UTG Track-By-Track: Empires – ‘Orphan’

This is a huge week for the up and coming rock outfit known as Empires. After many long nights and endless drives spent trying to make a name for themselves, the group have just released their debut album on Chop Shop/Island Records. We have yet to put a review together, but we loved the record so much upon first hearing it that we asked the members of Empires if they would be willing to fill us in on the stories behind the music. Lucky for us, they said yes.

Today it is our great pleasure to share with you a wonderfully in-depth look at Orphan. The track-by-track you are about to enjoy was written by the members of Empires earlier this month, and I think fans new and old will find a new reason to appreciate the group and what they are trying to accomplish through their music after reading the motivation behind their latest effort.

Orphan is available now wherever music is sold. Empires have a busy Fall ahead, so be sure to follow the band on Twitter to ensure you never miss another update.

Silverfire:

This song is definitely my favorite memory of working in John Congleton’s studio in Dallas. We had sort of flown through the recording process and had a lot of time left over that we didn’t expect to have, so we decided to record one more song. “Silverfire” was just a rough outline at the time, but we stayed at the studio one night after we had finished recording for the day and worked it out. It was very in the moment and turned out to be the only song that was really written in the studio. 

Orphan:

“Orphan” was one of the first songs we demoed for the record in June/July (ish) 2012. We got a lot of really great feedback from the demo and was one of the songs that got us involved with Chop Shop. The vocals on the demo were from Sean’s laptop as well as all the synths. These were so many elements of the demo that could not be recreated, as hard as we tried, so that’s what ended up on the record.

Hostage:

“Hostage” is another song that we started working on pretty early on. Probably around the same time as “Orphan.” This song also had some elements from the demo that were really difficult to recreate, mostly synth sounds, so we flew those in to the recordings we did with John. The bridge of this song didn’t even exist until maybe 2 or 3 weeks before we started the record.

Shadowfaux:

“Shadowfaux” had several different incarnations in the demo stages. We re-tracked drums and guitars a few times while demoing this one. Eventually, a J Dilla track ended up being the inspiration for the drum parts and we really fine-tuned the arrangement of the song in the studio with John. It also had a slightly more interesting working title. 

Honeyblood:

The first demo of “Honeyblood” was a lot different than the song turned out to be. Not nearly as interesting in the early stages. John really had a lot to do with turning this around. We were referencing Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth for what we were going for with drums. John suggested getting rid of hi-hats and just using maracas instead, as well as getting the song to the dynamic level it reaches at the end. The demos we did still got bigger at the end, but not in the way that John made it happen. It sounds like everything is breaking and I think that rules.

Lifers:

“Lifers” was a really fun one to work on in the studio with John… We got to mess with a lot of different sounds and atmosphere to provide the track with. Vocals on the intro were recorded through a leslie and gave Sean’s voice a really interesting/appropriate vibe.

How Good Does It Feel:

This song was another one of the early demos we did. It was pretty fleshed out by the time we got to the studio, but trimmed the fat and cut some parts down. I think in doing so it really made the choruses pop more. 

Please Don’t Tell My Lover:

“Please Don’t Tell” had 2 different incarnations… The first one had a total George of the Jungle vibe to it plus an additional guitar riff that we removed upon hearing a riff extremely similar to it from a band on the radio that we don’t necessarily admire. The guitar part was in question from the beginning, so hearing that was the nail in the coffin. 

Stay Lonely:

“Stay Lonely” was a tough one to crack open, but we finally got it right in the studio with Congleton. He kept making references to proto-punk bands so we sped it up a little bit and changed some parts around to make it more interesting. This one is a lot of fun for us to play live. 

Glow:

“Glow” has become my favorite song on the record as well as my favorite to play live. We changed the drum part in the studio and I think that was the only change we made to the song. I got to nerd out over drums on it and use all these cool old Ludwig drums with towels on all the toms and snare. I think this was also my favorite song to record. Plus, John ran the toms through a reverb tank, so that’s awesome. 

Journey Kid:

Another one that changed a lot in the studio. Seems to be the theme. There were some guitar tracks on the original demo that we had to spend a lot of time trying to recreate, but I think we did a good job of getting the tracks to that point again. We also added some Farfisa on the verses and Congleton did an amazing mix of the song, especially the end. This is my favorite song to listen to in headphones from the record.

James Shotwell
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