The Cat Alley

The Boulder Theatre, Boulder, Colorado, USA

TCE US tour on the road!

The Cat Empire's North American tour has started, and Ryan is back on tour diary duty! Updates are quasi-daily, and you can check them out on the official band news page. If you haven't read along before, I highly encourage you to do so, Ryan is a good writer and the tours are full of adventures.

The Independent, San Francisco, California, USA

TCE Caption Contest - Go Crazy!

Forum member Indie_The_Foxy_Feline has started a fun game: the TCE Caption Contest! Each week there'll be new photos for you to make up a caption for. The prize? The adulation and admiration of your peers, and a happy feeling deep inside. And, last but not least, a place on the front page news!

Two pictures have been captioned so far, the winners are in this thread:

"AndyC lookalike spotted with local Melbourne band"
(TCE.info veteran Laurensi weighs in with an insightful in-joke)

"Oh God, it's stuck!'
(Flicky sees to the root of Keiran's troubles)

More pictures, more captions, more winners as the weeks roll by! Go have some fun.

Posted by Casey at 05:59 AM | Comments (0)

Canes Bar & Grill, San Diego, California, USA

El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

Boomshak Got Two Shoes For Voting

So the Two Shoes single release is almost upon us! There's only a few things left to do... First, you need to enter our very own Two Shoes competition to win a signed copy of the single. Not enough competing for you? Then enter the Musichead Two Shoes competition to score even more schwag.

And when you've stopped being greedy, you can spend a few mouse-clicks to get Two Shoes heard by people all over Australia! Call up your favourite local radio station and demand that it be played. The big players online are Triple J (the Net 50 and Super Request, or give Rosie a call) for national radio, and Channel V (What U Want and Total Request Live) to see get the video shown on cable TV.

And if you haven't yet, go buy concert tickets!

Channel [V] Oz Artist of the Year ARIA Award

As previously mentioned, TCE have been nominated for the 'Best Rock Album' . However, that is not the only award they have a chance to win, the fans can help them win another one!

The Channel [V] Oz Artist of the Year award is the only award voted for by the fans, which makes it a special award in itself. By logging onto http://www.channelv.com.au/arias05 or sending 'THE CAT EMPIRE' via SMS to 199 55 777, you could not only help them win this award, but also go in the running to win a trip to the ARIA awards yourself.

You can vote for as many different artists as you like but only one vote per artist will count. Spread the word like wildfire and we could see TCE with their first ARIA.

Palais Theatre, Daylesford, VIC

Setlist

Intro (1)
Manifesto
Days Like These
The Rhythm
The Lost Song
Lullaby
In My Pocket (with lots of scat from Harry)
Sly

Intermission

Sol Y Sombra
Party Started
The Car Song
Two Shoes
The Crowd
Hello
How To Explain?

Two Shoes (Special Edition) Bonus DVD

73 minute bonus DVD. Available seperately.

Features:

Documentary Estudio 101 - The Making of Two Shoes in Cuba
Live at the Forum (Melbourne, 30th of April, 2005) - Lullaby and The Car Song
Sly (video)
The Car Song (video)
Two Shoes (video)
The making of Two Shoes (the clip)

Two Shoes (Special Edition) Bonus DVD

73 minute bonus DVD. Available seperately.

Features:

Documentary Estudio 101 - The Making of Two Shoes in Cuba
Live at the Forum (Melbourne, 30th of April, 2005) - Lullaby and The Car Song
Sly (video)
The Car Song (video)
Two Shoes (video)
The making of Two Shoes (the clip)

Two Shoes

Third single from the album "Two Shoes". Available October 3rd, 2005.

Tracklisting

1. Two Shoes (Radio Version)
2. Rhyme & Reason
3. Soly Sombra (Extended)

The Car Song

Second single from the album "Two Shoes". Available June 19th, 2005.

Tracklisting

1. The Car Song (4:19)
2. The Mother Place (4:27)
3. The Return (4:05)
4. Someday (Car Song Blues) (4:43)

The Return

(submitted by BeN and calrulz in the forums)

whoah
the sun comes up and it shines
on the back of the night time
the man in black he arrives
and says: where is my feline?
we say the cat, who can know?
just the way that creatures
_____ off in the night, sneaks back
and the cat returns
and it is crying

oh my feline
fades into the night
oh my feline
fades from out of sight

the sun comes up and it shines
on the back of the night time
the man in black he arrives
and says: where is my feline?
we say the cat, who can know?
just the way the creature
sneak off in the night, sneaks back
and the cat returns
and it is crying

oh my feline
fades into the night
oh my feline
fades from out of sight
out of sight

whoah
the sun comes up and it shines
on the back of the night time
the man in black he arrives
and says: where is my feline?
we say the cat, who can know?
just the way the creature
_____ in the night, sneaks back
and the cat returns
and it is crying

oh my feline
fades into the night
oh my feline
fades from out of sight
out of sight

*lyrics from 'The Car Song' single version, not SBS Alchemy

Tour update, special edition CD

Things are gearing up for the "The Night That Never End" Tour, tickets are on sale and you'd better start preparing for the party! In the meantime, a few bits and pieces from around the place:

Themusic.com.au mentions who will be touring with The Cat Empire this time:

After a big year of international touring, The Cat Empire are ready to hit the road at home following just one more run through the USA in October. "The Night That Never End" tour happens in November, with guests; King Curly, The Empire Horns, Melbourne guitarist Novak Conrad, guest vocals and more. The Cat Empire has played to packed houses around the world in 2005, attracting the attention of the agent who was responsible for booking the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd throughout the biggest parts of their careers. The band's unanimous overseas touring highlight in 2005 was a Shepherds Bush Empire show in London where 2500 people danced so hard the balconies almost fell down.

