It takes a keen eye to recognize any opportunity. It takes a strong hand to go forth and make something of it, be it forming a dream into reality, recognizing the talent of those around you or, in this case, building Empires.
Empires began in fall 2006 when long time friends Sean Van Vleet (vocals) and Tom Conrad (guitar) realized their musical chemistry together and, wanting to form a full band, aimed to complete the equation. They moved to Chicago in early 2007. The blessing of talented friends continued, when Max Steger (guitar) and Ryan Luciani (drums) joined in the months that followed. Though the search for a bass player was long, it was well worth it when Alfred Smith officially joined the band towards the end of the year. Their individual skills had been proven on stage and in the studio before, but there was unity and solidity together in this new band of old friends.
Throughout the whole of 2007, the as-yet-unnamed band wrote and created songs, playing and replaying and perfecting. The care and time with which the songs were formed allowed for an organic type of growth between the five members, every note and lyric being carefully placed on top of Luciani's hypnotic drums. Their name came in natural time as well, when Conrad and Van Vleet separately had the word Empires come their minds; it worked. With Steger at the helm producing and engineering, the recording process began in October.
Four months later, and done entirely by the band themselves, Howl was complete. Fifteen songs vigilantly written and recorded, an effort Empires are proud to release. Though some have been able to preview the tracks at their recent (and sold out) Chicago area shows, the complete album will be made available digitally, and for free, this spring. Howl is an eclectic rock record, with a timeless sound preceding the age of it's twenty-something writers. Empires will be bringing their completed work to stages across the rest of the country later on in 2008 but, in the mean time, enjoy its sound at myspace.com/empires. The anticipation of hearing this act over a year in the making may be hard to withstand, however, it's important to remember that Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were Empires.
If you could, please spare a moment to enjoy the newest work from Oakland-based musician Dave Smallen. His new album titled 'Everything Changes and Nothing Changes' will be available everywhere on December 1st.
Click on the flyer to take a listen:
if you lovely dudes are ever so inclined (and if you even have it), you should totally share the tabs, chords, or (preferably) legit notation for AS MANY SONGS AS YOU CAN off of howl. ultimate guitar doesn't have much, i'm too lazy to figure it out myself, and the livejournal community keeps getting requests for tab and chords, so. please :D?
Hey, whats up? Thought I'd drop in and see how things are going! If you've got a minute, I have a new track up called "Go with (the flow)" if I could persuade you to take a listen . If you feel like dancing a lil bit, maybe it'll help you out! Stay in touch, Moris Code
hey do you remember when me and paula drove all the way to minisoda and miss the show by an hour... yeah...that was somewhat fun..MALL OF AMERICA WAS AMAZING SHIT THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPONGEBOB rockbottom =] my fav~!!!!!
wow i LOVE the video for "spit the dark". the atmosphere created is perfectly fitting with the song! every shot is great, i especially love the colors :) makes me want to see you live soo bad!! and i just can't wait to hear new music... my Howl CD is getting over-used haha seriously, thanks for being so awesome ;)
Online Now!
. If you feel like dancing a lil bit, maybe it'll help you out! Stay in touch,
my fav~!!!!!
