The Cat Empire: Австралийская джаз-фанк группа

Australian band

The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion), Harry James Angus (trumpet, vocals), Will Hull Brown (drums), Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala (turntables, percussion), Ollie McGill (keyboards, backing vocals) and Ryan Monro (bass, backing vocals). Monro retired from the band in March 2021, while Angus, Hull Brown and Khadiwhala all left in April 2022. They are often supplemented by The Empire Horns, a brass duo composed of Ross Irwin (trumpet) and Kieran Conrau (trombone), among others. Their sound is a fusion of jazz, funk, ska, and rock with heavy Latin influences.

The Cat Empire's origins are traced back to Jazz Cat, a Melbourne based band, led by Steve Sedergreen in 1999. Jazz Cat was a nine piece group from different schools and backgrounds which debuted at the Manly Jazz Festival in Sydney. They gigged around Melbourne's jazz club scene, including at Dizzy's, where Sedergreen was a part owner. Late that year, Jazz Cat spawned the Cat Empire, originally as a three piece, with Ollie McGill on keyboards, Felix Riebl on percussion and vocals and Ryan Monro on double bass. In March, the group played at the annual Bassinthegrass festival in Darwin to a crowd of 5000. They returned to the WOMADelaide festival for a second time. After touring Australia, the ensemble completed a tour of the UK with Balkan support act, Paprika Balkanicus. The tour started in July at O2 Academy Oxford. The band then performed a range of shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Northern Territory, before heading off to Canada for a short tour.

The Cat Empire's fifth studio album, Cinema, was issued on 25 June 2010 in Australia, followed by releases in Canada, the US, and then Europe. "Brighter Than Gold", the first single from their sixth album, Steal the Light, was released on 22 February 2013 on the Two Shoes music label. A music video for the song was directed by Nicholas Verso for Asphodel Films. Brighter Than Gold received high rotation on Australian and European radio. Steal The Light was released on 17 May 2013 and a worldwide "Steal the Light Tour" was announced shortly afterwards. The band performed nine US shows in July 2013, supported by Blackalicious and, for some of the American dates, were joined by fellow Australians Tinpan Orange. In February 2014, the Romanian B’ESTFEST Summer Camp announced that the Cat Empire was the first band to confirm their position on the event's musical lineup. The festival was scheduled for 31 July and 1–2 August 2014, on the Mogoşoaia Palace estate, approximately 10 minutes from Bucharest. On 16 January 2015, the Cat Empire performed at Triple J's 40th anniversary "Beat The Drum" celebration concert at the Domain in Sydney, along with other Australian musicians, including Hilltop Hoods, The Presets, You Am I, Daniel Johns, Vance Joy, The Preatures, Ball Park Music, Sarah Blasko and Gotye. During their set, the Cat Empire collaborated with special guests Remi and Owl Eyes. With the latter, they performed a cover of Kylie Minogue's "Confide in Me". They were in Romania again the following year, at the Electric Castle festival in Transylvania, on 28 July 2015.

In early 2016, the Cat Empire announced their second fully independent album, Rising with the Sun, produced by Jan Skubiszewski. The album was made available worldwide on 4 March. On the week of release, the band performed a series of secret 'pop up busking' events around Melbourne, with locations given to fans via clues shared on social media. The locations performed at were Federation Square, Circus Oz Spiegeltent and South Melbourne market. The album debuted at #1 on the ARIA and AIR charts in Australia, staying in the AIR top 20 for an impressive 21 weeks to date to date since release. Internationally successful, the album achieved Top 10 debut in 7 countries, and Top 20 debuts in 16 countries: #1 Australia, #1 Romania, #4 Hungary, #7 Sweden, # 8 Canada, #9 Czech Republic, #10 Switzerland, #13 Malaysia, #13 New Zealand, #14 Netherlands, #17 Germany, #18 Denmark, #18 South Africa, #19 United Kingdom, #20 Portugal, #20 Spain. Supported by lead singles Que Sera Ahora, Wolves (#79 in Triple J Hottest 100) and Bulls, the band has performed live on triple J, Terry Wogan Show on BBC2 and Breakfast TV Toronto, as well as achieving extensive media coverage in all of their major markets globally. Rising With the Sun was supported by an extensive global tour, with close to 100 shows booked across Australia, Europe, America, and Asia for 2016. Major festivals the band were booked for in 2016 were Sula Festival (India) WOMADelaide (Australia) Bluesfest Byron Bay (Australia) Osheaga (Canada) Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) Regina Folk Festival (Canada) Rock The Shores (Canada) Pleasure Garden (Australia) and Southbound Festival (Australia), among others.

