Oct 07
22

Strange Girl – Kate

Back in 1968 I was in London and was a guitarist and songwriter in a band called Kate.

We were signed to CBS Records.

Our first single was called “Strange Girl” and it was almost a hit. Got great reviews including Record of the Week in Melody Maker (thank you, Chris Welch) and got a reasonable amount of airplay.

But it wasn't a hit. So no cigar. We recorded a couple of other singles and had an abortive tour of Germany and then the band broke up. These things happen!

I am now writing a book about those times…

And I decided to google Strange Girl and Kate. I was totally blown away to find that the single had been on a compliation album of post psychedelic tracks from the UK from that era and to hear the song on a podcast from someone in the UK. Wonderful. Have a listen to it. It sounds pretty good!

This entry was posted on October 22, 2007 at 7:28 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Posted in Main Page by Chris Gilbey 7 Comments

7 Responses to "Strange Girl – Kate"

  • steve says:
    January 31, 2012 at 7:45 am

    Have you got enough material for an album? (singles / b-sides / unreleased stuff)

    • admin says:
      January 31, 2012 at 9:03 am

      Unfortunately I don’t. The band recorded 7 tracks in the period 1967-1969. Six of those were released as A or B sides. The last was a more psychedelic song called “Introduction”. That was mixed but was so different to the other stuff that the label didn’t want to release it. Then there were the two songs that Hratch, the lead singer from Kate recorded, after the band broke up, that Rob Gold and I wrote. And there are a bunch of demos that Rob may still have copies of. I can ask him…. Are you interested in releasing an album?

      • Andy Morten says:
        August 17, 2012 at 1:00 am

        Hi Chris

        I’m interesting in releasing an album. Please feel free to email me privately.
        Listening to the demo of ‘Beautiful Bareback Rider’ now and it’s incredible.

        Andy

  • Greg says:
    August 23, 2012 at 10:26 pm

    Hi,
    I came across your blog via another website and I’m hoping that we could talk offline about any Kate or Kate-related material that may have survived the years.

    Best wishes, Greg.

    • admin says:
      August 23, 2012 at 10:51 pm

      Greg – happy to have off line discussion. I will email you to set up a time. Thanks for your interest.

      CG

  • Christy says:
    December 6, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    Hi Chris,
    We play your songs on our 24/7 psyche head radio station. You have a page, but if there is more info and pictures that you would like to contribute, I’ll get it added?
    http://psychedelicized.com/playlist/k/kate

    Two things, first off, would you consider doing a promo for the station? Peter Daltrey of Kaleidoscope and James Lowe of the Electric Prunes have already graced us with their own contributions. Just something like “Hi, this is Chris Gilby of Kate and you are listening to the home of mind music Psychedelicized”. Recorded anyhow, even on a smart phone and emailed over is fine, as I can add in the music afterward, but if you have access to a good mic etc… It’d mean regular plugs for Kate on the station and as you are very popular with our listeners – Strange Girl is considered a classic – it’d mean real kudos to us. What do you think? Well, you can email me directly to chat more privately.

    Also, I have a small indie label, if you’d like to put out the collected tracks and make them available…

    Best

    Christy

    • admin says:
      December 7, 2012 at 9:17 am

      Christy

      Sure – Happy to do a promo. Please let me know where you want me to post it… I will also reach out to Hratch and Rob from the band and ask them to do promos.