For those who haven't heard Novak on guitar, he is hot, not to be missed and a perfect addition to a TCE jam. Looks like the stages are going to be packed this time around!

Also, a special edition of Two Shoes is going to be released, which features a bonus DVD! As can be seen in the forums in this thread, the DVD will contain footage from Cuba and "making ofs", live footage from The Forum in Melbourne, as well as the film clips from the album. It will be available October 9; it looks like the CD will be the same.

TCE nominated for Best Rock Album ARIA

The nominations for this year's ARIA awards are online. While last year's self-titled debut album garnered six nominations, including "Best Urban Release", this year The Cat Empire have only been nominated for a single category: Best Rock Album! They are up against some (rock) groups like Grinspoon, Shihad, Little Birdy, and Evermore. The ARIAs will be presented on October 23, so fingers crossed until then.

The film clip for The Car Song was one of two clips by Ben Quinn to be nominated for the "artisan award" of Best Video. Ben Quinn's other entry, for the song O Yeah by The End of Fashion, took out the prize.

In other news, Two Shoes continues in the ARIA Top 50, now at number 45 after 21 weeks straight - almost half a year. The next single will be released October 3rd.

1001

I went to my friends
cos I found a fine beat
see I like to play a rhythm
where the rhythm plays me
play it all day
on a balcony above the street
where old Franky and me
we shuffle with our feet
And old man Georgie
takes some sugar with his tea
when he’s stirred by a melody
of hands moving easy
you see it reminds him
dreams by the sea
where the breeze blows
underneath that island tree

so we played til the playing
gave us the munchies
then we played in the kitchen
made the easy gods happy
cos we left them a little chilli-special
and some chocolate we eat because it’s sweet
when I leave I am smiling
at the things I haven’t done
oh I haven’t broke a sweat
and I haven’t had to run
for the list of one-thousand
-and-one that does plague me
on some days
when the sun rays don’t come

i missed the parking inspector
just made my list of one thousand
one thousand and one

woah missed the Parking Inspector
[won’t let you wreck my fun]

When I get to my car
I am faced with a sight
that is strange and it’s sad
and it’s mad it’s not right
there’s one thousand and one
spaces free but I see
that he find me guilty
of the time over fee
Now I know why my mother
why my mother warned me
said ‘you might be lucky
but know nothing comes for free’
she is right - entirely
cos the ticket paid the song
that I sing to this beat

parking inspector
just made my list of one thousand
one thousand and one
but ah parking inspector
won’t let you wreck my fun
cos when I pay for my ticket
I won’t curse and despise
no i’ll run into the girl
with the slinky blue eyes
then my list of one thousand and one
will remain
had plans to get it done
but now my plans they have changed

missed the parking inspector
just made my list of one thousand
one thousand and one

but ah mr. parking inspector

‘just listen to the bass and the funky drums’

parking inspector
just made my list of one thousand
grow a little more
but ah parking inspector
you won’t believe what I saw
on the back of my ticket
with invisible type
was a map to the place
with one thousand delights
and a key that was one to that
spot by the sea where the breeze
blows underneath that island tree
_________________
on my feet i wear two shoes for dancing, dancing to be free

Two Shoes on Rage

The video clip for the upcoming single, Two Shoes, was shown on Rage on the weekend, and can be watched online at the ABC Broadband site right now. The black-and-white clip features footage of Cuba, boxing, flamenco, and the all the boys making funky music. Go check it out!

Bennetts Lane, Melbourne

Set List

Sol y Sombra
Feline
The Lost Song
The Rhythm
Lullaby (with Novak)
Gangsters (old Jazz Cats tune, named by Steve Sedergreen)

The Night That Never End
The Sun
Car Song Blues
The Night that Never End
Protons
Two Shoes
How to Explain

Encore:
All That Talking

Review

Ross Irwin and Novak Conrad appeared as special guests throughout the show.
For more reviews and discussion, see this thread in the forums.

Bennetts Lane, Melbourne

Set List

submitted by MikeK:

the sun
lullaby
sol y sombra
protons
surfin (another ernest ranglin tune)
how to explain (extended)
the night that never end

two shoes
the rhythm
the lost song
ala walee
miserere
nothing (i think i was the first to request this one...harry: 'we're playing nothing?' and walks off the stage)
manifesto

encore: rhyme and reason

Reviews

For discussion of this gig, see this thread in the forms.