Today, Australia’s The Cat Empire release their seventh studio album, Rising From the Sun, via Fontana North. The first single, Wolves, has already been hitting the airwaves with much acclaim. This six-piece multi-platinum selling band got their start in 1999 and over the years has transcended musical genres producing sounds that surpass a single identity and can be described as a fusion of jazz, reggae, funk, hip-hop and Latin.
Their last album, Steal The Light (2013), debuted in the top 20 in six countries. Attesting to their dedicated fan base, the new album cover features a creative collage of 3,500 fan’s faces.
The Cat Empire is currently touring the Australia and the UK in support of the new album. The tour will expand to other parts of the world later this year, including Canada. Music Life Magazine caught up with keyboardist Ollie McGill to learn more about this Aussie band.
Q: You guys have been together since 1999. How did The Cat Empire form?
A: We’ve been together since 1999. In those days we were a trio, Felix (Riebl) on percussion, Ryan (Monro) on double bass and me on the Rhodes piano and melodica. It was a band that spawned from an earlier band, an educational project from which quite a few members of the current band were involved. We had some crazy concept going in that we could make music where the percussion played the harmony, the bass the melody and the piano played the rhythm, or something like that.
Q: Who is currently in the band? Have the members been the same since day one?
A: Felix, Ryan and I are still in the band. Harry (James Angus) joined soon after and was soon a consolidated member of a quartet that we had going for a while. There was some jamming with different drummers and turntablists, but it wasn’t long before Jamshid “Jumps” Khadiwhala and Will (Hull-Brown) joined the band and we commenced to perform as a six-piece for a long time. Originally we had three horns including a sax, but we reduced it down to the more desirable, zingy sound of just the trumpet and trombone. Ross Irwin (trumpet) and Kieran Conrau (trombone) were always part of the Empire Horns.
Q: You also have a group of brass musicians known as The Empire Horns. Who are they and have they been with you from the start as well? Do they record and tour with you?
A: Geez man, I keep answering your questions before you ask them! Ross and Kieran (and Carlo Barbaro) came onboard originally just for Aussie tours around 2002 or 2003. It was definitely the early days. It was another couple of years before we could afford to take them overseas with us. They have always recorded with us.
Q: On March 4, 2016 you will be releasing your 7th studio album called Rising With the Sun. I listened to some tracks off the new album including the lead single Wolves. My first thoughts when I heard your music was that you guys are ska. Then looking deeper into your band you have been categorized over the years as a blend of ska, jazz, fusion rock, funk, reggae and even hip hop. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard you before?
A: We don’t try to categorise our music. We just play whatever music we are into and what ever gets people dancing. If I had to label our music, I’d say it is party music. We are all into different styles and each band member brings something different to the melting pot that is The Cat Empire. Therefore there are so many different styles that we draw from, there isn’t really a specific style we associate with.
Q: There have been a number of great bands and artists who came out of Australia over the years. What did The Cat Empire do to try and set themselves apart from other Australian bands like AC/DC, INXS, Silverchair, or Men At Work, all who have achieved worldwide success?
A: I can’t really say we have ever tried to set ourselves apart from other bands. I do think that there are certain factors that immediately set us apart from most other bands that came before us though. We don’t have any guitars in the band. That gives us a unique sound, and me being the only chordal player, meaning I can play more than one note at a time, means that I have more space to be expressive and improvisational in my style. I think that is also a defining factor in our music that sets us apart from most other big Aussie bands. We try not to play any given song the same twice.
Q: Did you try to create your own sound to stand out from other artists out of Australia?
A: Once again, I think I answered this in the last question! But to add to this, when we came together as a band, there was an instant and apparently infectious energy that was created. I think this is what our manager, Correne, saw in us when she first came to a show. Apparently she turned down a far more serious job offer the next day to become our band manager. Her parents thought she was crazy! It is the rawness that people love, I think. We have tried to hold on to this energy, as hard as it may have been over the years.
Q: Social media has played a big role in getting bands known in the last decade or so with sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and their predecessor MySpace, growing and widely used. A lot of the bands out of Australia who have been around longer than you guys and who achieved worldwide success did so before internet and before social media. They had to work hard and tour like crazy to make a name for themselves to get to the level they have risen to. Has social media played a big part in getting The Cat Empire “out there” and known in Australia and beyond?
A: Believe it or not, social media wasn’t really a thing when we started. We had to do it the old fashioned way, word of mouth. We had street teams in each city, all people that discovered the band through osmosis and they would poster the shit out of each city and drum up a pre-emptive vibe before each show. Naturally, these people have quickly become a huge part of our social media, and we use these platforms to communicate with this street team all around the world. We have had fun running competitions like a treasure hunt for a hidden flag of our latest single artwork in which cryptic clues are released once every 10 minutes or so. Our fans love it.
Q: Is social media something you guys embraced easily and willingly from the beginning when these sites started to emerge?
