyou've got yours next year.
Yeah.
Big plans for a celebration.
I've actually planned this is my60th celebration.
(05:04):
I've done it ahead of time.
I wanted to I did.
And I and I fed myself all ofthe nutrition that caused me to
become the artist I am today.
Like every single sip fromevery style of music that I was
I was inhaling or sipping, oryou know, or some were snorting,
I wasn't.
(05:24):
But of of that that that erathat's made me the artist I am
today is what I'm celebrating onthis tour.
Good on you.
Yeah, it's my birthday.
Oh, a happy birthday.
My birthday in music, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (05:35):
One of the first places I remember seeing you was
on countdown when you stole theshow for the models.
Kate Ceberano (05:40):
Oh actually, I want to say it was a very
distinctive sound.
If we consider that Seanstarted the models without
James, he'd already had his areally explosion, and I'm
talking about that alternativeMelbourne sound again.
Like he was a purist, and theAlpha Bravo Delta album was
pretty pure.
(06:01):
And then he invited the showpony who was James Freud,
formerly of the modern, what washis modern love, the band James
Freud, and the I'm sure one ofyou all know viewers will know,
and they'll write in.
But then to add on top of that,two of the girls from I'm
Talking.
You know it was an accidentthat we got on those tracks at
all.
No.
We were just happened to berecording in the same studio,
(06:21):
and Nick Lawnay, the verycelebrated producer for Midnight
Oil and the models, I'mTalking, Myself, My Solo Career,
and then years later, SilverChair and other bands like it.
He's uh he was a reallypowerful producer.
He called us in and said,Girls, can you just kind of put
a few BBs on this?
Yeah.
And that's how you got Barbadosand Out of Mind, Out of Sight,
(06:42):
and and I think that was thesound of that summer.
So cool, just very organic howit all happened.
I think music made that wayends up being more potent.
More authentic as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
In the in the Osmaid tour, Iopen up with an overture, which
has the walk-on music that NXSused during the tour, but then
we bust out into a an a cappellaburn for you.
(07:05):
And that sound, it was thesound of Australia, and Jenny
Morris was in the in the BVs.
Renata, well, I think Renatawas a very famed singer from the
Stones.
Shireen and Zan were in there.
So you could hear the sound ofour musical culture all in that
one pregnant opening stanza.
(07:27):
Yeah, yeah.
Unbelievable.
Can't wait to see it.
Wait for you to see it too.
You're gonna actually feelreally nostalgic.
I will.
Because this is just as much asof you and for you as it is for
me.
Cheryl Lee (07:39):
Yeah, I think the whole audience is going to have
a nostalgic walk down memoryday.
Kate Ceberano (07:44):
We've already done the tour.
In fact, I kept the the bestfor last.
Adelaide.
Yeah, and that's the end ofthis tour this year.
Audiences have been almostborderline hysterical with the
joy that they've had, which I'mglad for.
I've like felt like Boudica,like I feel like I'm on a
chariot behind those drums,holding two horses, these wild
electric guitarists on eitherside, Hartz and Kathleen.
(08:06):
It's like, whoa, I can barelykeep it still.
It's amazing.
Cheryl Lee (08:10):
I remember that day so much, apart from the fabulous
music.
It was so hot.
I don't know if you remember inAdelaide.
It was like hot almost like a39.
It was scorcher, wasn't it?
Kate Ceberano (08:20):
And I got burnt to a crisp.
Oh, I know.
I remember that.
It was so worth it.
Oh, and I don't recall what youknow, infrastructure back then.
I don't even recall Portaloo'sor drink stations or like it was
sort of green.
And if you look at the video,if you've looked at video
footage, there is a famousdocumentary made about it now
(08:40):
that you can check it out.
And you guys are crammed inlike sardines.
You're just staring.
You wouldn't even have room tosit down on the ground if you'd
wanted to.
No.
Cheryl Lee (08:50):
It was sort of like the precursor to, you know, days
on the green and red hot summertours.
It was like was trend setting,wasn't it?
Kate Ceberano (08:57):
Well, I have to tell you that we were told that
if you put an all-Australianbill, it won't work.
It won't work.
And that was the first of itskind in the country.
And it did work.
And Ken West, who was mymanager at the time, went on to
make a big day out.
Ah, there you go.
Vivian Lee's and your time, youguys.
Yeah, pretty much.
Well, we definitely were in thefounding forefathers and
(09:18):
mothers of Australian music.
And what mothers is Australianmusic?
I am.
I'm a mother of Renee Geo andChris Chrissy Amphlet, the
mothers.
Oh, yeah, there were somelegends on there, wasn't there?
And some we've lost.
But let's talk about.
I'm talking platinum debut bearwitness.
Goodness me.
Rolling Stones Top 200Australian albums of all time.
(09:41):
Congratulations.
Wow, that's cool.
We often get neglected on theAustralian polls because we were
very niche.
But I have to tell you,technically speaking, we were
the first album ever made on adigital console in the world.
Oh wow.
We were still talking aboutgroundbreaking.
Yeah.
Well, yes, obviously we were,well, it may have been happening
simultaneously, but we were thefirst of its kind happening at
(10:04):
that time.
We would have to stop sessionssometimes to call through to
London and ask if we couldimprove the program and they
would fix it in real time sothat we could record better,
faster, more efficiently.
But this is now, of course, youknow, you can do it from your
phones.
But back then this was likebreaking news.
Cheryl Lee (10:20):
Fast forward to 89, your debut solo album, Brave.
Was that like um a turningpoint?
That was triple platinum, justwent gangbusters.
Would that be one of theturning points in your career?
Kate Ceberano (10:32):
I think there'd been many milestones for me.
We start as young as I did.
I didn't have any, I've got tobe honest, I didn't have any
expectations.
So with every turning of apage, which would it would
deliver some new and excitingsomething, we would all just sit
together because my mum evenwas managing me at the time, and
we'd be like, Can you believethis is actually happening?
