Women in Music (St Kilda)


Kate Buck

Kate Buck has been a singer/songwriter and creative since 1978. Kate's musical genre is Alternative/Underground/Experimental/Performance  Art/Poetry.

Kate co-ran a clothing shop in 1980 called 'Eccentric Clothing' for fringe art & clothing, where she produced her own fashion label titled '3rd Cockroach', concentrating on handmade, recycled and second hand vintage clothing. With a group of friends, Kate opened up an independent club in 1981 for art & live original music called the 'Killayoni Club’. 

Kate was also part of a group of artists who opened up three abandoned buildings in the heart of Melbourne. Kate organised and helped to turn these premises into art, dance, rehearsal, recording and film studios. She actively nurtured and promoted many original artists and musicians by offering them both living and performance spaces. 

Kate's bands are as follows:

  • The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies - Otherwise known as 'The Creatures', this band was part of the 'Little Bands' movement that was a sub-scene of the broader Melbourne punk scene from 1979-1980. Kate performed for 3PBS radio in their first live to air form the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda. 

  • Lunatic Fringe - Kate sang and played bass in this experimental noise band in 1984, Kate was also in her other bands Cutting People Up, Vulture Club, and Boltcutters around this time. 

  • Bleed, 1986

  • Henri Martini's All Girl band

  • Kate joined Amazone in 1993, who recorded a track for 'Re-Evolution', a compilation album of Melbourne punk bands. 

  • in 1994, with the guitarist from Amazone, Kate formed another band called TONG and over the next few years regularly played gigs including at the Espy and they were also recorded by Espy Recorders in 1996. Tong released two CD's and a video clip. 

  • Kate Buck Trio (KBT), 1997

  • Buckyball Baby, 2011

Kate has played gigs at St Kilda music venues including: The Espy, Prince of Wales Hotel, Greyhound Hotel, Barkly Inn, St Kilda Bowlo, Duke of York Hotel, Post Office Hotel, The Vineyard. 

"I regularly travelled into St Kilda from Dandenong in 1978. I then played in various bands and lived around St Kilda on and off until 2019. 

I performed two legendary performances with John Murphy at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda, that pushed the boundaries and shocked audiences, in which I wrapped my naked body in barbed wire, whilst chanting dark poetry and hyperventilating. 

I was involved with the annual St Kilda Clown Crawl which was running for approximately 25 years. It was a huge part of St Kilda history."

Kate  Buck, Paradise Lounge, Crystal Ballroom. c. 1980, Singing with The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living & Became Mixed Up Zombies - Source: Kate Buck

"While working for 'Joey's Ministry of Sound', I opened up a venue for new and unsigned bands on Fitzroy St, St Kilda called 'Underbelly'. I then opened up a warehouse space called 'Speakeasy' , where she invited poets and musicians to perform every two weeks.

I then approached the Greyhound Hotel in St Kilda with a proposal for 'Metrophobia' (fear of poetry), a weekly vaudeville showcase presenting original performers in fifteen minute blocks."

Joey's Nightclub St Kilda Rememberence Group

TONG at The Greyhound Hotel, c, 1994 - Photo by Saraid Banahan - Source: Kate Buck

"In Oz music as a female artist you had to be self motivated. I love working with female musos. Most exhibit a strong sisterhood regardless of ego. 

Women musicians I admire:

  • Penny Ikinger for longevity & sticking to her guns. No sell out.

  • Phaedra Press (cello/Womnal) & Cathy Green for kicking arse.

  • Mia Stone for just being ‘out there’.

  • Lisa Gerrard just for being an otherworldly untouchable being."

Kate Buck Trio (Kate reading poetry) in the band room at The Greyhound Hotel, c. 1997 - Source: Kate Buck

"In 2011 I created the 'GODDESS' events that were meant to highlight some of Melbourne's finest female singer/songwriters in a dazzling expo of live performances and video.

The first of a series of gigs at Bar 362 on St Kilda Rd, showcased wonderful feminine talent in a vaudeville format of 20 minute sets backed up with video pieces in between each act.... Headlining this first showcase was internationally renowned singer/songwriter/guitarist Penny Ikinger, Helen Cattanach, Vivienne Gay. Kate Buck,  Marilyn Rose Veil, Rosie Hayden, Helena Ashton and Lisa Wood."

Buckyball Baby at the first Goddess gig, Bar 362, St Kilda Rd, c. 2011 - Photo by Carbie Warbie - Source: Kate Buck
Goddess event and participants at The GH, c. 2011 - Photo by Carbie Warbie - Source: Kate Buck
Kat Orgovany  Kaye Louise Patterson