Following the success of their platinum-selling debut self-titled album, it seems The Cat Empire is well and truly bound for glory. The Australian sound, described by the band as music infused with "jazz, hip-hop, Cuban, Reggae, and ska-inspired funk" containing ingredients from "Australia, Cuba, Jamaica, Africa, Europe, the Bronx and Spain" has made an impact on audiences around the globe. The line-up features Felix Riebl (percussion, vocals), Harry J. Angus (trumpet, vocals), Ollie McGill (Rhodes, melodica, banjo), Ryan Monro (double bass, bass guitar), Will Hull-Brown (drums); and Jamshid Khadiwala (decks, percussion). Recent highlights for ‘The Cat Empire’ include a 2003 WOMAD Festival BBC4 TV documentary, a 16-night headline of the LateNLive show at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival, as well as highly acclaimed performances in the US, Singapore and Malaysia. Australian Musician’s Andrian Pertout spoke with keyboard cat Ollie McGill .

How did the concept behind ‘The Cat Empire’ come about?

OM: "I suppose what we are attempting to do is mix a lot of styles, and bring together all of our different influences, creating something that represents the multi culturalism in Australia. And trying to create a style of music that by mixing different styles becomes a new style that we can call Australian. Also, that is constantly evolving. We all started off playing jazz in jazz clubs, and started experimenting with different styles quite early on, and especially in live performances, we largely play with a jazz mentality. We do a lot of improvisation, and use a lot of spontaneity, and mix that up with a whole lot of different styles to create something that’s Australian."

Being essentially a live band, what was the approach in the making the album? Were you trying to get good live performances on tape?

OM: "It’s always been a little bit of a struggle for us to capture our live energy on tape."

So did you then forget about that and say, "OK, we’re doing a studio album?..."

OM: "We actually began recording as a six-piece, and tried to get live takes. We recorded at Sing Sing in Richmond, which has a room that’s large enough to record all of us as a six-piece fully separated, so we could record vocals, trumpet, percussion, and even keyboards, drums and bass as a six-piece. And we kept almost all the tracks of the original keys, bass and drums takes, a lot of the percussion, and some of the trumpet. Obviously the vocals are hard to capture live, but we try and get the original performance into the tracks."

Tell me about your keyboard set-up. I’ve noticed that you have a Rhodes, a melodica and a few other things…

OM: "Now that’s had a bit of change over recently. I was using a (Fender Rhodes) Mark II for a long time, and a melodica, sitting on top, and I still use the Suzuki melodica, I love it, but I recently purchased a Nord Electro 2. I couldn’t use the Rhodes on the road anymore. What I was doing was hiring one, so I’d get a different Rhodes everywhere I went overseas, and then you’d have to cart the thing around and it was a real pain… And I was never really keen to get a keyboard but I ended up going with Nord Electro 2, which has a fairly authentic sound. It’s really light, you get a bag of cool effects, and I get the clarity that I need out of it. A Rhodes, because they’re old instruments, and because the pickups are never all a hundred per cent, lack that clarity sometimes, so the Nord’s been great. I used the Korg MS2000 a bit on the album, and that’s got some cool clav-like sort of stuff, but live I now just use the Nord and the melodica."

How was your music received on your tours of Singapore and Malaysia?

OM: "In Singapore we played at the WOMAD Festival, and that was one of the best experiences of my life. WOMAD is a fantastic festival, and naturally they were hugely appreciative of what we had to offer, something a bit different. And it was a beautiful venue. In Malaysia we did some gigs for the Green Sessions, which is something that’s sponsored by Heineken, and that was really strange. There were a lot of people and they were all right into it, but in between our sets the DJ would constantly be getting on the mike and saying, ‘Very bizarre stuff.’ But it went down really well. They were loving it."

Where to from here?

OM: We’re doing first of all Melbourne and Sydney, and then all over the place, including Darwin, the Blues and Roots both in Byron Bay and in Perth, and Womadelaide. So basically over a span of two months we’ll be flat out all around Australia. And there’s a proposed international tour of Europe, USA and Asia probably in June or July for three months or so. So that’s exciting as well."