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/
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