'Nobody bossing me around': Little Birdy star's independent second solo album

A lot has changed since Katy Steele released her first solo album, Human, in 2016. There was a whole pandemic, she’s moved back home to Perth, and had two kids.

Between all that, she’s somehow found the time to put together a second album, completely independently.

Big Star, set for release on June 9, is a departure from the fuzz bass, alt-rock sound we loved from Little Birdy. The tunes coming from Steele’s home studio have a much more modern feel to them.

“This new music, we’re definitely trying to make it sound now. We didn’t want to do any throwbacks,” she told The Mail.

“We were trying to make it sound like 2023.”

She and her husband Graham McCluskie worked for two years solid on this latest record. Steele said the COVID period provided the perfect excuse to slow down production and allow herself to vibe out the songs, rather than writing purposefully, and to a deadline.

“Why rush art? Why rush the most important thing in your life, which is your body of work. I don’t care about how long it takes. I’ve got nobody bossing me around.

“You just let your instincts guide you, and see where it takes you.”

The time was well spent. Recent singles Come and See Me, End is Near, and Feel So Bad have been well received by fans, and will feature alongside several brand new tracks, all created without labels, producers, and band mates.

It represented a new challenge for Steele, who said the DIY approach left her without the people to bounce ideas off of, and gain ideas from.

“The main challenge was knowing when something was finished, and when we were overcooking it,” Steele said.

“There were songs that were finished a year ago, and we just kept niggling at them. We couldn’t say ‘ok, that one’s done’, and put it on the shelf.”

Producing a solo album – in the truest sense – might be a lot of work, the independence comes with “heaps of positives”. Like any work from home job, it gave her the time to be with her kids – aged five and one – and to keep her mind connected to her work, rather than leaving it behind at a studio.

It also means that she can deal with the changing media and music industries in the way she wants to.

“I don’t mind doing all the content, and the stuff you have to do, because I love connecting with my fans.

“You find that a lot of people are going that way now. Labels are going to be obsolete at some point, because you can essentially do everything yourself.”

Along with a big new album comes a big new national tour. With 14 dates locked in, including Margaret River on August 24, the work is far from over. But with her now pure independence, the fun is only just beginning.

“The key is that there’s no rules. You can do what you want.”