Empires
Empires' Tom Conrad and Sean Van Vleet talk 'BANG' bonus material, getting along on tours and Chicago bands.
Chicago favorite Empires are in the midst of releasing BANG, a step-by-step, month-by-month release of new music from the band. Empires’ BANG will culminate on March 9th when the band releases the deluxe edition to a fan base that seems hell-bent on making Empires the next big thing.
HEAVE: Your fans are almost like an army of promotion for you guys – how did you develop such a great relationship with your fans?
Tom Conrad: I would say it started with Howl. We put out the record for free, and that started our connection with a lot of fans. It was giving something to them. We were hoping they’d just give us a shot and listen to it. Knowing that giving stuff away for free was the first thing – I think that really helped us out.
Since then we’ve just always tried to keep everyone in the loop. We don’t take them for granted. Fans are the most important things we have. We just try to be honest, genuine and sincere and just keep giving and hopefully they just keep coming back to us.
HEAVE: BANG has had a very creative way of coming out – with the “deluxe edition” coming out March 9th. Whose idea was it to release them this way?
Sean Van Vleet: That’s Tom again - that’s you again, buddy.
Tom Conrad: A while ago, I’d say about a year ago, well, it was 2008 actually. I remember twisting everybody’s arm about releasing it this way. Empires can be a pretty prolific machine, and I think we started to realize that we wanted quality over quantity. And with the attention span and just how the industry works today I thought releasing singles would be a smart move to keep momentum going without overdoing it. I thought it could be more focused this way. That actually dissolved in 2009 and we went in to try and make a record. We started recording and had these five songs we felt really strongly about and we just wanted to push them as singles. It just naturally went back to the idea of what I had.
With how things work today it just made the most sense. You have to keep people active and interested in what you are doing.
HEAVE: It’s nice because you release something each month so you never really leave anybody’s musical rotation.
Tom Conrad: Yeah, it keeps things fresh and exciting each month. It kept reminding people of our presence.
HEAVE: Can you clue us into what the “bonus” material might be for the March 9th release?
Sean Van Vleet: There are a handful of songs we want to put on there, but we are in the process of putting together some video ideas right now. Nothing concrete yet. Ryan, our drummer, is really into video and video editing and he has come to us with some really awesome stuff. Tom has some artwork he has been working on as well. It’s mainly extra songs. We are actually finishing up today! We don’t know if it all make it on the deluxe edition or not – but it’s b-sides and stuff that we want to group together with the other singles.
Tom Conrad: Yeah, there is a lot of stuff and we don’t know what is going to make it – but it’s going to include photos, videos and some extra songs. Hopefully within the next week we will know exactly what will be there.
HEAVE: So you have a tour coming up. What is life on the road like for you guys?
Sean Van Vleet: It’s actually great. We get along as a band and work better as a band so much better on the road than we do at home. I can’t even think of a problem. It’s almost like a fairy tale. When we are in the recording process or the writing process or promoting we sort of break off into small groups or individuals. It’s exciting to regroup on the road and be together as a band. It just feels right. We enjoy each other a lot more when we are around each other.
Tom Conrad: You’d think it’d be the opposite and we’d get along better when we don’t see each other as much.
Sean Van Vleet: We love each other when we are around each other. It’s that kind of thing.
HEAVE: We interviewed Empires over a year ago when the band was still in it’s relative infancy – outside of gaining more fans and playing more shows – what have you guys learned about the band and yourselves?
Sean Van Vleet: As far as each other – we know how to push each other. That’s for sure. We know how to bring each other together when we need to, too. It’s still something we are learning all the time, too. We also learned boundaries.
Tom Conrad: You learn how to motivate each other and learn how to get the best out of each other.
HEAVE: You guys were named Alternative Press’ “Hometown Heroes” in February of 2009. So, who are your guys musical heroes and hometown heroes?
Tom Conrad: There are some really great bands in Chicago right now like Company of Thieves or Big Science or Pet Lions. These are bands that are really on to something and I’m excited to see how 2010 pans out for those guys.
Sean Van Vleet: I know Max is really influenced by Nirvana and Silverchair. Tom is sort of like that with Pixies and Blur. It’s kind of all over the place really. The only constant has been Radiohead.
HEAVE: Not a terrible constant to have.
Sean Van Vleet: Yeah, I don’t really have anything groundbreaking to say in that category, but come on. It’s fucking Radiohead.
Posted by Wes Soltis on Jan 19, 2010 @ 9:00 am
