The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: Courtesy The Empties Local pop-rock band The Empties will release its self-titled album on Halloween, though advance copies will be sold during Friday's concert. [Click to enlarge]

On a pilgrimage to indie-rock mecca, Ben Wills and longtime friend Matt Knutson drove from Denver, Colo., to Athens in 2005 after reading about its music scene in magazines and hearing about it from friends.

They brought with them their catchy, harmonies-laced brand of pop-rock and decided to set up shop.

"We've been playing music together since we were 10," bassist Wills said of himself and lead vocalist/guitarist Knutson. "We've really only had one band."

In the three years since the two's arrival, The Empties' sound has ripened, as evidenced in this month's release of the band's first full-length album.


"It's gotten more raw," Knutson said. "The music scene out here is so different, and playing a college music town is a lot different than playing in a huge city. If we had moved to Atlanta or something, it probably would have gotten more poppy."

Adjusting to a new prolific music scene and having a constantly changing lineup of musicians have also contributed to The Empties' sonic evolution.

The band has, for the most part, gone without a permanent drummer.

Musicians from other bands step in for a show or maybe a month.

Despite the frequent rotations, The Empties use the situation as a source for new ideas.

"A lot of our sound has changed because of the different drummers we've had, and now we have this new guitar player," Wills said.

The new guitar player is Chris Giddens, a University alumnus, who has been playing with The Empties for about a year and has quickly adjusted to the band's on-the-fly performance methods.

"We've gotten used to winging it a lot," Giddens said. "At a lot of shows, we'll show up and they'll have one microphone plugged into a tiny speaker and say that's their PA system."

Continued...

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