Harry James Angus, musician and vocalist, The Cat Empire
Sometimes it just falls in a heap but I feel like people respect that because they can see we’re doing something new ...
For over a decade, The Cat Empire has been known far and wide as one of the world’s greatest party bands. Difficult to describe and impossible to categorise, The Cat Empire’s reputation is built upon a chaotic and fiercely uplifting live show that, last year over half a million people bought tickets to see. In 2013, The Cat Empire’s fifth studio album, Steal the Light, was released to widespread acclaim and solidified the energy and chaos of The Cat Empire experience into a technicolour record that entered the national ARIA Chart at number three. The band’s new record, Rising With The Sun, continues in a similar vein and has been described as a big, colourful, cacophonous parade passing by your window. We caught up with vocalist and trumpet extraordinaire Harry James Angus to chat about the band’s upcoming tour and the secrets to success.
Congratulations on your sixth studio album Rising With The Sun! The record debuted at number one on the ARIA and AIR music charts in Australia so clearly the fans love it. How do you feel about it?
I feel pretty good about it. Not much has changed from the record we did previously to this one, which was called Steal The Light. We used the same producer, the same process and the same studio, it was basically like we went back into the studio and continued making the same record. With these last two records we finally found a good formula for capturing what we do live on a record, which is something we’ve kind of failed at a bit in the past.
We heard you made a conscious decision not to rehearse the album before recording it?
Yes, that’s right. It is actually something that I’ve been wanting to do for years and we finally got to do it, mainly because of the tyranny of time! We didn’t have much time so we thought we won’t waste it rehearsing, we’ll just go straight into the studio and see what happens. I’ve always been a great believer in not over-thinking things and for the first time I feel like we actually did that.
The album was the second one released on your independent label. How has that changed the game in terms of the records you’re putting out?
Nothing has really changed in terms of what we’re trying to achieve when we make a record or our creative control or anything like that. Even when we were signed to a major label we were always given the go-ahead to make any kind of record we wanted to make. We’re a pretty unusual band to start with so I don’t think the record labels ever felt like they had a say in our sound. Working with our friend Jan Skubiszewski, who produced the last two records, was a pleasure. He’s known the band for a very long time and I always knew that if we put him in the room with The Cat Empire that we’d end up with a really great sound.
There seems to be a lot of animal references with bulls, wolves, and eagles. Was that intentional?
Yeah, I suppose it is. I think it’s a sign of the times. If you do a general survey of last year’s Hottest 100 on triple j I’m pretty confident you will find numerous references to wolves and birds and things like that. I don’t know what it is, it’s like a trend in thought that people have at the moment. You see a lot of people wearing t-shirts with totem animals on them, my theory, which is not based on any actual evidence, is that as people become more and more domesticated in their realities they have an intense desire to associate themselves with symbols of wildness, almost to prove to themselves and others that they are still wild at heart.
You’re about to embark on a pretty extensive Rising With The Sun tour including a show at NightQuarter on the Gold Coast. What’s the best and worst part about touring?
Well depending on where you are. For me, the hardest thing is being away from my family. I have two little boys so when I go away now, especially for a month or two, I really miss them but it’s also a big disruption in their lives. The good side of touring is getting to see new natural environments. I love it when I get a day off and there’s a national park or a mountain range to explore. I don’t party every night on tour anymore because I’ve been touring for ten years so I’m kind of over that, I go bush walking instead. So rockstar.
You must spend an awful lot of time together, who has the worst habit on the road?
Everyone is pretty bloody annoying if you give them half a chance! It’s been over a decade of touring together so during that time people in the band have had their ups and downs in their life, there’s a lot of alcohol on the road so people tend to develop drinking problems every now and then. Everyone is annoying that’s for sure. We’re a pretty crazy bunch of dudes.
After more than a decade writing and playing music together, what continues to inspire you?
I think the secret to the band’s lifespan is mainly due to the fact that we came out of this, for want of a better word, jazz background. We all started out as jazz musicians and a big part of what the band does, even though it’s often hidden if you only know us from the radio or even from our recordings, is improvised. If you come and see a live show a big part is the instrumental solos and the chaotic, spontaneity of playing the songs differently to how we played it the night before. I really think that’s the reason our music hasn’t gotten boring, every night is different for us. We’re not some stadium act that just rocks up and does the same show every night, when we walk out on stage we have a rough idea what’s going to happen but it’s pretty loose. Sometimes it just falls in a heap but I feel like people respect that because they can see we’re doing something new. We’ll quite often play the same bunch of songs so if you looked at our set list it would look like we aren’t changing anything but from night to night the same song might go for five minutes one night and 15 minutes the next.
The Cat Empire has travelled around the world and played countless shows, is there one moment that stands out as an all-time career highlight?
To be honest, it’s always been a question that I’ve struggled with. Not that I have a problem with the question, I have a problem with the idea that being on the biggest stage and playing to the most people somehow equates to being the best. I would consider some of my highlights as musical moments, I couldn’t necessarily tell you when or where they happened, just moments when the music feels perfect. Those moments when the crowd is perfect, the energy in the room is perfect and the energy on stage is perfect, it’s an amazing feeling. That’s the whole reason we do it, for those moments.
Do you have any words of wisdom for artists looking to make a career out of music?
My advice to anyone is not to worry so much about radio and albums and all of that stuff, get out there and play music in the real world and learn how to connect with a real audience. Acts can be clever at having plans all laid out and having singles and radio time but they haven’t had the experience of actually going out and playing in reality. I think that’s where you learn your craft.