Episode this artist appeared in
Brief History
Formed in Melbourne, Australia and adored the world over, The Cat Empire is a musical success story that continues to be written. Throughout their 20 year career, the band’s stratospheric trajectory has continued unabated, sustaining a career defined by independence. Beginning as the self-funded enterprise of a group of musicians who were not yet 18, the band built their Empire on the foundation of hard work, innovative ideas and a musical signature that makes people love, laugh and dance.
One of Australia’s most successful musical exports, The Cat Empire garnered fierce devotion in all corners of the globe. Since their teens, the six bound together by a love of music have gone deliberately about the business of crafting infectious, genre-embracing anthems and releasing chart-topping, multi-platinum selling albums to take to the live stage. The band played hundreds of world-class, awe-inspiring shows a year while sustaining and growing an army of ardent fans at home and abroad.
It seems The Cat Empire brand of feel-good, high-energy, smile-inducing music has a global address when it comes to winning hearts. It was not unusual to find the band selling out the world’s most famous arenas, mobbed by supporters and media at airports in Spain and performing on iconic T.V. shows Letterman, Leno and Ferguson. While riding high at the business end of international album charts, they dominated global airwaves and main stage bills at international music festivals.
The Cat Empire announced in September of 2021 that after twenty years of touring the world together, the original line-up would dis-band. Final shows of the original line-up have been announced for Australia, with the intention of delivering massive farewell shows around the country. Their hometown show on December 16, 2021, from Melbourne, will be broadcast to the global audience as a virtual concert on December 18.
The next chapter of The Cat Empire begins with founding members Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill stepping forward with “a re-imagined, vibrant, cross-cultural, and joyful collective of musicians and artists”. With new music planned for 2022, Riebl and McGill show no sign of resting on their search for new sounds, rhythms and ideas to continue the joyful legacy of The Cat Empire.