We do a lot of improvisation. There's definitely an element in the music that is well-suited to that scene.

220

We already knew that any soul and jazz band has to go through James Brown. He didn't impart any wisdom -- he mumbled a lot when we talked to him -- but we learned a lot from his performance.

185

We're from Melbourne. And Melbourne has a scene where anything goes.

177

We were jazz musicians in the early days. But as soon as we brought in the DJ, the shows turned from people sitting down to dancing.

157

My little 8-year-old brother drew a picture of three cats and he wrote 'Cat Empire' under them. When we were looking for a name, I saw that drawing and it stuck with us.

150