In early 2018, the Cat Empire recorded their third fully independent album, Stolen Diamonds, at Red Moon Studios (Gisbourne, Victoria), also their third to be produced by Jan Skubiszewski. The album was drip fed to the band's global audience via their release strategy of releasing one new track on the 1st day of each month, where each song was also complemented with the release of a 360 VR video clip. The videos were filmed at The Mission To Seafarers Dome in Melbourne, Victoria, and regularly featured on YouTube's dedicated VR channel The album debuted at #1 AIR charts in Australia, and #4 on the ARIA charts – their 6th release to debut in the top 10 of this chart. 2018 saw the Cat Empire awarded two People's Choice Awards at the Australian National Live Music Awards: Best Live Act of the Year and Best Live Voice of the Year for Angus. Melbourne magazine Beat rated the album 7 out of 10, stating: "The album barely takes a break from its upbeat tempo, and flows seamlessly between funk, reggae, and ska ". They went on to say that the album " sees the Cat Empire take one step closer towards legend status." Double J presented Stolen Diamonds as its feature album, and was also very positive in its review, saying: "The worst thing about Stolen Diamonds is that you’re gonna need to clear some space around you if you're planning on listening to it. Because this is very much a record that inspires movement." The band's St Kilda Festival set was recorded for Double J's Live at the Wireless segment, and they performed a live performance on The Morning Show, as well as achieving extensive media coverage in all of their major markets globally. With a history of putting fans in the spotlight, lead singers Riebl and Angus hand delivered copies of the album to fans on release day, and also gave them opportunities to put their own spin on the music with a Karaoke competition for the track Oscar Wilde, and a Busking competition that included an entry from long time friends of the band, Pierce Brothers. Stolen Diamonds was supported by an extensive global tour, with shows booked across Australia, Europe and America throughout both the single release and album release years 2018/2019. The band were the first band to sell out two consecutive shows at London's prestigious Roundhouse (UK), and hold the record for the band to have sold out the most shows at the O2 Academy Bristol (UK) with 10 shows. Major festivals the band were booked for in 2019 included opening night of The Commonwealth Games (Australia), Woodford Folk Festival (Australia), St Kilda Festival (Australia), Doctor Music (Spain), Larmer Tree Festival (UK), Bristol Sounds (UK), Bands in the Sands (UK), Blue Balls Festival (Switzerland), BosPop (Netherlands), among others. The band released a live single, "Oscar Wilde" featuring Grace Barbé (Live at the Odeon), on 20 December 2019.

In March 2020, the band embarked on a UK and Spain tour, of which the band played 4 shows before it was abruptly cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. After returning to Australia, the band began to work on new material. During this time, they launched a social media initiative, #lockdowngetdown, encouraging listeners to make playlists using their favourite music and share them with others, in an effort to support artists who had lost their source of income due to the impact of the pandemic. It was announced in March 2021 that founding member and bass player Ryan Monro was retiring from the band. He played his last show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on 6 March 2021. In April 2021, the band announced via their Facebook page that they had entered the recording studio to work on a new album, with Yuri Pavlinov of The Bamboos filling in on bass. On 9 July 2021, the band released two new singles, Going to Live and Great Beauty. According to Felix, Going to Live was written as a response to being forced to cancel their tour of Spain in 2020 due to Covid 19, and was inspired by people in Spain singing on the rooftops during lockdown. A further two songs, Coming to Meet You and The Scream, were released on 6 August 2021. On 16 September 2021, the band announced via their Facebook page that core members Hull Brown, Angus, Khadiwala and career long Manager Correne Wilkie would be leaving the band following a run of shows in Australia. However, Riebl and McGill would continue the band in a new form. On 1 October 2021, the band released the final two songs recorded by the original lineup, Sparrow and Into the Night. The band started their farewell tour with two shows at the Sidney Meyer Music Bowl in December 2021, for which they were rejoined by former bassist Ryan Monro. They played their final show with the original lineup on 14 April 2022 at Bluesfest Byron Bay.

In August 2022, the band began to announce the first shows with a new lineup via their Facebook page, as well as teasing new music, with new band members being announced starting in September. New members announced include Grace Barbé on bass and vocals, Neda Rahmani on percussion, former touring member Daniel Farrugia on drums, and Lazaro Numa joining The Empire Horns on trumpet and percussion. In May 2023, the Cat Empire announced the release of Where the Angels Fall, scheduled for release on 25 August 2023. The album will include original members Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill, and their new ensemble including Seychelles singer Grace Barbe, Cuban born trumpeter Lazaro Numa, and Neda Rahmani.

In response to the proposed dumping of around 3 million cubic metres of dredged seabed onto the Great Barrier Reef, a legal fighting team was formed by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Australia and the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) in late 2013/early 2014. The legal team received further support in April 2014, following the release of the "Sounds for the Reef" musical fundraising project. Produced by Straightup, the digital album features the Cat Empire, in addition to artists such as John Butler, The Herd, Sietta, Missy Higgins, Fat Freddys Drop, The Bamboos (featuring Kylie Auldist) and Resin Dogs. Released on 7 April 2014, the album's 21 songs—including the Cat Empire's song "Steal The Light"—were sold on the Bandcamp website. The band have been official ambassadors for Melbourne organization Asylum Seeker Resource Centre since 2011, actively participating in events and running fundraising initiatives to support the work of the centre, including their 2016 Telethon, band member run donation drives and raffling off rare memorabilia.