(10:52):
Like, just pinch it's like apinch me kind of moment, like,
and and and so uncommon becausethere were so few and there
still are so few women in and onthe field.
My mum was the first femalemanager in the country ever.
Yeah.
Of which there's only been twotwo since, two or three since.
See, told you you're ahead ofyour time.
Cheryl Lee (11:10):
Yeah, and we didn't even really know.
No, that's right.
Yes, and your jazz album wonfour Mo Awards, two Aries.
Like, it's been amazing, butone of the things that stands
out to me, 1992, starring asMary Magdalene.
Kate Ceberano (11:25):
How good was it all?
It was amazing.
It was amazing.
That was a fully immersiveexperience.
In fact, I got a tattoo herebecause I was sitting with Angry
Anderson and it was my 25thbirthday, and I was having lunch
down.
Yeah, you know that that thatum what's that cafe that sits
down there right on the water'sedge underneath the festival
centre?
We were all having lunch there.
(11:46):
There was John Farnum andRussell Morris and John Waters,
John Stevens and Angry Anderson,and he was saying there's this
famous tattooist.
This is before tattoos werereally cool.
Well, no woman I knew had themunless they had three teeth.
Like that was actually kind ofpretty much or a slayer.
Oh, yeah, right.
That's right.
And he said, There's a there'sa famous woman from the
(12:07):
Illustrated Man who's up onRundle Street today.
And I went, Well, alright.
So I drew a diagram on a tablenapkin and I walked up there and
lay myself over a chair and Isaid, Do your best, do you
worst.
Where is it?
It's on my butt.
But it was yeah, they'reindelible, you know.
It's gone from being a circleto being a teardrop, but apart
(12:28):
from that, it's still doing areally good job.
But um, to answer yourquestion, Mahalia at Barnes, I'm
about to go on tour with herdad, and we'll open up for her
dad on the working class mantour this summer.
But Mahaly and I, because inage, in some ways we have more
in common, she manages her dadnow.
Did you know that?
Yes, I did.
And when she's recentlyperformed the role of Mary, she
(12:51):
rang me on getting the part, andbefore she signed off on it,
she said, I I really want yourblessing.
So the woman before me wasMarsha Hines.
Yes.
When I was 16, I opened up forMarcia Hines, ring A Gaya
Christine Christina Anflet.
Who else was on that bill?
Colleen Hewitt?
Yeah.
And uh I recalled the samepermission, I wanted the same
permission to step into thespace.
(13:12):
So I said, Oh, permissiongranted, you'll have the time of
your life, and she did.
Yeah.
Cheryl Lee (13:15):
Well, it didn't come to Adelaide, so I took our
three daughters to Sydney, andwe watched it in Sydney.
Superstar didn't come toAdelaide.
With Mahalia.
Didn't it?
No.
I took the girls to Sydney towatch her perform.
It was an amazing show.
Kate Ceberano (13:29):
I know, right?
And Michael Painter.
Yeah, oh my gosh, what a voice.
He's possibly the greatestvoice I've ever heard in my
life.
I've never heard that kind ofdexterity other than John
Farnum.
And that note.
Oh my gosh! In Gethsemane.
I mean, if he was like, so hewas following The Blazing Trail,
which is internationallyregarded as one of the greatest
(13:50):
versions of Superstar with JohnFynum.
He he could just he he stolenot only the libretto, but he
also stole the the emotionalcontext for what we want out of
this story.
It's a it's a big story and ithas many different facets and
must be respectfully played, andhe was just so respectful.
(14:11):
So Michael then took it atanother level.
Michael is actually a veryreligious person, right?
So he took it as aresponsibility even more.
He left blood on the stage,didn't he?
Every night.
Yeah, oh yeah, and it was likenothing behind.
He left nothing behind.
I mean, I watched and I wasjust like, oh my god, I'm
watching something happeninghere that's almost beyond the
(14:32):
physical form.
It was just every night, and Isaw it a couple of times.
Yeah, just beautiful.
Yeah.
And Hubby and I will see youwith Barnesy because well we got
tickets for here in Adelaide,but they're not great.
Oh we're going to rise a Harleyto what's the vineyard we're
going to in Victoria to see youthere.
Because we've got better seats.
(14:53):
So that sounds great.
And if you do have bikes aswell, do you ever go to the
Brighter Days Festival?
We haven't yet, but it'sdefinitely on the bucket list.
So I'm performing there aswell, which is if you're on the
bike, there is no greater placeto go, and not to discourage you
from coming down for Barnsy aswell.
But do yourself a favour of ifyou're on bikes, come to the
Brighter Days.
(15:14):
It's it's a confluence of someof the greatest humans for a
good cause.
Yeah.
Exactly.
It's a really good cause.
We need to.
Uh leave, I don't even knowwhat the date is.
I'm going to get my factchecker.
And who's going to Yeah, ithasn't been announced.
Oh right.
Oh, you've got the insideskinny.
Cheryl Lee (15:30):
Ooh, is that a scoop?
Scoop.
Yeah.
It's a scoop.
7th of March.
Oh, that's just in time for mybirthday.
Kate Ceberano (15:37):
But it doesn't matter, it's just between we
girls.
Yeah.
So you can keep that in.
For those only those who ridebikes.
And it is an amazing festival.
Oh, I'm so glad to hear thatnews.
Yeah.
And you heard it first here.
Anyway, that album from JesusChrist Superstar stayed at
number one for 10 weeks.
That just got me a logie.
Congratulations.
(15:58):
And I well, actually, it gotthe boys a logie, but I kicked
up a fuss because I was the onlygirl on the cast.
I'm like, yo, if they getlogies, what am I?
Chop liver?
Yeah.
So they made me one.
Well done.
We're just going through 98Pash.
That album, you songwrite onevery trail.
(16:18):
That's right.
