LouFest 2014: Empries
Empires is all Chicago. They came up with their name riding on the ‘L’, they’re Lolla veterans and when asked about playing festivals, drummer Mike Robinson dives into a tangent about his love for Chance the Rapper.
Guitarist Tom Conrad and singer Sean Van Vleet started writing music together in 2007 and released their first album, Howl, for free online in 2008. Robinson joined the group almost three years ago after meeting the band at a venue in Ohio.
They’ve toured nonstop since February, with their third full-length expected out later this year.
“We were a little nervous when we started playing the new songs,” Robinson says. They didn’t know if people would like them, and honestly, weren’t even sure if they could play the songs well, he adds. When they started in on the new music, they were just winging it.
The guys of Empires are used to rolling with the punches. Robinson stepped in to learn someone else’s drum parts, for example. The songs never came out the same way twice when he first started with the band.
“Every drummer plays differently,” he says, “I think that’s a really important part of music, just how you receive or feel music.” Everyone adapted to play things a little differently, and over the years, their sound shifted. Robinson says their songs are more straightforward now than they used to be.
“I like that there’s a method to it,” he explains. “Honeyblood,” a track with a driving rhythm and complete with an accompanying tambourine, is Robinson’s personal favorite to drum on.
When Empires’ EP dropped, its release was “slightly daunted” by their network television debut. They played The David Letterman Show that afternoon, which Robinson says, though crazy and nerve-wracking, couldn’t have gone better.
“You’re so worried about it and then it’s just over,” he says. They played “How Good Does it Feel,” a track with a steady, heavy bass line and chilling vocals. “It’s just all this anticipation and then it was just gone.”
It was a surreal experience, Robinson says, having grown up watching their favorite bands on Letterman. After the recording, they hit up a Brooklyn bar to watch it together.
Check out Empires at LouFest this year, and keep an eye out for the upcoming release of Orphans.
