The Cat Empire - Sanguine Solitude

The Cat Empire were recently named by Beatle Ringo Starr as one of his favourite contemporary artists. That’s a pretty big rap, but these Melbourne lads are getting used to the adulation. After years of world touring, endless festival, TV and headline appearances, and three phenomenal album releases, their fourth So Many Nights, continues their evolution into one of Australia’s greatest ever musical exports.

Their reputation for must-dance-party-songs has grown from their energetic and gifted live shows. Often venturing into the unscripted, teetering on unfettered madness as the party takes hold both off and on stage. To date their albums have primarily featured this festive ambiance, with a slower track or two thrown in, but apparently things are changing as the Empire rises, as front man Felix Riebl shares some of the variation in themes on the new album.

“There’s a couple, and I think they’re pretty clear. One of them is still the festivals, but the dark side of the festival. I think when we started out we were writing songs about a festival in summer, now this is like we’ve been to the other side of the festival. That’s quite a lonely side, which I really love. It’s a very warm sounding album, but there’s a side that quite lonely. The other side is still what people would expect from a Cat Empire album. If we’re talking about festivals I don’t think you can have a proper festival without a sense of that feeling.”

There’s certainly a sense of isolation about the album, but perhaps it was inevitable for the topic to seep into their song writing as the sheen of excitement wore off. First international sell outs and Letterman show appearances are no doubt great thrills, but sharing mobile living quarters with seven or more others must wear thin.

“A lot of it was written while in the back of tour bus. The album’s called So Many Nights because we’ve toured so many places now and done so many shows, been on so many different trips that this album’s a result of so many nights. And those so many nights have involved a lot of festivities, as well as a lot of loneliness.”

Travelling is not something the boys begrudge, far from it.

“I think its really important in Australia because Australia is so clustered. Australia is the most suburbanised country in the world, with all of that space and the difference between the city areas and the rural areas is really vast. I think that if musically and culturally we have to go to rural areas. There’s a real habit in Australia to stick to the cities, and forget about everything else. I think that musically that’s a big mistake. There’s a lot to learn open space and rural areas and different cultural elements in Australia. You get a real cultural lift when you go out to some of those places. I think it’s really important.

We’ve always made it a habit to combine the big city shows with the more remote shows on our tours. That contrast alone gives you quite a different mood on your tour schedule. It’s a really good one, its one thing that this band has really benefited from, has been mixing it up culturally while on the road and getting different impressions.”

With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why the band jumped at the chance to join Triple J on their regional tour spectacular AWOL. Even more so once they knew it was for Burnie.

“Triple J asked us and we were really happy to do it. I think that Burnie’s a pretty interesting place. I went to Tasmania last year, and checked out quite a lot of the areas they’re logging. It was an amazing pace for me, a lot more extreme than I’d ever imagined. In terms of how big the contrast is between the right and the left in Tasmania. Burnie is right in the thick of it. It’s a real opportunity to do a show there for the sake of a show, but also to be in a very politically charged place, and also in an amazing natural environment.”

As part of the furniture on the Australian festival circuit, the Cat Empire has been to every beautiful corner of our country. Felix’s social conscience has evidently been awakened with the addition of sustainability seminars as a prelude to some of the shows on their upcoming tour. However, don’t expect any idealistic ‘music can change the world’ speeches.

“In terms of protest songs and stuff like that, I was always sceptical, and still am to a degree. I loved the songs, but was never really sure how much they did. It’s funny because the first song that we released on this album is one that I wrote about the environment. No Longer There was in response completely to learning about the environment. I tried to sum it up in the most simple question that I could. I think people have got to be engaged. Everyone has to do something individually in their own lives. It’s a very individual problem, although it’s shared by everyone as well.

For me musically it’s quite challenging now. It was a challenge to write a song that was a song I’d write anyway, but that was about an issue. Finding those lines creatively and emotionally in terms of the words was a real creative challenge for me. One that proved to myself that it could really be musical without feeling that you’d changed your style.”

The inimitable Cat Empire style is not something to be bended to any whim but that of the members. The underlying strength of The Cat Empire comes from staying true to their own learning’s, curiosities and spirits. For Felix, keeping in tune with childhood habits has allowed him to enjoy the journey even more.

“When we’re on tour we get to a city, and whenever we’ve got a few hours free I usually walk around. I used to do that a lot when I was a kid as well. I used to put on a jacket, kind of a magic jacket, and just go wandering everywhere. Jumping on a bike or walking over a hill somewhere completely alone is something I used to at night quite a lot. I find that by walking you really get to see a lot of things that you might not otherwise see. Doing it alone seems to help. I find that because we’re in a new city almost every day on the road it’s pretty much the only way you can really get a sense of a place. It’s only an impression usually, but when you’re walking you start noticing differences between each city. Like how far the sky is form the street and what the texture of the air is, things that you can only pick up walking.”

Perhaps that poetic notion, of walking in solitude, contemplating the world and enjoying the detail, explains that mischievous half smile that Felix forever wears.

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