Australia's Cat Empire dedicates song to Paris victims

Australian ska fusion band The Cat Empire is offering a rallying cry for victims of the Paris attacks on the group's latest album.

"Rising with the Sun," which comes out Friday, is the seventh album by the Melbourne group that mixes guitar and brass as it brings together ska, jazz and rock.

One song on the album is entitled "Bataclan" in tribute to the Paris concert hall where 90 people died on November 13 in one of a set of coordinated attacks by Islamic extremists.

"Bataclan va lutter!" runs the chorus of the song that mixes French and English, meaning, "The Bataclan is going to fight!"

"Bataclan va lutter / And tomorrow and every night we scream this song," it says.

The song urges the fans to "roar," saying, "We'll beat the drums louder than our pain."

Felix Riebl, the group's singer and percussionist, said that "Bataclan" was the last song he wrote for the album.

"When I read about what happened in Paris that night, especially at that venue, I felt devastated," he told AFP.

"I know that space, we had played there, and I have spent so much of my life playing music in theatres like this around the world, for bright-eyed people like the ones who were there.

"I cried, then I went to the piano and wrote. It's a song that expresses my anger, disbelief, but ultimately I hope it's a celebration of live music," he said.

The Cat Empire performed at the Bataclan in 2007 and 2012. Riebl voiced hope that the group, which has dates scheduled in coming months in Australia and Britain, would play again soon in Paris.