I I was I think when you areticking off milestones in each
decade, you want to at leasthave won and failed at several
things to determine what youlike and don't like.
One.
And what you're good at.
Yeah.
And what you can survive andwhat you never wish to have to
survive again.
Right.
So Pash was a certain type offreedom for me.
(16:38):
I'd started crafting songsagain.
Brave was the first song Iwrote at 16 with my brother.
And this was the second timethat I actually went into it.
My husband set up a piano forme in the apartment we were in,
and we were kind of living asartists in residence.
And he'd just kind of demandthat I get to it every day and
write, right, right.
Because ultimately, an album,or even being a performing
(16:59):
artist, certainly beingAustralian, is barely
sustainable.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I'm sad to say that theaverage wage for most musicians
is a part-time job.
Yeah.
You have to have anothersupporting job to sustain your
craft.
Which in any other country, ifI was as famous as I am here, I
would be self-sustaining.
And so my husband's very wiser.
(17:21):
He said, Listen, you are awriter.
If you had more confidence, youwould get at least the royalty.
If you don't get the physicalsales anymore for these things,
and and if say you're nottouring at the time, you could
be actually getting the yourjust desserts, having actually
put yourself into the songs.
So passion.
Yeah, which it's it's minimal,but it's it's at least it's
(17:42):
saying that you made somethingand you can receive payment for
it.
I wrote about a memory for mein eastern Melbourne at
Westfield Shop Shop Center.
And it was the perfect place inthe perfect setting for the
first time I was to be kissedbecause you can't fashion these
things out of clay.
You never know where you'regonna be, you never know who
(18:03):
it's gonna be with.
You could be kissing a frog foryou, you know.
The fact of the matter is therewill never be another first.
So you better either celebrateit or incinerate it.
Yeah, and I just thought I'mgonna celebrate it and I'm gonna
write this into a song and it'sgonna last with me as a memory
for the rest of time.
It was, it was like the skiesopened, I heard a symphony, I I
(18:23):
lifted off the floor about fivefeet, and for the life of me, I
don't even remember the guy'sname anymore.
And you know what?
We relive that kiss with youevery time we hear the song.
It's cute.
It's kind of the stuff of life.
Without music and art and love,you people go to war for things,
for the for the sanctity ofhaving these things.
They're the flowers of ourexistence.
(18:44):
You know, they're the things weput behind our ears to make us
feel better.
They're the things we wear atnight when we're sad and we need
to remember something that, youknow, beautiful.
When someone is lost, you know,you find them in the dark again
by remembering where you wereand and what happened.
So music, music is the sort oflike the time capsule that glues
us to these memories.
And even at the moment on tour,I can tell, like I can I can
(19:07):
scan out into the crowd, and inthis kind of inky black above
everyone's heads, it's like I'mwatching a movie, and everyone
has a different movie playing atthe same time but with the same
soundtrack.
Yes, and I gotta tell you, asan artist, that is the most
magical feeling.
I I can't, I feel like thegreatest conductor of all time.
(19:30):
It's like conducting the humansoul.
It's like it's better than lifeitself.
I just I I love it, I love it somuch.
Yes, I love it.
And it comes across, I think.
Now, I've got one of yourgreatest achievements to talk
about next.
Yes.
And isn't she doingbeautifully?
My daughter! Gypsy, she'samazing.
She was born in 2004.
(19:50):
Yeah, yeah, and she's certainlysince we spoke last time on the
Zoom or the time on the phone,she's just blossomed and come
into her own.
You know, she's definitelyblooming within her own time,
and you can't force that withanyone really.
Like, I think that the kids ofCOVID are sort of cooked on the
outside, but they're still a bitsort of soft inside.
(20:12):
It's a bit doughy.
Yeah.
Like I feel like they need tobe left in a little longer than
what we did.
Like when I jumped out of thegates at 14, hungry for life, I
was chasing a lot of cinema thatwas made in the 60s and 70s.
So I wanted to go to London.
I wanted to go to New York.
I wanted to taste that grittybagel on the corner at fifth and
eighth.
(20:32):
Yeah.
I wanted to fall in and out oflove with someone who was like a
you know, like Marlon Brandomeets, you know, Jimmy Dean.
And then I wanted to go toLondon and meet the cure, and I
wanted to work with MalcolmMcLaren.
And I had these things.
I can't talk to young peopleand ask them for them to
discover what dream they'rechasing right now.
They seem to feel blessed thatthey're just spending one day to
(20:54):
the next.
They're so concerned about thefuture, right?
And it's keeping them almostsort of standing still.
Yeah, a little bit stagnant.
I I kind of feel so.
So when I see the smallmovements my daughter's making
towards wanting to do it, we gobaby steps because I can really
overwhelm her with my ambition.
Yeah.
I always had very strongambitions for myself, and I went
(21:16):
chasing my dream at likehurdling towards it.
She's like, I'll touch it, thenI'll come away from it.
Yeah.
We go towards it, and then I Ithink I'll just have a little
break, isn't she?
I'm just talking to my husband.
Oh, so beautiful.
She's just Is Lee keeping aneye on the time?
Because I know you're a verybusy girl with me.
We've only just got ourconcerns with the radio.
I'm on Dave Gleason next year.
(21:38):
Five minutes.
It's alright, we've got somuch.
We'll talk again.
Yeah, yeah.
We'll talk again.
There's so much.
I wanted to just quickly touchon your other hardy farty stuff.
Painting and now quilting aswell.
Yeah, it's it's actually it'sit's quite a um it's a going
concern.
It's like it's really real.
And did that come from thelockdown in COVID?
(22:00):
Yeah, yeah.
I think that when I wasstopped, it hurt so bad that I
went into kind of a bit of ameltdown.
You needed an outlet, didn'tyou?
Well, and you talk aboutSupport Act earlier off camera.
I started a project.
I and a lot of my friends werenot eligible for any kind of
funding, and that's all of yourincome.
