The ballad of Zaz and The Cat Empire

You know when there are those moments in your life that were always going to happen? For me, finding the music of The Cat Empire is one of the biggest ones.

Within the space of a few days, I saw them play for the first time at the Darling Harbour Jazz Festival, and my mum brought home their first album because it was playing in JB Hi-Fi and she thought I'd like it. I was in my final year of high school in the early 2000s in Sydney and loved pretty much anything with a trumpet in it, and I loved it.

Their self titled first album stayed on pretty high rotation in my discman (yes discman) until a trip to visit my aunt, when I bought their sophomore release, "Two Shoes" and listened to it for like a week on repeat. It was at this point that I fell in love real hard, and they have been my ride or die favourite band ever since.

It has been a wild ride. From making new friends at tiny jazz clubs in Melbourne, to seeing them at venues all over the world, to being one of their faithful merch girls to handling their album pre-orders for their last album "Stolen Diamonds" here in North America, their music has essentially raised me.

I've lost track of how many shows I've been to, but it's somewhere between 50-100. Even when I moved to Canada, I was still lucky enough to see them over the years, and it's always felt like a giant slice of home. I may have been here for 10 years now, with many thing changing, but this never has.

Of all the highlights of their live shows over the years, and there have been many, one stand out was the release of their third album "So Many Nights" in 2007 when they played 7 nights in a row at the Metro Theatre in Sydney. I was 20 years old, studying full time, had an internship and a part time job, and I somehow managed to see them all 7 nights in a row, most nights with only a few hours of sleep. Oh to be 20 years old again! 😆

These past few years have been tough on the whole world, there's no questioning that. We've all endured unimaginable loss, but all of these memories and countless replays of their catalogue has helped.

As I write this, I'm watching their final show of their original line up, something I've been putting off doing. Truthfully, I've been struggling to find the words to say goodbye I guess. How do you say goodbye to a force that has changed your life in ways you couldn't imagine?

I finally pushed myself to do it with only a few hours until the stream ended, and am flooded by memories and good times that will last in my heart for a lifetime.

So I present possibly the most un-zazstyle photos I've ever posted, but at the same time, a classic.

To everyone at team TCE, thank you for everything over the years. You've made me into the woman I am today, and your music will live on in my heart. That and my two, (yes two) tribute tattoos.

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