The Cat Empire

Born in Melbourne in the late 1990s, The Cat Empire first made its name on Australian club stages as a sextet combining vocals, brass, keyboards, bass, drums and turntables, with Felix Riebl, Harry James Angus, Ollie McGill, Ryan Monro, Will Hull-Brown and Jamshid Khadiwhala. The Cat Empire early on developed a songwriting approach that blends jazz, funk, ska, reggae, Latin rock and pop, with a strong emphasis on danceable rhythms, brass arrangements and the interplay between Afro-Caribbean influences and soul tradition. After their self-titled debut album The Cat Empire (2003), the band released Two Shoes (2005), Cities (2006), So Many Nights (2007) and Cinema (2010), followed by Steal the Light (2013), Rising with the Sun (2016), Stolen Diamonds (2019) and Where the Angels Fall (2023). Highly active on festival stages across Australia, Europe and North America, The Cat Empire has evolved its lineup over the years while maintaining an identity built on collective energy, stylistic fusion and a performance approach rooted as much in jazz as in popular music.