MEGA METAL INTERVIEW with EMPIRE
 by TOM LAMB

Tim Miskimon - lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
Mark Miskimon - drums, percussion, vocals
Johnny Blade - guitar, vocals.
Doug Shipley - bass, vocals
Mega Metal: Tell us a little about your band or current project? 
Tim: Empire formed in 1991. The lineup then included my brother Mark on drums, & a few old friends of ours from past bands we have been in. Johnny joined Mark & I in 1994 and in 1995 we released our first CD "Driven By Rock".  In the studio the three of use do all the instrumentation & vocals. Live Doug Shipley handles bass guitar & some vocals. 

Mega Metal: Let’s talk about your current CD, Where did you record it?
Tim: Our latest CD "Leeches" was released on July 2nd 2004. The songs are about some of the shady characters we have dealt with over the past 7 or 8 years....
Johnny: Yeah there's pictures of them on the cover....
Mark: Yeah you know, crooked lawyers, rotten judges, mean mother-in-laws, groupies, etc., etc., (laughs).
Doug: The lyrics are inside the CD for you to laugh along with....
Tim: We wanted this CD to be fun & rock ya! You know - "Let's have some laughs"!
Mark: We recorded the CD at our studio in Dundalk, MD.

Mega Metal: Who produced the CD? 
Johnny: Tim produced the CD as well as engineered & mixed it. We think he did a nice job for a long haired hippie....(laughs).

Mega Metal: How long did you spend recording the new CD? How did that compare to the last CD?
Mark: Two of my kids went from the womb to college in the time it took us to do this one....(everyone laughs)
Tim: No but seriously it took us about 8 months to record & mix it - pretty fast really considering that we recorded about 20 songs and picked 10 of them for this CD.
Johnny: If we had worked on it non-stop we could have finished it in about 2 months but with playing out and the usual family stuff it was spread out over an 8 month period - August 2003 - May 2004.
Mark: Tim mixed the album in April & May while working on several other CD projects - including a smooth jazz CD,  a reggae CD, & a blue grass CD.
Doug: Yeah Tim does all kinds of music. I think that's what makes him a good song writer.
Tim: Oh thank you so much  for the compliment Doug, the check's in the mail.

Mega Metal: Were you happy with the final product? 
Tim: Yes - It was a lot more fun recording this CD than the last one, "Driven By Rock". This album is closer to what we sound like live, more of a roots hard rock band.

Mega Metal: After listening to it after the final mix, what went through your head? 
Tim: I can't wait to play this stuff live!
Mark: Man I hope the lyrics don't piss off too many people!
Johnny: Yeah - cause it's all tongue-in-cheek and meant to be fun in the tradition of 70s & 80s hard rock!

Mega Metal: Do you have a favorite song off your new CD?
Tim: Which ever one gets airplay. (laughs)
 Johnny: I change my mind every day - depending on the mood I'm in.
Doug: So far live a different song becomes the favorite every night.
Mark: This week American Wet Dream has gotten the best response.
Tim: Last week it was Tiger Claws. 

Mega Metal: Are you signed to a label or are you doing independent distribution?
Johnny: We are signed to Perris Records of Houston, Texas - they are handling the distribution.
Tim: Our last CD was on our own Label, BFP Records.

Mega Metal: What are your current tour plans, if any? 
Tim: At present we are playing some shows around Maryland to tighten up our act since we were away from the live venues for a few years.
Mark: We have all been performing live during that time - just in different bands. (laughs).
Tim: We plan on going out playing around the country in support of the new CD in fall...
Johnny: ...and we still have a lot more songs we want to record - so we're trying to make the best use of our time. 

Mega Metal: Describe your live performance? 
Tim: We play about 75% original music but we do have a pretty large back log of cover tunes we can pull out of the closet if we need to.
Mark: Yeah if we ever play at places like on the Blues Brother's movie with chicken wire around the stage we have things covered. (laugh).

Mega Metal: Do you have a personal favorite song to play live? 
Tim: Not really - just what ever we feel the crowd will like.
Johnny: It varies from night to night, town to town.

Mega Metal: Have you ever had any mishaps or crazy things happen while on stage?  
Doug: Yeah just about every night (laughs)...
Mark: Like the song Leeches says "My life is like a circus"...
Tim: Well one night a while back we were playing a show in Ocean City, MD - this girl came up to the front of the stage, pulled out her boobs and squirt milk on my guitar...
Mark: Yeah but Johnny got the worst of it - he had his mouth open and got it right in the face...(All laughing).

