Go Behind-The-Scenes Of The Cat Empire's New Album 'Where The Angels Fall'

Lazaro Numa, the bringer of music. Pretty much no one in the band had met Lazaro in person when we decided to make him part of The Cat Empire. We were all relying on Roscoe’s word that he was the right person to join the family on trumpet, vocals and percussion. Here you can see him lighting it up on his first album session with the band. Felix loved Laz’s playing so much in the control room that he couldn’t stop smiling and laughing.

One of the countless conferring moments between musical director / co-producer Roscoe James Irwin and Felix. As well as playing in the Empire Horns, Roscoe had a lot to do with the horn/string/band arrangements, and as always, there was an extra set of ears to problem-solve musical issues with Ollie and Felix.

When Neda joined The Cat Empire, she introduced us to many of her friends from many different cultures, including West African percussionists Mohamed Camara and Boubacar Gaye. Here they are seen laying down some magic on the track Boom Boom which showcases their infectious vibe. 

The Cat Empire and the Tedesco brothers have a long history. The Tedesco family, in their own right, have an iconic presence in the Australian flamenco scene, as well as being very much part of The Cat Empire's extended family. They feature on a few songs from the new album, but most prominently on one of the band's favourites, the sprawling and super epic Owl.

Long after the rest of the musicians went home, the A team —Felix, Ross, Andy and Ollie — would often stick around in the control room at Merri-Bek City Band Room, drink in hand, listening through the day’s work, making decisions and always having a laugh. This is when so much of the magic happened.

Each morning, one of the band members would head to the local bakery around the corner from the studio and pick up fresh sourdough and Portuguese tarts to snack on. Then, as everyone else was leaving or commencing work in another part of the hall, Ollie would usually do the dishes. Maybe, if enough of those plates were polished, his name would have ended up on that Honour Roll!

A fairly new sonic concept for the band on this album was to use a string section. Roscoe worked on the orchestrations while we gathered some of Melbourne’s finest studio and orchestral string players to add a layer of vastness and cinematic grandeur to many of the tracks. You can hear their awesome work most notably on Owl, Money Coming My Way, and Rock and Roll.

A special moment was when Andy decided to pump the freshly recorded Owl through the speakers in the main hall. Felix, tres in hand, decided to play along, giving us all a bit of insight as to the energy and vibe of the beautiful Cuban instrument, which is a new addition to The Cat Empire.

The Cat Empire’s new album, Where The Angels Fall, is out now. You can listen to the album here.