The Cat Empire

The Cat Empire is a touring machine. They’ve spent most of the six years since the release of their debut album, The Cat Empire, on the road.

The unstoppable Australians have toured with the likes of James Brown and Ozomatli and played for an hour at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

So when the band’s ‘turntable-ist’ Jumps sat down with Vertigo, it was surprising how focused he was on the music rather than the shenanigans of touring.

Of course there’s the stuff like the drummer, Willy, trying to smuggle gallons of maple syrup through Canadian airport security, but Jumps was mainly about the music.

“I feel like there’s just no boundaries towards music, it just comes out in so many different ways,” he says.

With six guys in the band there’s never any shortage of ideas. Jumps thinks of it as an advantage, but it can also lead to conflict.

“To be open with that is definitely a plus, if you have the patience and objectivity to work through it - it definitely makes you a better musician I think and a band as well,” he says.

The Cat Empire has always been a band that is focused on their live shows. They have a legion of loyal fans around the world to prove it. But according to Jumps, it takes lots of work and a careful balance to nail all those shows.

“Some people like to improvise a lot more, some people like to have that little bit of structure, I think we try to blend all that and just make that show a little bit tighter and more well presented.

“I couldn’t imagine us being here if we just went on and played the songs how they are on the record. It’s just not our style and it would really be putting a muffler on everyone’s creativity,” he says.

Great live shows and their down-to-earth friendliness has earned The Cat Empire a reputation as fan-friendly band. After last year’s Bluesfest, they hung around Byron Bay for a week, where they played on the Beach and in the backpacker’s hostel.

“It’s important to us as a band and as individuals to keep our feet on the ground and to really interact as best as we can with the fans,” says Jumps.

Most bands use making an album as an opportunity to settle down for a while after the manic pace of touring. This is not the case for The Cat Empire. For their second album they took the opportunity to go to Cuba, in order to work with legendary producer Jerry Boyes, who has previously worked with Ry Cooder and the Buena Vista Social Club.

“Jerry basically said if you want that sound - you cannot recreate that anywhere else in the world and so we just have to go to Cuba to do it. So we thought ‘let’s go to Cuba for a month, why not?’”

It makes sense for The Cat Empire’s latest release to be a live album, considering the amount of travelling the band has done.

“The Live On Earth album is basically a collection of our travels in the last three or four years. It’s a live recording and all the songs are from separate shows,” says Jumps.

The Cat Empire is currently touring around Australia.