I was at a steady bolt before,and it just stopped, it took the
(22:24):
wind out of my sails.
And so Lee's a filmmaker.
I was living with KathleenHeller, and she moved into the
back of our house.
This is my guitarist.
Yes, a young 25-year-old, she'syoung, yeah, a baby.
Yeah, and she's scared.
We're scared, we don't knowwhat's gonna go on.
Support Act, all of mymusicians, my rogue crew, all of
the sound engineers, lightingcrew, nothing.
(22:44):
They've got mortgages theycan't sustain.
So we put on Friday nightsessions called Caden Friends.
Yes, and all the money that weraised for that we gave to
Support Act.
Thank you.
On behalf of Support Act.
No worries.
Thank you.
I started painting guitars andanything I had in the house, and
then suddenly all thesecollectors from fans who have
kind of bought them like tradingcards or something, they go,
(23:07):
We'll buy it, we'll buy it fromother states, and so that
sustained me.
And then I designed this umquilt to sort of help my friends
in the Philippines, my family,a half Filipino, and I designed
with the master quilters of thePhilippines a template of an art
piece, and it takes a year tomake by hand.
Wow, and then after a year itarrived, and still we were in
(23:28):
lockdown.
So I started embroidering onthe top of it for another year.
And then in the third and inthe fourth year, I enlisted
local artisans to help mecontinue to pimp its ride so
that by the time it got toAustralian made, it it was sort
of like my ode to rock and roll,it's like a Persian rug, but
covered in Australian fauna.
(23:48):
Yeah, and it's become thefourth member of the band.
It's really quite something,and she's a bit psychedelic, she
changes colour and she kind ofexudes this personality, and and
I just love that she was madedeliberately by hand over four
and a half years.
It just proved something to methat good things do take time
and they can be made here inAustralia.
Cheryl Lee (24:07):
It is beautiful.
And is your art available tobuy?
Your time.
It is you have to be reallyrich.
Kate Ceberano (24:16):
Because they take time, and there's only ever one
of them.
If you add up all the time andeffort and all the hands that
touch my art, I have a site thatI'm developing called Soprano
Art, and I will always putthings up.
I hand embroidered garmentsthat are coming up for sale.
Beautiful, and I had thisseries of kimonos and other
(24:37):
things that I printed, and andthey're all really rock and
roll.
Like the concept I wanted tohave is that swagger that you
know when when uh Jimi Hendrixwould wear women's clothing,
T-Rex, and then Marion Faithfulwould wear would wear mixed
clothing, and there was thiskind of like this fantastic sort
of cross phase of ofaesthetics.
That's where I kind of live.
(24:59):
Awesome.
Well, get onto the gigalometerand track them down.
You get yourself aonce-in-a-lifetime piece of art
from Kate Sabrano.
Now, she's got to go and talkto someone, and a lot more
important than speak to DaveGleason now.
Say hi to Dave.
Oh, well, we've got so much totalk about.
Next time you're in Adelaide,we're going to talk about all
the fun, fantastic stuff you'vedone on YouTube television
(25:21):
series.
And where we were last, let'sjust pick up on that last chat.
Thanks, love.
And so we're going to let yougo.
We're going to ask you to signa couple of guitars for Support
Act.
I'm the fundraising coordinatorin South Australia.
So we're going to auction oneat Christmas.
So thank you so much for thechat.
My pleasure.
Can't wait till we finish parttwo.
Yeah.
You're going to come to thePhoebe?
(25:42):
Yes, we do.
Yeah, gorgeous.
Well, we'll organise that.
Thank you so much.
Cheryl Lee (25:47):
You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking Up
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can, supportAussie music, and I'll see you
down the front.
At Radio Chick Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking Itpodcast where we'll have music,
news reviews, and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians andartists.
For this episode, you get to bea fly on the wall as we
interview the amazing KateSoprano for the telly.
How do you fit such anillustrious career into just
(00:22):
half an hour?
We decided that we're gonnahave to do part two when she
comes back to Adelaide nexttime.
Apart from all of her musicalachievements, Kate received the
Order of Australia forsignificant service to the
performing arts in 2016.
She made history to as thefirst woman to be inducted into
the Australian Songwriters Hallof Fame.
(00:45):
She received a Ruby Award asartistic director of the
Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
And she's also done a whole lotof fun things on the jelly.
A judge on the inaugural seasonof X Factor, crowned champion
in 2007 on Dancing with theStars, mentored Australian
(01:05):
swimmer Daniel Kowowski on ItTakes Two, returned the
following year to mentor AFLplayer Russell Robinson, who was
runner-up.
The family tree was featured onWho You Think You Are.
She was a presenter on Getaway,relief host for Carrie Ann
Kennelly's morning programme.
(01:26):
Was on the mask singer.
Is there anything this ladycannot do?
And apart from that, she is anamazing bloody human.
Please enjoy the chat we hadwith Kate.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favourite artists, simply
go to that radiochick.com.au.
I'd like to welcome you to thisepisode of Rider TV.
(01:47):
It's part of our Legend series.
And I'm so pleased to introduceyou to a lady who actually
needs no introduction, KateSabrano.
Thank you so much for joiningus in the studio today.
You're in Adelaide on tour foryour Australian made tour, which
we'll talk about in a littleminute.
But we've got a lot of historyto talk about in a very short
(02:08):
amount of time.
Kate Ceberano (02:09):
Do we have to?
Did we just talk about likethere seems to be an awful lot
of backstory, but okay, I'm I'mup for the challenge.
Cheryl Lee (02:18):
I'm known for my research.
Yeah, I can see that.
That's amazing.
So we'll maybe just touchbriefly on because it's been an
amazing 40-year-plus career.
Yeah.
I've been so blessed to see youalmost from the beginning.
This was the first time I sawyou perform.
That's um New Year's Day.
(02:39):
Australian Lee, look at that.
