Empress

There are at least three artists with the name Empress: 1. Hailing from Leeds (Northern England) Empress consist of Nicola Hodgkins of Hood, The Remote Viewer and Boyracer and Christopher Coyle of Halkyn. After releasing an EP and Album for Pehr they jumped to Stephen Pastels label Geographic after touring with The Pastels and put out the self-titled album Empress. Their latest album The Sound They Made was composed in between train rides with Chris traveling from Wales to Leeds throughout a year and released back on Pehr in 2003. 2. A disco band which released one album in 1982. Produced, written and performed by Crown Heights Affair and the singer Gail Smith. Their single "Dyin' To Be Dancin'" is considered an all time post disco-boogie classic. 3. It took a moment of clarity for brothers Ollie (guitars and vocals) and Alex Loring (bass) to realise they’d been making music they never truly loved for years. It was time to start following their instincts 100 per cent. They trusted their music tastes implicitly so decided to ignore every trend that their peers may have been flouting and appease their own minds. Joined by Tom Meadon (guitars) and Edd Unwin (drums), EMPRESS have been writing since the start of 2011 after solidifying their line-up, honing their style together, quietly and carefully. The result is a sound that belies their young age – all are in their 20s. Soothing and vicious in turn, they juxtapose gentle harmonies with frantic ferocity; relaxed strumming followed by thrashy beats, time signature changes and other interesting meanderings that you’ll just have to find out about for yourself. There’s a comforting feeling of control about all of it though – as if EMPRESS know exactly what they’re doing. They know what they’re doing because they’re finally making music that speaks to them; music that they love. There are as many elements of metallers Mastodon, Metallica and Opeth in the music as there is of the more melodic King Crimson, Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd – all huge bands and all huge influences on EMPRESS. The band also cites more recent but no less prominent influences such as the now-defunct Surrey rockers Reuben and American metalcore pioneers Underoath. If that seems like quite the motley crew, you’ll understand why EMPRESS’s sound is so hard to pin down. With an imposing arsenal of songs at the ready, EMPRESS are preparing to become your new favourite band. A bright future awaits. RAZ RAUF Empress are: Alex Loring – Bass Ollie Loring – vocals, guitars Tom Meadon – guitars Edd Unwin – drums Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.