Something for Kate are an Australian alternative rock band, which formed in 1994 with Paul Dempsey on lead vocals and guitar, and Clint Hyndman on drums. They were joined in 1998 by Stephanie Ashworth on bass guitar and backing vocals. The group have released seven studio albums: both The Official Fiction (2003) and Desert Lights (2006) topped the ARIA Albums Chart; while Beautiful Sharks (1999), Echolalia (2001) and Leave Your Soul to Science (2012) reached the top 10. Two of their singles have reached the ARIA top 20: "Monsters" (2001) and "Déjà Vu" (2003). The band have received a total of 11 nominations for ARIA Music Awards in 1999, 2001 and 2003.

Something for Kate were formed in 1994 in Melbourne by Julian Carroll on bass guitar, Paul Dempsey on lead guitar and lead vocals, and Clint Hyndman on drums. Dempsey and Hyndman were school friends from Padua College, Mornington Peninsula; Carroll successfully answered their advertisement in music stores. The trio played their first gig on 12 September 1994 at the Punter's Club in Melbourne, changing their band name from Fish of the Day at the suggestion of the venue's booking agent, Richard Moffat. Dempsey recalled that they performed because they "just wanted to make an abrasive, staccato racket, like electrical machinery." He explained that the group's new name was inspired by his dog, Kate – he had been left a shopping note, to buy "Something for Kate". As for the dog, Dempsey's mother sold Kate, the family's Jack Russell, "They told me she ran away... I think they were a bit tired of her escaping out of the back fence. My mum let it slip about a year later. She let the dog out of the bag."

The band built a varied fan base in Melbourne and recorded a demo tape that sold out of multiple pressings. In 1995, Sony Music's A&R, Chris Dunn, signed them to the Murmur label, which had picked up teenage rock band Silverchair a year earlier. He said one song, "Slow", was particularly appealing: "That really triggered the whole thing in me. I kept on playing this song over and over again. I just thought it was a really good song for such a young person."

Something for Kate released a seven-track extended play, ....The Answer to Both Your Questions, in May 1996. It was produced by Greg Atkinson and appeared both on CD and as a hand-decorated mini-LP. An Oz Music Project reviewer described it as "a critically acclaimed debut release and started catching the ears of punters around the country." During August and September of that year, they undertook the Unipaloser Tour of national universities with label mates Jebediah and Bluebottle Kiss.

In October they followed with a single, "Dean Martin", also produced by Atkinson, which received frequent airplay on youth radio network, Triple J. A limited edition five-track EP, Intermission, was hastily assembled from leftover recordings and released in March 1997, quickly becoming a collector's item. Jasper Lee of Oz Music Project declared that it "shows the vast potential for [the] Melbourne band... Dempsey's voice proves that under the thick layer of the morbid rock guy, that a emotionally-brittle heart lies within."

In February 1997, the band recorded their debut album, Elsewhere for 8 Minutes (July 1997), at York St Studios, Auckland, with producer Brian Paulson, whose credits included Wilco and Slint. Carroll, who had recently married, quit the band to live on a rural property, but agreed to remain for the sessions, he was replaced on bass guitar by Toby Ralph (ex-Lobtailing). Greg Lawrence of WHAMMO website described the album as "the glorious debut" which "showed, early on in this band's career, the depth of emotional range at the disposal of songwriter and singer Paul Dempsey... [it] is a crucial initial chapter in the story of this important Australian band."

A single, "Captain (Million Miles an Hour)", appeared in May 1997. It received heavy airplay on Triple J and was listed at No. 39 on their Hottest 100 for that year. The band's following quickly grew and they toured heavily, scoring gigs on numerous major festivals. Dempsey acknowledged that "It's pretty hard when you start out. It's only now that we're starting to get some serious recognition that we can finally begin to pick & choose where we want to play. But to do that, you have to be able to prove that, as a band, you can really cut it live & draw the crowds."

After about a year in Something for Kate, Ralph had failed to fit in with the other two, he was replaced by Stephanie Ashworth from three-piece indie rockers, Sandpit. Sandpit had released their own debut album, On Second Thought, in May 1998 but they disbanded – founding drummer Paul Sciacca had left ahead of recording sessions. Ashworth on bass guitar, keyboards and backing vocals and Brendan Webb, on lead guitar and vocals, had finished that album with their producer, Greg Wales, also on drums.