Opening bands are a crapshoot, especially when you've never heard of them before. Most are just okay; they're still finding their footing and putting in the miles. But every once in a while, you see an opening band that arrives fully formed and firing on all cylinders. Such was the case when I first saw a Bloomington, IN band called Th'Empires. That night, Th'Empires consisted solely of Eddy Price, who set up a bass drum and hi-hat stand, got out his white Gretsch hollowbody guitar, and started belting out swinging rockabilly songs all by his lonesome.
Th'Empires is not always a solo act. He has an upright bass player and a drummer, but says that they "have an open relationship." So if you see Th'Empires live, it might be just Eddy, pounding out the rhythms himself (which works a lot better than you might think), or you might get the full band for an even more fleshed-out version of the sound, but no matter which version you get, you're in for an experience that only the most jaded hipster could refuse dancing to.
On their debut LP entitled Volume One: Welcome to the Psychobilly Adventure Club, Th'Empires show that they obviously know their way around the old rockabilly heroes like Gene Vincent and Johnny Burnette. But like the album title says, they've also hot-rodded their sound with the speed and thump of the more modern psychobilly sound, minus that genre's obsession with horror movie imagery. Eddy instead fills his lyrics with tales of the down-and-out life that would appeal not only to greasers circa 1958, but also the punks of today. Price certainly knows his style, and his tales of women, booze, and crime are all delivered in a voice seemingly custom-built for rockabilly, rough but nimble, with a bit of the Buddy Holly hiccup thrown in for good measure. The guitar is a little dirty and appropriately soaked in reverb, and the rhythms are speedy, but always danceable. The band sounds boundlessly energetic, and their live performances serve to back up that hypothesis.
Th'Empires are planning to tour through much of the country this summer, so be on the lookout, and pick up a copy of Volume One: Welcome to the Psychobilly Adventure Club at their bandcamp site (they've got some great extras to throw in with the album right now, too). If you need a little more convincing, you can stream a preview below:
-Review by TZARATHUSTRA
