Empyre- Local Band Spotlight
We love chatting to local bands and now we feature rock band Empyre. The band are based in Birmingham and Northampton having members live in both areas. The current line up of Henrik, Did, Jack and Dan have been together since late 2016 and have focussed on new music. They are back in Birmingham both this month and in June.
What’s the story of the band? How did you form and what do you count as your biggest achievements so far?
The band grew out of a covers band that Henrik (Singer and Rhythm Guitar) and Did (Lead Guitar) started. They began working on their own riffs and jammed out a few songs and it went from there. The original bass player and drummer decided they wanted to focus on a functions band to earn money but Did and Henrik wanted to really invest in Empyre and build a new band. Jack (Drums) and Dan (Bass) joined in 2016.
Biggest achievements would be that we have only really been gigging for six months and have already been booked for Breaking Bands, Wildfire and Silverstone F1 weekend this year. We feel very proud of all of those things and that doesn’t even include some other great venues we have played and are booked to play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3PQ1jNqiiY
What has been the best thing that has happened to the band since you formed?
Being booked to play HRH AOR in March next year. That is a pretty big deal for us.
When and where did you play your first show?
With the current line-up the first show was at The Hut, Corby in November 2016. Whilst we had gigged before it was only twice two years ago in the original line-up and we’d done two, two-piece acoustic gigs last year. So Empyre in its present state wasn’t really born until November 2016.
What’s the biggest show you’ve played so far?
Probably Camden Rocks presents Proud Camden. That was our third gig and we got a last minute slot as the opening act at The Stables, Camden. We managed to get a bunch of people there from around the country and ended up with a decent sized crowd even though we went on at 13:00. It was just great to have the support of our fans making the effort to get to London on a Saturday afternoon along with the crowd that was there too to see a whole host of acts.
What is your favourite venue in Birmingham to play?
We haven’t played that many, in fact, we’ve only played one, The Roadhouse, so by default that would have to be our favourite. Ask us again in a year as we’re going to be around here for some time to come.
What does the immediate future hold for the band?
Breaking Bands, Wildfire Festival, Silverstone F1 on the Woodlands stage to name a few great gigs lined up. We will be recording some new music, it’s almost all ready to go, so we’re heading for the studio shortly and we reckon you’ll see a new video from us too in the course of the next couple of months. We’re busy, we’re very very busy, that is about all we can let on right now.
Apart from yourselves, what other unsigned West Midlands band(s) should we keep an eye out for?
Black Rose Cadillac, they also like to feature car parks in their videos just like us. They’re our top tip.
If you could have any band/artist cover one of your songs, who would you want to do it and what song would suit them best?
Eddie Vedder doing a cover of Only Way Out.
Important dates:
Breaking Bands Festival, Birmingham — Sunday 28th May
Actress & Bishop, Birmingham — June 16th
Empyre photo courtesy of Tosh Marshall.
Empyre links:
Twitter: Twitter
Are you like Empyre – in a band in the West Midlands and want to be featured on Scene Spotlight? Email us your answers to the questions listed here, plus a decent photo of your band, and we’ll be in touch! All genres welcome. If there is a particularly significant date in the diary for your band — e.g. an album/EP launch, an important video or promo release etc. — please let us know and we will time your feature to coincide with it.