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Following her departure from girl group Bardot and for much of the last decade, flame-haired singer Katie Underwood was something of a regular fixture on Melbourne鈥檚 LGBTI scene. You were just as likely to see her on the dance floor with friends as performing her latest DJ collaboration on stage.

In July 2011, though, Underwood gave birth to twin girls, and her party commitments fell by the wayside.

Now, more than two years later, Underwood returns to the stage once more with a brand new track and an exclusive headline stint at this year鈥檚 CoastOut Festival.

鈥淚 was everywhere for a few years there, almost to the point of overdoing it. I love Lindt balls, but if I eat 100 of them in a day…I almost felt the same way about my own presence on the scene,鈥� she told the 17c起草社区.

鈥淐ertainly having family slowed me down a little. Do I want to get back out there? I鈥檓 happy to dip my toe in. I would dearly love to have a hot track out there that people think is awesome, but performing in 100 different nightclubs? Not sure I鈥檓 quite ready to go back to that.鈥�

Underwood鈥檚 new track came about thanks to the persistence of CoastOut festival organiser Todd Buttery. It鈥檚 due to Buttery鈥檚 incredible tenacity that CoastOut has grown into one of the jewels in the Coffs Harbour calendar – and he used that same persuasiveness to get Underwood locked in as this year鈥檚 headliner.

鈥淭odd Buttery and I go way back, and ever since he moved to Coffs he鈥檚 been trying to get me to CoastOut. Because of babies and other reasons I kept saying no. I didn鈥檛 want to put myself back out there unless I had something new, but this year I said yes because I was working on tracks with someone overseas,鈥� she explained.

鈥淭hat ended up falling by the wayside, and I was having second thoughts about doing CoastOut, until Todd quite rightly said to me, 鈥榃ell why don鈥檛 you just write something new? It is what you do, isn鈥檛 it?鈥� I really have to thank him for pushing me. He hooked me up with the Mystery Blonde crew, Damien [Goundrie], Andy [Young] and DJ Dan Murphy.鈥�

Underwood couldn鈥檛 give too much away about the collaboration, but did say it鈥檚 鈥榲ery much in theme鈥� with CoastOut. She鈥檒l perform across three events at the Festival, starting with the welcome cocktail party at Park Beach Reserve on Friday October 25.

鈥淚鈥檒l be doing some tracks from my jazz album – a bit of a subdued and classy start, I suppose.鈥�

From there, Underwood will unleash her dance diva for the rest of the weekend, with a set at the Party in the Park daytime event before debuting the new track at the Sweet Dance Party that evening.

鈥淚 thought, Todd鈥檚 getting me up there, he may as well exploit me as much as possible! I鈥檒l be doing three different shows, but I鈥檒l also get to kick back and relax with the rest of the festivalgoers – I鈥檒l be there all weekend.鈥�

INFO: CoastOut Festival, October 25-27. www.coastout.com.au