Australian favourites The Cat Empire aren’t on home soil for long, as the back half of 2009 pulls them in so many exciting directions. Charging ahead with a tour of North America and Canada in November and returning to Oz for Pyramid Rock Festival and Days Like This!, their calendar is chock full.

But Harry Angus – trumpeter, songwriter and vocalist extraordinaire – is understandably optimistic, considering the success of their July 2009 tour of the UK.

“It was so much bigger than the last time we went to the UK,” he enthuses. “The crowds really remind me of the crowds we played to in the early days of the band in Melbourne and Sydney. These – kind of, freaks – I don’t know where they come from! Just head-butting each other up the front of the stage and going mental. Such a fun crowd to play for.”

Angus likens it to taking a step back in time and starting from scratch; gathering a fan base for the band as if it were Australia circa-2002, before the Melbournians had such an enormous following. Not that they resent their more mainstream and – shall we say, tame – Aussie fans. “We’ve been on the Sunrise show with Mel and Kochie at least twice; that says something in itself,” jokes Angus. “But obviously I’m happy for anyone to come see us play.”

It’s a humble comment from a man whose band has put out four studio albums so far, with their 2007 offering So Many Nights reaching #2 in the Australian charts. In February this year, the Cat Empire camp released the Live on Earth live album and Live at the Bowl DVD.

Angus assures me that we can all look forward to more. “We’ve been writing together in the rehearsal studio. [When] we counted, we realised we’d already written 16 songs. So, we’ve already got more than enough for an album, which is way ahead of schedule! It’s the saddest time of the year – culling time! But we’ll probably write a few more and get rid of the shit ones.”

The as-yet unnamed Cat Empire record, due out in 2010, will not deviate wildly from the sound that has taken them around the world and back again. However, as expected, the phenomenal growth of the band’s popularity sees them constantly taking the right steps forward, being as bold as they want to be and not resting on their laurels.

“It’s exciting stuff,” Angus eagerly explains. “It’s not a radical new direction, but it’s not a cliché of what we’ve already done either.” And, while it will be as much fun as any Cat Empire record, the boys still find it important to make their recordings something that they believe in – to keep it personal with a hint of nostalgia. “It’s taking what we do and bringing it up to date with the kind of people that we are seven years after our first album came out.”

Ever since the first, self-titled Cat Empire album, theirs has been a distinctive sound; something born of the underground jazz scene which has grown into an internationally touring, certified Australian musical export. But Angus downplays their status at home in Australia.

Before they take to the stage as a big ticket item this festival season, he is maximising the down-time. “I’d like to appear more rock and roll, but today I’m just going go to buy some outdoor furniture.” While I did tell him that I would play that comment up, I think it’s best to conclude Angus and the Cat Empire boys really are true blue.

The Cat Empire will be playing at Pyramid Rock Festival from 29 December to 1 January 2010 on Phillip Island. They then head up the Days Like This! Festival at Moore Park in Sydney on Sunday 10 January 2010.