Kate Ceberano (02:41):
Oh my Australian Made.
New Year's Day 1987.
If I had that singlet, I'd wearthat on this tour, The Wife
Beater.
What a great one.
Look how cute you are.
21.
Cheryl Lee (02:54):
Daughter's that age now.
Oh wow.
Yeah, so that was the veryfirst time I saw that you
perform that.
That was a great concert.
You've created a great touraround it and a fabulous album,
which we'll talk about.
But Jeepers Creepers, you'vedone a lot.
When you were a teenager, youwere courted by the very famous
Stock Aitken and Waterman, andyou didn't do it.
Kate Ceberano (03:17):
You didn't go there, did you?
You stayed in Melbourne.
Well, I'll have to explain howMelbourne was in itself an
eco-culture of bands that wereslightly alternative.
Not slightly alternative,actually, we're talking Nick
Cave, the very early primalhunters and collectors.
I mean, I was raised as one ofthe tribe, and I'm talking saw
itself as a very experimentalfunk band that was also created
(03:40):
within that eco-culture.
To us, it doesn't seem toalways make sense, but the idea
of someone else's hand atauthoring your sound seemed
disingenuous to us.
And I speak about the band andthe way we were thinking.
In fact, I read Mark Seymour'sautobiography on it, and it
explains exactly how we wereallergic to that.
(04:01):
Yeah.
I mean, I could be laughing allthe way to the bank now if I'd
gone and applied myself fully.
And with all respect toStockhake and Waterman, they are
they were and continue to be aphenomenon, but they weren't
going to be my destiny now.
No.
Well, we're glad that you madethe decision that you did.
I'm glad I made the decision Idid.
I I must confess, no one startsin the business thinking
(04:21):
they're going to be there at theend because it's a sort of like
a uh well that would be a pipedream, especially for
Australians.
We don't sort of love to sortof overextend ourselves.
So at the age of which I metyou, which would have been on
stage for The Australian Maid, Iwas only uh 20.
Yeah.
And to me, the idea that I'd besinging or doing anything or
(04:42):
wouldn't even know myself when Iwas near 60 was just no.
It wasn't even there.
It wasn't even a good idea.
We were that age, like 30s old.
30 was serious.
My grandparents were 30.
Exactly.
And I've just had my 60th, andyou've got yours next year.
Yeah.
Big plans for a celebration.
I've actually planned this is my60th celebration.
(05:04):
I've done it ahead of time.
I wanted to I did.
And I and I fed myself all ofthe nutrition that caused me to
become the artist I am today.
Like every single sip fromevery style of music that I was
I was inhaling or sipping, oryou know, or some were snorting,
I wasn't.
(05:24):
But of of that that that erathat's made me the artist I am
today is what I'm celebrating onthis tour.
Good on you.
Yeah, it's my birthday.
Oh, a happy birthday.
My birthday in music, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (05:35):
One of the first places I remember seeing you was
on countdown when you stole theshow for the models.
Kate Ceberano (05:40):
Oh actually, I want to say it was a very
distinctive sound.
If we consider that Seanstarted the models without
James, he'd already had his areally explosion, and I'm
talking about that alternativeMelbourne sound again.
Like he was a purist, and theAlpha Bravo Delta album was
pretty pure.
(06:01):
And then he invited the showpony who was James Freud,
formerly of the modern, what washis modern love, the band James
Freud, and the I'm sure one ofyou all know viewers will know,
and they'll write in.
But then to add on top of that,two of the girls from I'm
Talking.
You know it was an accidentthat we got on those tracks at
all.
No.
We were just happened to berecording in the same studio,
(06:21):
and Nick Lawnay, the verycelebrated producer for Midnight
Oil and the models, I'mTalking, Myself, My Solo Career,
and then years later, SilverChair and other bands like it.
He's uh he was a reallypowerful producer.
He called us in and said,Girls, can you just kind of put
a few BBs on this?
Yeah.
And that's how you got Barbadosand Out of Mind, Out of Sight,
(06:42):
and and I think that was thesound of that summer.
So cool, just very organic howit all happened.
I think music made that wayends up being more potent.
More authentic as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
In the in the Osmaid tour, Iopen up with an overture, which
has the walk-on music that NXSused during the tour, but then
we bust out into a an a cappellaburn for you.
(07:05):
And that sound, it was thesound of Australia, and Jenny
Morris was in the in the BVs.
Renata, well, I think Renatawas a very famed singer from the
Stones.
Shireen and Zan were in there.
So you could hear the sound ofour musical culture all in that
one pregnant opening stanza.
(07:27):
Yeah, yeah.
Unbelievable.
Can't wait to see it.
Wait for you to see it too.
You're gonna actually feelreally nostalgic.
I will.
Because this is just as much asof you and for you as it is for
me.
Cheryl Lee (07:39):
Yeah, I think the whole audience is going to have
a nostalgic walk down memoryday.
Kate Ceberano (07:44):
We've already done the tour.
In fact, I kept the the bestfor last.
Adelaide.
Yeah, and that's the end ofthis tour this year.
Audiences have been almostborderline hysterical with the
joy that they've had, which I'mglad for.
I've like felt like Boudica,like I feel like I'm on a
chariot behind those drums,holding two horses, these wild
electric guitarists on eitherside, Hartz and Kathleen.
(08:06):
It's like, whoa, I can barelykeep it still.
It's amazing.
Cheryl Lee (08:10):
I remember that day so much, apart from the fabulous
music.
It was so hot.
I don't know if you remember inAdelaide.
It was like hot almost like a39.
It was scorcher, wasn't it?
Kate Ceberano (08:20):
And I got burnt to a crisp.
Oh, I know.
I remember that.
It was so worth it.
Oh, and I don't recall what youknow, infrastructure back then.
I don't even recall Portaloo'sor drink stations or like it was
sort of green.
And if you look at the video,if you've looked at video
footage, there is a famousdocumentary made about it now
(08:40):
that you can check it out.
