The Cat’s back in town

The British Empire may have a thousand of years of history, drama and tales of conquest to tell but another empire has slowly been making its mark on Britannia for almost a decade. By winning over the hearts and minds of young Brits, Australians and global citizens alike, The Cat Empire have achieved cult status all over the world and will play their 800th show on their upcoming tour. With a new album and mammoth European tour on the way, lead singer and percussionist Felix Riebl took a few moments to explain what has kept ‘The Empire’ so strong after all these years.

With their 800th show set to be played next month Felix said it will feel good to reach such a big milestone. “We always celebrate every century and it’s always important as a band to celebrate your successes and achievements and the fact that you have managed to hold on for that long and be successful as a group. It’s been an incredible ride,” he said.

The band have just finished the Australian leg of their ‘Cinema’ tour to promote their new album of the same name and are in the process of preparing to head overseas once again. Felix said he enjoys the gigs but the flying can take its toll. “We did some calculations the other day about how much we have actually flown and it’s really pretty scary you know. I don’t particularly enjoy the flight over,” he said. “Sometimes on an international flight it’s good because you can see five movies and have an excuse to do nothing for a while. The crazy thing about being in a band is that it’s kind of one of those situations where, to do a lot of those things you love you have to spend a lot of time in transition.”

The Cat Empire have certainly made their mark globally, playing more overseas gigs than any other Australian band. There are a few that really stand out to Felix; “I think the first time we played the Shepherds Bush Empire it was pretty special,” he said. “It’s such a massive theatre. It felt like we were supposed to be doing an opera there as well. And it was nice because there’s been a lot of famous people perform there as well and I saw a lot of posters from the early 80’s like Dire Straits, when they were starting out and a lot of other bands that I had followed since I was a kid.”

The new album features darker lyrics and more spacious tunes than previous offerings but still packs a punch in terms of dance-ability. Felix said that the process this time around produced a very momentary kind of album. “I am unsure how it happened. We came back to do a tour after a year off and all of the numbers at the shows had doubled or tripled and there was a fresh feeling over there and we had fun on that trip,” he said. “We got back and decided to make and album and we went into a rehearsal without much stuff pre-written and we had an album about three months later. It was quite a fast natural process.”

Felix who has major ancestral roots in Austria and the Czech Republic is always excited to go back to Europe to play. “My father came out from Vienna to live with my mum in Australia and my father became a farmer and so I spent a lot of time in rural Victoria and I’d go back to Vienna and Europe. That was how I was introduced to a heap of different music and European culture really captivated me growing up as a contrast to Australia which is so other worldly and quite stark.”
The Cat Empire has always been about world music I suppose. I have always liked that about this band how it seems to be able to embrace a lot of different cultures seamlessly and I’m very proud of that.”

Catch The Cat Empire in all their glory at Brixton Academy on 23 October.

For the show review, and more information about gigs by Australian artists in London visit http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/

Raw Audio: Interview with Felix from The Cat Empire

Hey guys and gals!

Check out this interview I just did tonight with Felix from the Cat Empire. - Written interview to come in the next few days.

The Jury's out

I did this hilarious interview with Berkfinger from the Phily Jay's back in May. Enjoy the hilarity below.

Philadelphia Grand Jury, or the Phily Jay’s as they are informally known have landed in the UK to grace the Brits with their poise, talent and most of all, their music. Songs like ‘Going to the Casino’ and ‘I’m going to kill you’ have been blasting from every stereo back home for almost a year now and it’s time the UK got a taste of the action. It has been an interesting ride so far for the boys from Sydney, who have a new drummer, a new album and now, a new place to live for a while. I caught up with Berkfinger, singer and guitarist in the band to find just what they plan to do here and how long they are going to honour the UK with their presence.
About six months ago, the band’s rather handsome drummer Dan Sweat decided to depart and work with his ‘other’ band Art vs Science. Berkfinger assures me that there are no hard feelings. “Absolutely not. Dan is my friend and flat mate and I just finished producing Art vs Science’s debut record, plus that was about 100 shows ago. We have Calvin on drums now and if you haven't seen Calvin, you haven't lived!” Current drummer Calvin Welch from Michigan, USA is no stranger to fame, playing previously with the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire and has acted in the second Underbelly series as a cab driver. “He's also been on a KFC ad and is apparently a character on a computer game, although we are yet to see it. Funny guy,” said Berkfinger.
The band are now looking to stay in the UK for at least seven months and Berkfinger is excited to crack out the tunes in front of a new audience. “What I'm really looking forward to is testing the old songs in front of a fresh crowd and really soaking up the culture here. We also have the new record to do, so that's exciting. There are no burritos in London.” he said.
Berkfinger, who is also known for his producing prowess with an array of Aussie bands is looking forward to setting up shop in London. “We are building a studio in a Railway Arch here in London near a pub that's owned by the singer from The Pogues, so I guess making that a good space and then a killer second record is our next set of challenges,” he revealed. “I have already brought over all the bits and pieces of my mixing desk, which was actually used by Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond and Dusty Springfield and I have a bunch of microphones and a sparkly drumset so i'm all like, "What could possibly go wrong?"
The band kicked off their UK shows at Camden Crawl and have a flurry of dates across London throughout May so there’s no excuse not to see them. The response so far has been “ridiculous” says Berkfinger. “We came off a sold out Australian tour and were not looking forward to awkward silences between songs in the set but thank God there hasn't been any. Last night we had a whole crowd chanting "One more tune!" for a good five minutes. Of course we didn't have an encore prepared because we didn't expect such a response. So yes it seems that they like it.”

