Sometimes the most compelling art can come from life’s greatest struggles, which in the case of Tooth & Nail newcomers
I Am Empire, only added fuel to the group’s already blazing alternative rock fire.
Though the San Jose-bred fivesome had no trouble igniting the local scene since forming in 2008, much of the catalyst behind the band’s label debut,
Kings, stems from front man Austin Lyons’ fractured upbringing.
“The whole record is about abandonment, particularly the fact that my father is the one who abandoned me,” says Lyons, the scorching singer/songwriter for I Am Empire (whose moniker is basically a battle cry to be yourself and never feel pressured towards conformity). “We decided to name the record
Kings because it signifies the head of a household, and if you’ve been abandoned, you want to look past that person and try to be better when you grow up. The goal is to take up the crown that person left behind and be better than the person who left, which can really apply to any type of relationship.”
NRT's Bill Lurwick recently spoke with I Am Empire lead guitarist Andrew Stanton about the new album, its rock stylings and overriding themes.
I Am Empire’s debut Tooth & Nail project, Kings, dropped a few weeks ago. So how long have you guys been together now?
I Am Empire has been a band for two-and-a-half, coming up on three years. The singer, Austin Lyons, and myself have been playing in bands together for almost eight years now and we just had different members, different drummers and guitar players and so forth.
Let’s talk about some of the songs that are on Kings. Tell us about “Brain Damage.”
Well, “Brain Damage” is the first single that we released, and it’s kind of the anthem for the album. The whole album is centered around the theme of abandonment; it’s about making the best out of a negative situation. We know that a lot of people, such as ourselves, go through tough times in life. It kind of sums up the album in one song, so that’s why we chose to start the album with it.
Now, you guys have been offering a free download of the song “Foxhole.” Can you talk about that song a little bit?
“Foxhole” again centers around the abandonment theme, but it has a much different attitude. It’s a little bit of an angry song, so it’s a little more rowdy. It kind of has that southern rock and Iron Maiden gallop feel in the music. That’s how I connect with the song, really through the guitar and the instrumental side of it. But what that song really centers around is Austin--who wrote the song--distancing himself from his father and really just asking him to leave.
Now, it’s not just about abandonment. It’s about looking past that to what’s ahead, right?
Yeah, that’s really the point of the album--to touch on abandonment and touch on the negative feelings that you can get from such a hard thing when you’re going through it. But the album really focuses on what’s on the other side, the light at the end of the tunnel. There are a lot of good things that God can bring out of you and out of the people around you when you deal with these kind of situations. I think if you especially listen to the last song called “It’s Not Fair.” We end with wishing well the people who have done you harm. It’s a hard thing to do, but that’s really what we believe is the right thing to do.