And you guys are crammed inlike sardines.
You're just staring.
You wouldn't even have room tosit down on the ground if you'd
wanted to.
No.
Cheryl Lee (08:50):
It was sort of like the precursor to, you know, days
on the green and red hot summertours.
It was like was trend setting,wasn't it?
Kate Ceberano (08:57):
Well, I have to tell you that we were told that
if you put an all-Australianbill, it won't work.
It won't work.
And that was the first of itskind in the country.
And it did work.
And Ken West, who was mymanager at the time, went on to
make a big day out.
Ah, there you go.
Vivian Lee's and your time, youguys.
Yeah, pretty much.
Well, we definitely were in thefounding forefathers and
(09:18):
mothers of Australian music.
And what mothers is Australianmusic?
I am.
I'm a mother of Renee Geo andChris Chrissy Amphlet, the
mothers.
Oh, yeah, there were somelegends on there, wasn't there?
And some we've lost.
But let's talk about.
I'm talking platinum debut bearwitness.
Goodness me.
Rolling Stones Top 200Australian albums of all time.
(09:41):
Congratulations.
Wow, that's cool.
We often get neglected on theAustralian polls because we were
very niche.
But I have to tell you,technically speaking, we were
the first album ever made on adigital console in the world.
Oh wow.
We were still talking aboutgroundbreaking.
Yeah.
Well, yes, obviously we were,well, it may have been happening
simultaneously, but we were thefirst of its kind happening at
(10:04):
that time.
We would have to stop sessionssometimes to call through to
London and ask if we couldimprove the program and they
would fix it in real time sothat we could record better,
faster, more efficiently.
But this is now, of course, youknow, you can do it from your
phones.
But back then this was likebreaking news.
Cheryl Lee (10:20):
Fast forward to 89, your debut solo album, Brave.
Was that like um a turningpoint?
That was triple platinum, justwent gangbusters.
Would that be one of theturning points in your career?
Kate Ceberano (10:32):
I think there'd been many milestones for me.
We start as young as I did.
I didn't have any, I've got tobe honest, I didn't have any
expectations.
So with every turning of apage, which would it would
deliver some new and excitingsomething, we would all just sit
together because my mum evenwas managing me at the time, and
we'd be like, Can you believethis is actually happening?
(10:52):
Like, just pinch it's like apinch me kind of moment, like,
and and and so uncommon becausethere were so few and there
still are so few women in and onthe field.
My mum was the first femalemanager in the country ever.
Yeah.
Of which there's only been twotwo since, two or three since.
See, told you you're ahead ofyour time.
Cheryl Lee (11:10):
Yeah, and we didn't even really know.
No, that's right.
Yes, and your jazz album wonfour Mo Awards, two Aries.
Like, it's been amazing, butone of the things that stands
out to me, 1992, starring asMary Magdalene.
Kate Ceberano (11:25):
How good was it all?
It was amazing.
It was amazing.
That was a fully immersiveexperience.
In fact, I got a tattoo herebecause I was sitting with Angry
Anderson and it was my 25thbirthday, and I was having lunch
down.
Yeah, you know that that thatum what's that cafe that sits
down there right on the water'sedge underneath the festival
centre?
We were all having lunch there.
(11:46):
There was John Farnum andRussell Morris and John Waters,
John Stevens and Angry Anderson,and he was saying there's this
famous tattooist.
This is before tattoos werereally cool.
Well, no woman I knew had themunless they had three teeth.
Like that was actually kind ofpretty much or a slayer.
Oh, yeah, right.
That's right.
And he said, There's a there'sa famous woman from the
(12:07):
Illustrated Man who's up onRundle Street today.
And I went, Well, alright.
So I drew a diagram on a tablenapkin and I walked up there and
lay myself over a chair and Isaid, Do your best, do you
worst.
Where is it?
It's on my butt.
But it was yeah, they'reindelible, you know.
It's gone from being a circleto being a teardrop, but apart
(12:28):
from that, it's still doing areally good job.
But um, to answer yourquestion, Mahalia at Barnes, I'm
about to go on tour with herdad, and we'll open up for her
dad on the working class mantour this summer.
But Mahaly and I, because inage, in some ways we have more
in common, she manages her dadnow.
Did you know that?
Yes, I did.
And when she's recentlyperformed the role of Mary, she
(12:51):
rang me on getting the part, andbefore she signed off on it,
she said, I I really want yourblessing.
So the woman before me wasMarsha Hines.
Yes.
When I was 16, I opened up forMarcia Hines, ring A Gaya
Christine Christina Anflet.
Who else was on that bill?
Colleen Hewitt?
Yeah.
And uh I recalled the samepermission, I wanted the same
permission to step into thespace.
(13:12):
So I said, Oh, permissiongranted, you'll have the time of
your life, and she did.
Yeah.
Cheryl Lee (13:15):
Well, it didn't come to Adelaide, so I took our
three daughters to Sydney, andwe watched it in Sydney.
Superstar didn't come toAdelaide.
With Mahalia.
Didn't it?
No.
I took the girls to Sydney towatch her perform.
It was an amazing show.
Kate Ceberano (13:29):
I know, right?
And Michael Painter.
Yeah, oh my gosh, what a voice.
He's possibly the greatestvoice I've ever heard in my
life.
I've never heard that kind ofdexterity other than John
Farnum.
And that note.
Oh my gosh! In Gethsemane.
I mean, if he was like, so hewas following The Blazing Trail,
which is internationallyregarded as one of the greatest
(13:50):
versions of Superstar with JohnFynum.
He he could just he he stolenot only the libretto, but he
also stole the the emotionalcontext for what we want out of
this story.
It's a it's a big story and ithas many different facets and
must be respectfully played, andhe was just so respectful.
(14:11):
So Michael then took it atanother level.
Michael is actually a veryreligious person, right?
So he took it as aresponsibility even more.
