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The Cat Empire

February 19, 2008

Now is a great time for Australian Music, after the RIAA completely dismantled the Australian music scene in the 1990s supplanting it with American Pop groups such as N*Sync, the American punk-rock scene, and the replacement of live music in pubs with pokies. But don't take my word for it, the proof is in the pudding with the 50 top ARIA singles charts containing nine Australian singles, and the top 50 ARIA album charts containing fourteen Australian albums. The number of albums especially shows the strength of Australian music.

But it is only in the last 10 years that Australia has cultivated a healthy music scene. With the expansion of the Triple J national youth radio network nation wide in the 90s, and Channel [V] on Foxtel giving special emphasis on Australian music. Both are heavy supporters of Australian music festivals, including the massive festival the Big Day Out which has always had a bias towards Australian acts.

Number 24 on the album charts this week is The Cat Empire with their album So Many Nights. The Cat Empire were in Brisbane on the weekend performing with support acts Blue King Brown, and The Beautiful Girls. I went to this show with my cousin having not thought much of The Cat Empire before, having only heard their older recorded works. I can now attest that The Cat Empire put on a very good live show, I counted 11 pieces in the musical ensemble which they were using at any one time. River stage was packed out which again shows the strength of Australian live music.

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