A: The honest answer is that we were not naturally inclined to post selfies of ourselves or find relevant topics to Tweet. Most of us are not of the generation that posters our lives all over Facebook. We have had to try to be creative to think of ways to increase our online presence.
Q: With the new album, did you try to do anything different than in the past?
A: We have for the first time chosen to work with the same producer twice in a row. This means that we have been able to easily pick up from where we left off on the album prior to Rising With the Sun. When we started recording our previous album Steal the Light, we wanted to get back to our early party atmosphere, become less introspective and just have fun. That was a highly successful endeavour, so we have just continued the happy and colourful vibes. It has been tremendous fun.
Q: Did you work with anyone notable on this album as far as producers, writers or musicians?
A: The producer, Jan Skubiszewski, is quickly becoming known around Australia as a gem. He has always been a great Hip Hop producer, a master of sampling and operating an Akai MPC. In the last few years has developed a more organic approach, recording live bands and has become infatuated with old analogue compressors. He has the ability to capture the energy that is already present in the band’s performance and also to add a new production that gives the recording edge and sophistication.
Q: Who does the writing in the band? Is it a collective process?
A: Felix prefers to write at home and he brings in rough chord sheets of his music into the studio where we as a band commence to shape our parts to make them feel like The Cat Empire. The collaboration process happens in the finishing touches. Harry, however, has started to write in a much more collaborative sense. We jam for an hour or so and just see what comes out. Harry will then pick out the parts that he feels he can sing over and shape them to become something more structured.
Q: Who are your influences?
A: We all have different influences. I am into jazz music and progressive rock. I listen to the likes of Herbie Hancock, Essbörn Svensson, and Frank Zappa, Felix brought many of the South American flavours to the table originally, but more recently is listening to singer/songwriters such as Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen etc. Ryan is more or less in to anything pre 2000 as far as I can tell. Will is into Led Zeppelin, Metallica and Iron Maiden etc. Jumps spends his life travelling the world finding Vinyl stores and collecting Afro Beat, South American and Caribbean funk etc. Harry is playing lots of pre 50s jazz and has always been heavily inspired by European gypsy music. This is all pretty broad and probably inaccurate. I hope to God none of the guys read this, they will hate me boxing their music taste! But it gives you the idea that we are all into different stuff.
Q: The lead track is called Wolves and is already out. Where is it released and what can you tell me about that song?
A: “Wolves” was one of Felix’s songs. I believe he has had strong visions of festivals and travelling in his most recent songs. We just wanted to spark a colourful and festive vibe with the song. It has been fun to play live and we have had great response. As far as I know, it has been released in UK, Europe and America.
Q: In the band’s life span there have been a number of highlights and accomplishments – from touring the world, headlining festivals, appearing on American TV, awards and nominations. What are a couple of the biggest highlights that stick out for you and why?
A: From the start of our career we have jumped from height to height. We managed to pack a 2000 capacity theatre before ever releasing an album or signing a record deal, which I still regard as being one of our greatest achievements. Beyond that, we played as a part of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games to a televised audience for 90 minutes, played a show in the middle of Rue de Saint Catherine in Montreal to a crowd of more than 70,000, rocked the David Letterman show and various other American late night talk shows and more recently pack out the Royal Albert Hall, just to mention a few.
Q: Your tour schedule for 2016 has you in Australia and the UK. Are there plans to go elsewhere this year?
A: We will also be playing throughout Europe and of course Canada later in the year. We are also hitting South America. Can’t wait!
Q: What has been your favourite place to play in the past?
A: I love going to places we have never been before and in the last couple of years we have managed to go to quite a few new locations, including Romania, Portugal, South Africa, Brazil and most recently India. We also love coming to parts of Canada, including Montreal and Vancouver. We always feel so at home. Maybe being a relatively low population in a vast area of uninhabitable land gives us something in common.
Q: Is there a place or country you haven’t played yet but is on your bucket list?
A: I am really looking forward to seeing more parts of South America. I don’t have a bucket list as such though. I just float with the wind and see where it takes me. Life is a journey whether I have a list of not!
Q: And what about any festivals you’d like to play or someone you’d like to tour with but haven’t yet?
A: I would love to do more jazz festivals. We played at North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland a couple of years ago and I couldn’t believe the line up. So many of my heroes were there, including Lonnie Smith and Stevie Wonder. I just want to live in a jazz festival!
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add or plug?
A: Buy our record. It is a ripper!
Hope to see The Cat Empire back in Canada soon! Thank you for your time and the best of luck with Rising With the Sun!
Connect with The Cat Empire online (Website) (Facebook) (Twitter) (YouTube) (Instagram)
Discography:
The Cat Empire (2003)
Two Shoes (2005)
Cities: The Cat Empire Project (2006)
So Many Nights (2007)
Cinema (2010)
Steal the Light (2013)
Rising With The Sun (2016)