He left blood on the stage,didn't he?
Every night.
Yeah, oh yeah, and it was likenothing behind.
He left nothing behind.
I mean, I watched and I wasjust like, oh my god, I'm
watching something happeninghere that's almost beyond the
(14:32):
physical form.
It was just every night, and Isaw it a couple of times.
Yeah, just beautiful.
Yeah.
And Hubby and I will see youwith Barnesy because well we got
tickets for here in Adelaide,but they're not great.
Oh we're going to rise a Harleyto what's the vineyard we're
going to in Victoria to see youthere.
Because we've got better seats.
(14:53):
So that sounds great.
And if you do have bikes aswell, do you ever go to the
Brighter Days Festival?
We haven't yet, but it'sdefinitely on the bucket list.
So I'm performing there aswell, which is if you're on the
bike, there is no greater placeto go, and not to discourage you
from coming down for Barnsy aswell.
But do yourself a favour of ifyou're on bikes, come to the
Brighter Days.
(15:14):
It's it's a confluence of someof the greatest humans for a
good cause.
Yeah.
Exactly.
It's a really good cause.
We need to.
Uh leave, I don't even knowwhat the date is.
I'm going to get my factchecker.
And who's going to Yeah, ithasn't been announced.
Oh right.
Oh, you've got the insideskinny.
Cheryl Lee (15:30):
Ooh, is that a scoop?
Scoop.
Yeah.
It's a scoop.
7th of March.
Oh, that's just in time for mybirthday.
Kate Ceberano (15:37):
But it doesn't matter, it's just between we
girls.
Yeah.
So you can keep that in.
For those only those who ridebikes.
And it is an amazing festival.
Oh, I'm so glad to hear thatnews.
Yeah.
And you heard it first here.
Anyway, that album from JesusChrist Superstar stayed at
number one for 10 weeks.
That just got me a logie.
Congratulations.
(15:58):
And I well, actually, it gotthe boys a logie, but I kicked
up a fuss because I was the onlygirl on the cast.
I'm like, yo, if they getlogies, what am I?
Chop liver?
Yeah.
So they made me one.
Well done.
We're just going through 98Pash.
That album, you songwrite onevery trail.
(16:18):
That's right.
I I was I think when you areticking off milestones in each
decade, you want to at leasthave won and failed at several
things to determine what youlike and don't like.
One.
And what you're good at.
Yeah.
And what you can survive andwhat you never wish to have to
survive again.
Right.
So Pash was a certain type offreedom for me.
(16:38):
I'd started crafting songsagain.
Brave was the first song Iwrote at 16 with my brother.
And this was the second timethat I actually went into it.
My husband set up a piano forme in the apartment we were in,
and we were kind of living asartists in residence.
And he'd just kind of demandthat I get to it every day and
write, right, right.
Because ultimately, an album,or even being a performing
(16:59):
artist, certainly beingAustralian, is barely
sustainable.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I'm sad to say that theaverage wage for most musicians
is a part-time job.
Yeah.
You have to have anothersupporting job to sustain your
craft.
Which in any other country, ifI was as famous as I am here, I
would be self-sustaining.
And so my husband's very wiser.
(17:21):
He said, Listen, you are awriter.
If you had more confidence, youwould get at least the royalty.
If you don't get the physicalsales anymore for these things,
and and if say you're nottouring at the time, you could
be actually getting the yourjust desserts, having actually
put yourself into the songs.
So passion.
Yeah, which it's it's minimal,but it's it's at least it's
(17:42):
saying that you made somethingand you can receive payment for
it.
I wrote about a memory for mein eastern Melbourne at
Westfield Shop Shop Center.
And it was the perfect place inthe perfect setting for the
first time I was to be kissedbecause you can't fashion these
things out of clay.
You never know where you'regonna be, you never know who
(18:03):
it's gonna be with.
You could be kissing a frog foryou, you know.
The fact of the matter is therewill never be another first.
So you better either celebrateit or incinerate it.
Yeah, and I just thought I'mgonna celebrate it and I'm gonna
write this into a song and it'sgonna last with me as a memory
for the rest of time.
It was, it was like the skiesopened, I heard a symphony, I I
(18:23):
lifted off the floor about fivefeet, and for the life of me, I
don't even remember the guy'sname anymore.
And you know what?
We relive that kiss with youevery time we hear the song.
It's cute.
It's kind of the stuff of life.
Without music and art and love,you people go to war for things,
for the for the sanctity ofhaving these things.
They're the flowers of ourexistence.
(18:44):
You know, they're the things weput behind our ears to make us
feel better.
They're the things we wear atnight when we're sad and we need
to remember something that, youknow, beautiful.
When someone is lost, you know,you find them in the dark again
by remembering where you wereand and what happened.
So music, music is the sort oflike the time capsule that glues
us to these memories.
And even at the moment on tour,I can tell, like I can I can
(19:07):
scan out into the crowd, and inthis kind of inky black above
everyone's heads, it's like I'mwatching a movie, and everyone
has a different movie playing atthe same time but with the same
soundtrack.
Yes, and I gotta tell you, asan artist, that is the most
magical feeling.
I I can't, I feel like thegreatest conductor of all time.
(19:30):
It's like conducting the humansoul.
It's like it's better than lifeitself.
I just I I love it, I love it somuch.
Yes, I love it.
And it comes across, I think.
Now, I've got one of yourgreatest achievements to talk
about next.
Yes.
And isn't she doingbeautifully?
My daughter! Gypsy, she'samazing.
She was born in 2004.
(19:50):
Yeah, yeah, and she's certainlysince we spoke last time on the
Zoom or the time on the phone,she's just blossomed and come
into her own.
You know, she's definitelyblooming within her own time,
and you can't force that withanyone really.
Like, I think that the kids ofCOVID are sort of cooked on the
outside, but they're still a bitsort of soft inside.
(20:12):
It's a bit doughy.
