The Cat Empire and Xavier Rudd are two of the country’s most successful live exports.
They’ve successfully tapped into grassroots on a global level and garnered a very particular worldwide following of travellers, who are drawn to the organic nature of their music and ready to take their songs home with them in their backpacks.
Rudd and The Cat Empire have known each other professionally and personally for almost the entirety of their careers, but somehow they’ve never taken the opportunity to share a stage before now. In keeping with their respective free-spirited ways, the two artists are teaming up for a six-show tour, taking place in non-traditional outdoor settings around Australia. The Cat Empire’s infectious tunes and tight brass section are bound to marry well with the vivid tones and hypnotic rhythms of Rudd.
Taking some well-earned time out in Byron Bay ahead of the tour, Rudd looks forward to the venture. “We’re doing some big shows [together], it’s gonna be awesome,” he says. “It all kicks off with a benefit show for domestic violence against women and all the proceeds are going to a place in Hervey Bay.
“I think it will be electric, pumping – we both have a bright energy about us in our shows and I think it’ll be a hot vibration, a celebration. I think everyone will be dancing and be pretty buggered by the end of that.”
Though they’ve crossed paths many times, the fact The Cat Empire and Rudd are finally getting together for a double bill is as exciting for the musicians as it’s sure to be for their fans. “It’s something that was discussed years ago,” says Rudd. “The idea was thrown around, then 15 years flew by pretty quick. We both started out around the same time doing Byron Bay Bluesfest, and I hardly saw the guys at all – we crossed paths on tours across the world, [sharing] different crews and venues across the way. They’re such a great band. They were tight 15 years ago, so I can’t imagine what they’ll be like now.
“They’re a great bunch of dudes. Meeting them, they’re always positive and cool and they’ve stuck it out together, the same lineup touring a lot of places for a lot of years, so they have my respect for sure.”
Since his formative years in the late ’90s, Rudd has encouraged a communal atmosphere at his shows both at home and abroad. Recently, he sold out a 14,000-capacity show in the Netherlands, and these overwhelmingly positive experiences are what keep him going.
“I love playing Europe,” he says. “These days my work is all overseas. I had a number one song in Poland last year, and that was I guess a bit of a push to get there more because things have picked up. I’ve always done the States and Canada – it’s sort of what I do – then come home to Oz and chill out. I love the diversity of cultures in music.”
It’s evident Rudd adores his European following, but Australian fans should rest assured that he doesn’t play favourites. “There’s always cultural differences, but energetically people are very similar. I’m really lucky at my shows all over the world. I have really great people who come – good, conscious, honest people of all ages who want to celebrate change in our world. It’s a nice vibration and it doesn’t really matter where we are.”
Critics often describe Rudd as a multi-instrumentalist, and indeed, the ease with which he seems to adapt to different instruments and incorporate those into his music is an enviable talent. However, Rudd doesn’t see the label as entirely accurate.
“I play a lot of instruments, but I don’t even know what that [term] means. All my instruments are handmade wooden acoustic instruments. My grandfather made me some of my instruments and I make some myself. I love the tones of wood. I guess I like trying different things and playing different things.”
Rudd’s manipulation of musical tools is quite the display of gymnastics, creating immense diversity of timbre and honing the instruments’ capabilities to create a wonderfully varied series of tones. One wonders at the logistics involved in mastering such a horde of sounds, but Rudd has made sense of it all.
“I mean, it’s just what I do. It gets pretty unorthodox sometimes when I play solo, but when I started out, I wanted to make as much sound as I could. Most of the time I record live in order to capture it, and not a lot of thought goes into it, to be honest – it’s just what I do. Is it confusing? Nah, not at all.”
Touring with matesThe Cat Empire,Xavier Rudd plays at Stuart Park, Wollongong on Sunday February 12.