Read this article and more of my work at http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/

Butler on his hat obsession, finding himself and politics

It’s one of the sunniest days in London this year and John Butler is traipsing around the markets in Camden. He’s just bought a nose ring and he’s on the prowl for a hat, or two. ”I’m always looking for a good hat,” he says. “I have a hat obsession, so I buy a lot of hats and don’t wear any of them. I think I like the idea of hats, more than I like them on me.” It turns out that John didn’t just fly to England to buy a some jewelry and a hat he’ll never wear. Australian Times journalist Vivienne Hill caught up with Mr Butler, one of Australia’s most influential artists to find out about his new trio, album and upcoming UK tour.

There have been a lot of changes in John’s life in the last few years. It was the culmination of these events lead to his new album, April Uprising. “Having to look back on the last few years I went through a big metamorphoses, I had my son, cut my hair and then went on a huge ancestral search. Those three things are quite empowering in a spiritual way,” he said. The search took John to Bulgaria where he learnt about his family roots. “I think we have all heard that if you know where you come from it’s a sense of rights, and a sense of foundation that you get from it. Being in the exact places where my ancestors stood was just amazing.” On his travels through Bulgaria John learnt how his grandfather fought in the famous April Uprising battle in the 1800s. “I was born 100 years after that uprising; it was a great metaphor for everything that encompassed the last three years.”
John believes the album is more ambitious and focused than anything he has done before. “We created this strong, powerful, song driven album. In terms of my songwriting, I wanted to create more with fewer words,” he said. “There are different songwriters around who can boil down a five hour conversation into a phrase. The power and the art of that is amazing. I am very much inspired by that.”

April Uprising packs a punch in terms of revolutionary lyrics. “There is some crazy stuff that is going on in the world at the moment but there is actually a revolution happening as we speak. Rather than people thinking its going come one day and everything is going to change, I believe it’s kind of underway. Change is totally happening.”

With looming elections in both Australia and the UK John believes people need to make politicians accountable now more than ever. “The most important thing that people need to consider when voting is that the politicians are their employees. Sometimes people want to make the politicians their leaders and the public should be the politician’s leaders,” he said. “If you want your politicians to be accountable you have to knock on their front doors a few times.”

Soon to be knocking on London’s door with his new trio, John is excited to tour the UK once more. “My home is Australia and I love it deeply but when I go overseas I see all these places and the best part about it is meeting different brothers from other mothers and different sisters from other misters. And just catching up with the fans and being able to play music and travel is just an extreme honor,” he said. John believes that fans differ from country to country. “In Japan they are very quiet during the song and then very loud in the pause. French love clapping on every beat, Germans they stomp their feet in a uniformed way. It’s scary. They are all very similar too though. As human beings we have different colours different nationalities but we can all shake our ass.”

Xavier Rudd Review - Shepherds Bush Empire, London

To be honest, the Empire wasn’t as awash with urban hippies as expected. Tonight it was a different crowd, clad in swanky boots, pretty dresses and expensive jackets. Almost all of them had one thing in common; they were Australian and had come to witness the sound of home. However, Before Xavier hit the stage a pleasant warm up ensued with a fantastic set by a rather cute UK lad named Ben Howard. His folky acoustic melodies were accompanied by what some uneducated Aussie men at the gig classed as ‘a babe playing a huge violin’. In fact it was Ben’s accompanist, India Bourne, on Cello. His sound was a mix of Mumford and Sons and Xavier Rudd. If his set was anything to go by, he is definitely set for big things this year. It was a pity that most of the people watching the stage from the pit couldn’t see where Ben’s candid, raw melodies were coming from unless they were 8ft tall.

Problems were solved as soon as Xavier walked onto the stage (without shoes) and up onto a platform to sit in front of his Didgeridoos. ‘The Mother’ opened to rich applause with Rudd accompanied by ‘Izintaba’ a bassist and drummer from South Africa. The bassist was fantastic, his guitar hung almost up to his chin and he provided a slap bass rhythm worthy of the gods of funk. With Aboriginal and South African flags hanging from the roof of the stage, the scene was set for what turned out to be an epic percussion battle of African and Indigenous Australian beats. The full band and rich sound provided a fantastic live alternative to the more subdued feel of Xavier’s records. It was clear that he was enjoying it too, dancing around like a maniac, inviting people on stage and even diving into the audience. There were softer, emotionally charged moments too with the Rudd bringing out Aussie hippy hymns like ‘The Message’ and ‘The Letter’ later on. A slight pause in the middle of his set to pay homage to oppressed people around the world reminded everyone why the nature of this man’s music is so unifying. The only disappointment was the excessive noise from people who failed to register that he was requesting a moment of silence. So the question must be asked, why do expats spend money on tickets to gigs in London of Aussie bands that they aren’t really interested in just to talk the whole way through about their gym attendance and boys? Listen to the music you twats, or leave... you're ruining the show. That small issue aside, the show was amazing and the other few thousand people who really got into it will agree that all in all it was a ‘Ruddy’ good time.