Yeah.
Like I feel like they need tobe left in a little longer than
what we did.
Like when I jumped out of thegates at 14, hungry for life, I
was chasing a lot of cinema thatwas made in the 60s and 70s.
So I wanted to go to London.
I wanted to go to New York.
I wanted to taste that grittybagel on the corner at fifth and
eighth.
(20:32):
Yeah.
I wanted to fall in and out oflove with someone who was like a
you know, like Marlon Brandomeets, you know, Jimmy Dean.
And then I wanted to go toLondon and meet the cure, and I
wanted to work with MalcolmMcLaren.
And I had these things.
I can't talk to young peopleand ask them for them to
discover what dream they'rechasing right now.
They seem to feel blessed thatthey're just spending one day to
(20:54):
the next.
They're so concerned about thefuture, right?
And it's keeping them almostsort of standing still.
Yeah, a little bit stagnant.
I I kind of feel so.
So when I see the smallmovements my daughter's making
towards wanting to do it, we gobaby steps because I can really
overwhelm her with my ambition.
Yeah.
I always had very strongambitions for myself, and I went
(21:16):
chasing my dream at likehurdling towards it.
She's like, I'll touch it, thenI'll come away from it.
Yeah.
We go towards it, and then I Ithink I'll just have a little
break, isn't she?
I'm just talking to my husband.
Oh, so beautiful.
She's just Is Lee keeping aneye on the time?
Because I know you're a verybusy girl with me.
We've only just got ourconcerns with the radio.
I'm on Dave Gleason next year.
(21:38):
Five minutes.
It's alright, we've got somuch.
We'll talk again.
Yeah, yeah.
We'll talk again.
There's so much.
I wanted to just quickly touchon your other hardy farty stuff.
Painting and now quilting aswell.
Yeah, it's it's actually it'sit's quite a um it's a going
concern.
It's like it's really real.
And did that come from thelockdown in COVID?
(22:00):
Yeah, yeah.
I think that when I wasstopped, it hurt so bad that I
went into kind of a bit of ameltdown.
You needed an outlet, didn'tyou?
Well, and you talk aboutSupport Act earlier off camera.
I started a project.
I and a lot of my friends werenot eligible for any kind of
funding, and that's all of yourincome.
I was at a steady bolt before,and it just stopped, it took the
(22:24):
wind out of my sails.
And so Lee's a filmmaker.
I was living with KathleenHeller, and she moved into the
back of our house.
This is my guitarist.
Yes, a young 25-year-old, she'syoung, yeah, a baby.
Yeah, and she's scared.
We're scared, we don't knowwhat's gonna go on.
Support Act, all of mymusicians, my rogue crew, all of
the sound engineers, lightingcrew, nothing.
(22:44):
They've got mortgages theycan't sustain.
So we put on Friday nightsessions called Caden Friends.
Yes, and all the money that weraised for that we gave to
Support Act.
Thank you.
On behalf of Support Act.
No worries.
Thank you.
I started painting guitars andanything I had in the house, and
then suddenly all thesecollectors from fans who have
kind of bought them like tradingcards or something, they go,
(23:07):
We'll buy it, we'll buy it fromother states, and so that
sustained me.
And then I designed this umquilt to sort of help my friends
in the Philippines, my family,a half Filipino, and I designed
with the master quilters of thePhilippines a template of an art
piece, and it takes a year tomake by hand.
Wow, and then after a year itarrived, and still we were in
(23:28):
lockdown.
So I started embroidering onthe top of it for another year.
And then in the third and inthe fourth year, I enlisted
local artisans to help mecontinue to pimp its ride so
that by the time it got toAustralian made, it it was sort
of like my ode to rock and roll,it's like a Persian rug, but
covered in Australian fauna.
(23:48):
Yeah, and it's become thefourth member of the band.
It's really quite something,and she's a bit psychedelic, she
changes colour and she kind ofexudes this personality, and and
I just love that she was madedeliberately by hand over four
and a half years.
It just proved something to methat good things do take time
and they can be made here inAustralia.
Cheryl Lee (24:07):
It is beautiful.
And is your art available tobuy?
Your time.
It is you have to be reallyrich.
Kate Ceberano (24:16):
Because they take time, and there's only ever one
of them.
If you add up all the time andeffort and all the hands that
touch my art, I have a site thatI'm developing called Soprano
Art, and I will always putthings up.
I hand embroidered garmentsthat are coming up for sale.
Beautiful, and I had thisseries of kimonos and other
(24:37):
things that I printed, and andthey're all really rock and
roll.
Like the concept I wanted tohave is that swagger that you
know when when uh Jimi Hendrixwould wear women's clothing,
T-Rex, and then Marion Faithfulwould wear would wear mixed
clothing, and there was thiskind of like this fantastic sort
of cross phase of ofaesthetics.
That's where I kind of live.
(24:59):
Awesome.
Well, get onto the gigalometerand track them down.
You get yourself aonce-in-a-lifetime piece of art
from Kate Sabrano.
Now, she's got to go and talkto someone, and a lot more
important than speak to DaveGleason now.
Say hi to Dave.
Oh, well, we've got so much totalk about.
Next time you're in Adelaide,we're going to talk about all
the fun, fantastic stuff you'vedone on YouTube television
(25:21):
series.
And where we were last, let'sjust pick up on that last chat.
Thanks, love.
And so we're going to let yougo.
We're going to ask you to signa couple of guitars for Support
Act.
I'm the fundraising coordinatorin South Australia.
So we're going to auction oneat Christmas.
So thank you so much for thechat.
My pleasure.
Can't wait till we finish parttwo.
Yeah.
You're going to come to thePhoebe?
(25:42):
Yes, we do.
Yeah, gorgeous.
Well, we'll organise that.
Thank you so much.
Cheryl Lee (25:47):
You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking Up
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can, supportAussie music, and I'll see you
down the front.
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