The Cat Empire
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| The Cat Empire | |
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| Origin | Melbourne, Australia |
| Years active | 1999 – present |
| Genres | Alternative |
| Labels | Virgin Records (2003-present) |
| Members | Ollie McGill Ryan Monro Felix Riebl Harry James Angus Will Hull Brown Jamshid Khadiwhala |
The Cat Empire is a six-piece band, based in Melbourne, Australia. Their sound is often described as a fusion of jazz, ska, funk and rock with heavy Latin influences. As of 2006, they have released four albums and are signed on the Virgin Records label.
Currently, the Cat Empire comprises Ollie McGill (keyboard and backing vocals), Ryan Monro (bass and backing vocals), Felix Riebl (percussion and vocals), Harry James Angus (trumpet and vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums) and Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala (decks, percussion). They also have guest musicians, who make guest appearances with the band on a recurring basis. A strong, recurrent theme of their music is the rejection of materialism, war and intolerance and an enthusiastic embrace of cultural diversity and the simple, carefree life. They are also known for their unusually kind treatment of their fans, doing things like sending out personally messaged and autographed postcards to members of their volunteer promotional teams across Australia.
The band's name was created by Felix Riebl's younger brother, Max, and its distinctive cat's eye icon was created by Ian McGill, Ollie McGill's father.
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[edit] Beginnings
The Cat Empire began as a trio with Oliver McGill on keyboards, Felix Riebl on percussion and vocals and Ryan Monro on double bass in late 1999 and started playing a wide variety of gigs in Melbourne. The band soon expanded in 2001 adding Harry James Angus on trumpet, Will Hull-Brown on drums and Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwala as a DJ.
By late 2001, the band was appearing in the Speigeltent at the Melbourne Festival. The band prepared an independent single "Feline" (plus EP "Live at Adelphia") at the end of that year. In early 2002, the band played a series of gigs at the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Later that year, they were the headline act at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and St Kilda Film Festival in March.
The band commenced its first overseas tour on the west coast of the United States playing to sellout crowds in the Matrix in San Francisco and playing at the Napa Valley Wine Auction in June 2002. The band received a Music for the Future to fund the recording of The Sun album at the Adelphia studio in Melbourne before flying out to the Edinburgh Festival where they played sixteen successive shows at the Late'n'Live show between 3am and 5am. The band returned to Melbourne for the 2002 Melbourne Festival and played a series of sell-out performances in Melbourne, with Kate Ceberano appearing as a guest vocalist at their final show of the year.
[edit] Recording career
[edit] 2003
The band recorded its debut studio album, The Cat Empire, in seven months during 2003 with producer Andy Baldwin in Melbourne. It recorded the album in between touring Australia playing at the St Kilda Festival with Kate Ceberano and appearing at the Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival in April 2003. The band was nominated in two categories at the Australian Jazz Awards. The band successfully applied for an International humpways grant from The Australian Arts Council.
The band was featured in a BBC Television 4 on the 2003 WOMAD Festival where the band appeared. Their track "Hello" was placed on high rotation on BBC Radio 1 in August 2003. The bands growing live and critical reputation put them in a great position to approach record companies for a record deal for their self-financed, self-titled debut album in the middle of 2003. The band signed a deal with EMI Virgin Records subsidiary. The band also signed a deal in the UK with an independent company.
The first single "Hello" was released in October 2003 with a film clip that was Channel V's clip of the week. The Cat Empire was released in November 2003, debuting in the top 20 of the ARIA Top 50 album chart with Triple J nominating it as their album of the week in November. High profile appearances on Rove (Live) with Rove McManus and The Panel on Network Ten helped raise the profile of the album helping it to go gold in Australia by December 2003. The band finished 2003 playing high profile gigs at festivals like Homebake and the Falls Festival before headlining the Melbourne New Year's Eve celebrations at Federation Square. They also played at Woodford Folk Festival.
[edit] 2004
"Days Like These" was the second single reaching the top 40 of the ARIA singles charts in early 2004. The band would play a double bill with Ozomatli in Sydney and Melbourne in January 2003 before starting a 35 date 2004 tour of Australia playing to 100,000 and closing the main stage at the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in 2004. The Cat Empire would also perform as a support act to James Brown in his 2004 Australian tour. Their debut album would go platinum in February 2004. Their third single "The Chariot" would also debut in the ARIA top 40 in May 2004. "Hello" would finish at number 6 on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2003, with album track "Days Like These" at number 37 and "The Chariot" at number 100.
In September, the band released a DVD entitled 'On the Attack'.