Josh Pyke Interview

Pretty much any Australian lass would love to have a serenade from this man. Josh Pyke just seems to have a way with words. He accompanies his beautiful lyrics with delicate melodies and musical masterpieces are created. Boys, if you want to get in with your ladies, it’s easy, just “play a little Pyke and turn down the light”. There is the other option of going to see him live for added authenticity. Josh has toured the UK a bunch of times and he’s coming back before heading to the studio again. Australian Times Journalist Vivienne Hill caught up with him to find out what’s on the way for the Aussie artist and why he keeps coming back to charm the UK with his tunes.

Josh has now toured the UK about 10 times and will be back in March to woo his audiences once more. He is looking forward to seeing some old friends again. “I've toured the UK quite a few times now. It pretty much feels like a second home, and the thing I miss most are the friends I have over there. Some of my best friends live in the UK and it's such a blessing to be able to tour and play music to people and also get to see my friends,” he said. “I don't really miss the food in the UK though.”

We all know there is a definite lack of freshly grown cuisine in the UK compared to Aussie’s fine culinary selection but Josh assures me the fans are much the same. “I find they're pretty similar, although there is (as there is in Oz) a real difference between crowds from town to town,” reveals Josh. His tour will take him all the way from London to Glasgow, stopping at most main cities along the way. ”I’m really excited! It'll be the last shows in the UK I'll do for this record, and I’m looking forward to playing with my support, Emma Pollock too. I feel like the shows have been getting better and better in the UK, and I plan to keep on coming back and building it there.”

After the tour Josh will head back to OZ for an exciting collaboration. “I'm doing a record right now with Kav from Eskimo Joe, Bob Evans (put his real name in) and a dude called Steve Parkin, we're called the ‘Basement Birds’, and I’ve loved collaborating with them,” says Josh.

Pyke still has plans to fly solo aiming to hit the studio soon for a follow up to his second album ‘Chimney’s Affire’. “I've written a bunch of tracks, but I’m still trying to figure out who to do it with and where to record it,” he reveals. “I'd like it to be more rocky, and possibly actually rehearse the songs up with a band, and record the album pretty much live.” As for the name of the album, nothing is set in stone yet. “Maybe I’ll call it ‘Bodies Vanish’, but that'll change no doubt,” he jokes.

If there’s one thing that’s certain to be on the new album, it’s some more of those intricate loved up lyrics that Josh is so famous for. “I love romance! I think people should always try to be romantic and make the effort to do that stuff,” he says. Definitely some hard evidence there that not all Aussie men aren’t all wife beater wearing, Bundy drinking, bogans.

Defending the Caveman Review

The longest running solo play in Broadway history, Defending The Caveman, was been adapted by Australian actor and comedian Mark Little. The show ran successfully in London until February 21.

Little is best known as Joe Mangel in Neighbours and took to the stage to deliver some hilarious analogies about the differences between woman and men.

Australian Times journalist Vivienne Hill and her boyfriend Bart went along to see how the battle of the sexes played out to give a review the show an even gender spectrum and get some of the best relationship advice they have had in a long time.


Vivienne’s review: Doing it for the girls
When a play which is going to be performed by a guy starts off with the words ‘all men are assholes’ on two big screens.

From the moment Mark entered the stage he had all couples in the audience hating each other in the first 10 minutes.

I could see people looking at each other in disgust as he talked about the gross things boys do to girls to annoy them and the reasons why ladies get toey with their lads when things don’t work out right.

However, Mark was just setting the scene.

As the play develops it gets funnier and you see couples smiling at each other and appreciating their differences in a big way.

The jokes are absolutely hilarious and the real life analogies to the caveman were so spot on.

In the show, Mark produced fantastic observations of how females and males communicate differently in western culture.

A solo production has got to be the hardest performance an actor can possibly do. For one man to hold the audience’s attention for so long and remember such a long script is an enormous task.

If you’re having trouble understanding the opposite sex. This is the best relationship advice you’ll get in a long time.

Bart’s review: Defending the caveman
As I write this my dear sweet girlfriend Vivienne wants to talk to me, and she is complaining that I can’t do two things at once.

I am reminded of one of the dozens of insightful and very funny observations made by Mark Little in his show Defending the Caveman.

This specific observation being that as much as they try, men genuinely can’t do two things at once. I hear you brother.
So I enjoyed the show immensely as it managed to be quite funny without ever sounding disingenuous or going over the top in the search for laughs.

I went into the show fully expecting it to be a drawn out homage to ‘According to Jim’ or ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ type humour (ie. ain’t them ladies be crazy!!), but I came out having had a thoroughly enjoyable and actually enlightening experience.

Mark’s caveman analogies are never stretched too far, and he does a fantastic job by not veering off course into broad gender generalisations and stereotypes in one direction, or aloof pseudo-psychology and philosophy the other.