Citizens of The Cat Empire

The first to reply was Will. “We’d love to come!” he said, “some real food on tour would be awesome!” I then exchanged emails with the band’s manager, and closer to the date she called to finalise a day and a time.

The Cat Empire were coming to dinner on my birthday! Of course, by this time everybody else was talking madly about the band because they had just heard the single “Hello” on the radio. Naturally, i had some sceptics: “Yeah. Sure they’re coming to your place. Why would they do that?” As if people with songs on the radio didn’t have real lives…

But they did come. All except Felix, who was visiting a friend. It was great. I made caesar salad, pasta and apple pie - all my favourites. After dinner they all signed a poster for me wishing me “Happy Birthday”. That poster is now framed, of course, and sitting on my mantle piece.

The next morning I sat my final exam for the year, and that evening headed for Fremantle for the concert. It was awesome, needless to say. I even got to hang out with the boys for a bit after the show.

I suppose things just moved on from there. One day if this site has a gallery, I might put up the pictures from my birthday dinner.

There was nothing.

Months of waiting. Numerous emails sent begging The Cat Empire to come to Perth. “Please!”

I did, however, have “The Sun” - a private release of the bands that could only be bought from their gigs. We had bought it in Sydney. It had early versions of some of their most successful commercial releases, including “hello” with a third verse that never made it to the final cut… This album is priceless. With it I converted hundreds - well, maybe only dozens - of people to the bands following, all of them eager to hear them live.

Oh the day, that glorius day, when Cat-ire (my sisters nickname for the band) announced their national tour, including a trip to Perth. November 15! They were playing in Perth on November 15! Why is this significant? Because my birthday is November 14! What an AWESOME birthday present!

I was very excited. I told everybody I knew, and talked non-stop about the band. In a moment of passion, my Mum suggested to me that I invite the band over to dinner while they are in Perth.

What a great idea! My favourite band, at my place!

Email is a wonderful thing.

The year was 2002. I was 18 and spending three weeks over Christmas and New Years with family in Sydney (I am from Perth).

Myself being an avid jazz fan, my Uncle declared that he would take me to “The Basement” - the best jazz lounge in N.S.W. We had one night available, and the band listed was a group of boys from Melbourne that we had never heard of, but they sounded like good fun. Yep, that group of boys was The Cat Empire.

For their debut gig in Sydney there was quite a crowd at the club. About 30 seconds into the first song I leaned over to my sister and said/yelled, “I think I have to go and dance now!”

And that was the begining.