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Holding strong in his ability to inspire hope and salvation through music, there is even remnants of Jamaican-Reggae super star Bob Marley in the eclectic sound of Melbourne's The Cat Empire.  Making his impact in the world over 30 years prior, Bob Marleys timeless reminders of respect, love and fun are similarly expressed in tracks throughout a number of The Cat Empires albums. Off beat Organ skanking, one-drop drum fills and heavy use of reverb can be heard in the song 'How To Explain' where the song breaks down into a reggae groove in the outro.

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The metropolis and surrounding suburbs of Victoria's capital; Melbourne, is a hub of arts, culture and live-music. The street-smart sound of their first studio album, self titled: 'The Cat Empire' is a record of memoirs and reflections from the bands experiences living in the creative concrete jungle of the Melbourne suburbs. With songs like 'Car Song' and 'Beanie' the 2 front men Felix Reibl and Harry James Angus boast casual rap-style stories of the streets, beaches, clubs and bars of Melbourne's thriving community landscape. A centre in Australian jazz culture, Melbourne provides a dynamic and classy diaspora of inspiration and energy that help drive the sound of the band and its lyrical content.

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Originally developing it's character in Mexico, Central America and parts of Northern America, Latin music is made up of a vast collection of styles such as "...rumba, danzon, sun, guaracha, mambo,and chachacha..." (Manuel, 1998).
With its polyrythmic percussive grooves, and hard-hitting, shiny horn sections, it has been a prime inspiration to the sound and feeling of The Cat Empire's music since conception in early 2000's. The punchy, high-pitched horn parts in songs such as "How to Explain" and "Chariot" are a clear reminder of typical latin music and aid in their party/dance-inducing style. As a trumpet player and vocalist, I have long been an admirer of the screeching trumpet solos and chivalrous group chantings that are evident in some of The Car Empire's earlier albums.

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Ozzy Osbourne and his band Black Sabbath are a mainstay in the Metal and Heavy rock hall of fame, being recognised as some of the forefathers of the genre. Their wild and heavy distorted guitar tones and high energy guitar solos have found their way into Butler's own eclectic sound as best heard in tracks 'Funky Tonight' and 'Gov did nothin' from the 2007 album Grand National. Black Sabbath were a big inspiration to me as a teenager, feeling empowered as a drummer to imitate their their loud and anarchistic power.

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Bluegrass was born and developed in the Appalachian Region in America during the 1940's deriving its flavours from old string music, blues and jazz. The genre holds it unique sound with typically acoustic instruments, and finger-style picking guitar parts. John Butler utilises a playing style honouring Bluegrass in many of his tracks throughout his career. I have been especially inspired by the eery folk-ballad 'Damned to Hell'' in his album 'Sunrise Over Sea', where Butler plays an open-tuned Banjo and sings with a muffled old-style voice effect as if it were pouring out of a 1950's radio.

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Jamaican Reggae super-star, Bob Marley has had one of the most profound impacts on music, and culture the world has seen ever seen. His political messages preaching hope, reclamation, love and peace have been the source of inspiration and strength for generations. With brisk reggae flavours, and jiving skanks, John Butler has carried the messages of joy and consciousness, whilst adding his signature Australian-Folk twang. A deep and early-established inspiration of my own, Bob Marley is at the head of the reggae-movement, which can still be witnessed in the words and sounds of my own music.

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The soul and blues from the early 70's and 80's, from artists such as Bill Withers, had a significant influenced in the voice and style of FFD's front man; Dalas Tamaira (aka Joe Dukie). Both artists have elements of funk and driving repetitious riffs, along with soulful ballads and poetic middle-class reflective lyricism. You can hear similarities in Tamairas soulful, smooth lyrics in songs like Hope, and Hope For a Generation, where strong messages are sung with a gentle presence.

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The MPC drum machine, by AKAI, forms the foundation of the Fat Freddy's Drop sound.  The drum machine, driven by band member; DJ Fitchie provides the beat upon which the band write many of their songs. (Moriarty, 2002)  "The technology’s combined functionality of sampling, drum-programming and MIDI-sequencing has been embraced by practitioners since the release of the standalone MPC60 in 1988" (Exarchos, 2019). I personally have never used the MPC, but I have experimented with samples and sequencing to a similar degree using loop stations.  These techniques are helpful in making beats and creating layers in some of the dance music I make.

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Jamaican Reggae super-star, Bob Marley has had one of the most profound impacts on music, and culture the world has seen ever seen. His political messages preaching hope, reclamation, love and peace have been the source of inspiration and strength for generations. The sound and culture that arose in Bob Marley's time with producers like Lee 'Scratch' Perry had a mighty influence on FFD, contributing to the 'skank' in the back bone of many of their songs. The roots reggae sound with its creative use of delay and reverb has also found itself imbedded into my own music, taking elements of old-school production into a contemporary environment.

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John Butler uses multiple different stringed instruments, such as Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, 12-string guitar and more to produce a unique sound with elements of folk, bluegrass, rock and blues. I have been listening to JBT since I was a child and have long been heavily influenced by his sound, his message and his personality as a grass-roots celebrity. Musically, he is constantly reinventing the guitar, using effects pedals, different open-tunings and alternating instruments to bring a vast array of different textures to his sound. These techniques have helped me throughout my own music journey to discover new sounds, aid in song-writing and keep inspiration flowing.

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Fat Freddy's Drop spans genres, including reggae, dub, techno, soul, funk, soul, jazz and more. Their albums are complete works in themselves, taking the listener on journeys of story, sound and dance. Although their influences are vast and they utilise multiple themes and moods, they still have a particular sound which is rather unique to themselves. Their style has influenced my own music immensely as I develop my own sound and brand. Their use of electronic drum machine loops, synthesizer textures and acoustic horn sections have all found place in my own music as I explore the world of Reggae, Dub, Soul and Techno.

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The Cat Empire are another genre-defying inspiration with heavy horn influence, world music flavours and dynamic song-writing approaches. They too have managed to reinvent their sound many times, yet maintaining a signature mark of latin-style horns and light-hearted, joy-seeking lyrics. Their early self-titled album has long been one of my favourites and I have long wished to recreate a similar sound/feeling. In their production they fluidly weave between sections, telling stories of music, magic and medicine, whilst utilising speech ad-libs, and sound effects to bring characters and images to life.