[edit] 2005
The Cat Empire released their second album, Two Shoes on 19 April 2005. The album, recorded in Havana, Cuba, contains many old favourites for those who followed the Cat Empire from the beginning, as well as some new tunes (the first single, "Sly", being released on 28 March 2005). Notably, the album debuted at number #1. The new songs are all much more Latin in flavour, and there is a higher proportion of songs written by Harry than on the first album. Two Shoes also contains a "hidden" track, not announced on the back of the CD case, called "1001".
In July 2005, the band played two sets at the Cambridge Folk Festival (Cambridge, UK).
In October, 'Two Shoes Deluxe Edition' DVD was released.
The band also featured on a Triple J CD entitled "Like A Version", featuring cover versions of songs performed by artists on Mel Bampton's show, Mel In The Morning. The track was a version of Hotel California (by the Eagles), sung in French by Harry.
In December 2004, they once again played at the Woodford folk festival.
[edit] 2006
Earlier in the year, Harry Angus and Kieran Conrau contributed trumpet and trombone respectively to a re-recorded version of Perth band Karnivool's song "Roquefort", released in January.
On March 15th, the band starred in the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, playing their own compositions for approximately one hour as the Games athletes entered the stadium.
On March 29th, the band announced that it was close to signing record deals in both the US and Europe[1].
On April 1st, the band released a new album, Cities. It is described as "A tribute to our own city (Melbourne) and an experiment in sounds we've found abroad". 10,000 Limited Edition, individually-numbered copies were made available.
On June 15 the band played at the Bonnaroo Music Festival.
On July 1st, the band played in the Montreal Jazz Fest with Bedouin Soundclash.
On July 2nd, they appeared again in the Montreal Jazz Fest as the Spectacle Surprise band.
On July 4th, they played with Kidney Stone as the pre-Festival Event of the Québec City Summer Festival.
On July 7th, they played at the Quart Festival in Kristiansand, Norway, appearing on the same venue as Gogol Bordello and Flogging Molly.
On July 25th, they played at the Tollhaus in Karlsruhe,Germany for the ZELTIVAL (tent festival) for their 3rd year in a row to a sell out crowd.
[edit] Band members
As of 2005, The Cat Empire consists of:
[edit] Core members
- Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion, chariotti)
- Harry James Angus (trumpet and lead vocals; recorder and resonator)
- Ollie McGill (piano, keyboard, recorder, tubular bells, backing vocals, Melodica)
- Ryan Monro (double bass, bass guitar, backing vocals)
- Will Hull Brown (drums)
- Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala (turntables, tambourine, clave, also dances)
[edit] The Empire Horns
A small group of musicians who play with the band and are basically full time members.
Kieran Conrau - Trombone/Trumpet/Tuba/Backing vocals
Ross Irwin - Trumpet/Backing vocals
Carlo Barbaro - Saxophone/Flute/Clarinet
[edit] Guest musicians
Other musicians featured on various tracks:
- Jesus "Aguaje" Ramos (trombone)
- Yauren Muniz (trumpet)
- Javier R Zalba Suarez (baritone saxophone)
- Idania Valdes (backing vocals)
- Maritza Montero (backing vocals)
- Virgillio Valdes (backing vocals)
- Alyssa Conrau (violin)
- Georgina Cameron (violin)
- Kristy Conrau (cello)
- Max Riebl (trumpet, soprano voice)
- Jorge Yoandi Moline (congas)
- Arnado Valdes Perez (timbales)
- Greg Sheehan (percussion)
- Richard Dinesco (guitar)
[edit] The Empire Dancers
- Fay Khadiwhala
- Anthony
- Carlos
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Live @ Adelphia (2001)
- The Sun (2002)
- The Cat Empire (2003) - #15 Australia
- Tapes, Breaks and Out-Takes (2003)
- On the Attack (2004)
- Two Shoes (2005) - #1 Australia
- Cities: The Cat Empire Project (2006) - #11 Australia
[edit] Singles
From The Cat Empire
- "Hello" (2003) - #12 New Zealand (no commercial Australian release)
- "Days Like These" (2004) - #37 Australia
- "The Chariot" (2004) - #34 Australia
- "One Four Five" (2004)
From Two Shoes
- "Sly" (2005) - #23 Australia
- "The Car Song" (2005) - #46 Australia
- "Two Shoes" (2005) - #49 Australia
[edit] External links
- Official website
- The Cat Empire at MusicBrainz
- The Cat Empire unofficial fansite
- The Cat Empire fanlisting
- Harry J. Angus and Felix Riebl of Cat Empire on stage at 13th Annual Meredith Music Festival / Dave Tacon (2003)
- The Cat Empire at Naked Dwarf
- At Shepherd's Bush, London, 3rd August 2006 - video and downloads