Mega Metal: What has been the highlight of your career thus far?
Tim: Johnny's milk bath! (laughs)

Mega Metal: Who are your influences?
Tim: All the great rock bands of the past 30 years.
Johnny: Yeah you know, The Beatles, Zeppelin, The Stones, Bon Jovi, Kiss, AC DC....
Tim: there are just too many to name them all!

Mega Metal: What equipment are you currently using?
Tim: I use Carvin, Gibson, Fender, & Rickenbacker guitars, Vox, Marshall, Fender, & Laney Amps & tons of other cool stuff.
 Mark: Yeah what ever he can get his greasy little hands on.
Johnny: I use Floyd Rose Guitars & Mesa Boogie amps live & just about everything in the studio.
Tim: I love my Carvin guitar & those new Floyd Rose guitars are pretty amazing.
Mark: I record with Ludwig & DW drums. Live I've been Using Premier drums which are pretty nice, kind of a cross between my Ludwig & DW drums.
Doug: I mainly use Fender guitars & amps. They seem to suit the music we're playing.

Mega Metal: If we looked at your CD collection, what CDs would we see?
Tim: Just about everything but rap.
Johnny: He's not kidding - his record & CD collection looks like a damn record store.
Tim: You should talk Johnny - Man his music collection could bring millions on Ebay.
Doug: I'm still into 78s & 45s. (laughs)
Mark: The best of the Backstreet Boys (laughs)!

Mega Metal: Are there any new bands out there that you see potential in? 
Tim: I think Jet is pretty cool - back to basics rock & roll which appeals to me.
Johnny: Yeah there are lots of cool rock bands out there today - the sad thing is - you won't hear most of them on Clear Channel.
Mark: Empire is pretty good!

Mega Metal: What are your feelings about downloading and file sharing?
Tim: I think musicians should get paid for their hard work just like anybody else. It should be up to the artist to decide if they give their stuff away or not.
Johnny: On our web site we have complete versions of every song on all our albums (real player files) for people to listen to as much as they want to see if they like our stuff or not. If they like it, we hope they will support us & buy it. It takes a lot of time & costs a lot of money to record a CD. We'd like to at least get our investment back.
Mark: The internet has really opened up a lot of markets for our band that we would have not been  exposed to otherwise. We get over 16,000 hits each month on our web site and our CDs are selling pretty well in many places around the world which is fantastic and exciting.
Doug: Yeah and one day Mark might even break down & buy a computer. (laughs)
Mark: Nah, I'll leave the geeking to you & Tim. (laughs)!

Mega Metal: If you had the chance to jam on stage with anyone, who would it be?
Tim: Paul McCartney.
Johnny: Kiss, and I want to wear the make up & spit blood too!
Mark: Jessica Simpson. So I can look at her ass while I'm playing the drums. (laughs)
Tim: Hey, can you see if I can play guitar in her band too! 
Doug: The Who - because I like to smash stuff and break things. I think it would be pretty cool to smash one of Pete's guitars as he was coming on stage!

Mega Metal: Do you have a web site or email address our readers can contact you at? 
Tim: www.empirerockstheweb.com.
Mark: and while you're there check out some of the other artists - there's lots of cool stuff there in all styles.

Mega Metal: Do you have a street team?
Tim: Do you mean a road crew? Yeah and they are our friends and crazy as hell.

Mega Metal: Are you or your band involved with any charities? 
Mark: Yeah - The Empire Beer Fund Foundation!
Tim: (laughs) but seriously we do some shows every year for the March Of Dimes & American Cancer Society when they need us.

Mega Metal: Have you ever had second thoughts about getting involved in the music industry?
Tim: Nope! It's in the genes man!
Mark: Yeah, second thoughts, third thoughts, fourth thoughts - but then I just drink those demons   away.
Johnny: Only when we get sent to a shitty club.
Doug: Yeah remember when we got booked at that hip hop club? I had second thoughts for sure that night.

Mega Metal: What is your local music scene like? 
Tim: At present - like a corpse...
Mark:... Ah it's okay if you want to play 30 year old cover tunes all night....
Doug:...or take out a few turn tables and do the hip hop thing or Karioke...
Johnny: It's tough being a live musician these days, especially if your main focus is original music, but we are pretty lucky actually because a lot of people around town happen to like our music.

Mega Metal: What can we expect to see from your band over the next year? 
Tim: Hopefully us showing up in your town playing our rock & roll.
Johnny: Another album. We love writing and recording.

Mega Metal: Any last comments? 
Tim: Thanks for giving us the opportunity to talk to you and your audience.
Mark: Yeah Tom, thanks for supporting rock & roll music and all of us guys out there playing it.
Doug: Ditto Tom, it's been fun.
Johnny: Where's the rest room?
Mark: Rest room? Where's the beer.
Doug: Beer? Where are all those chicks you promised us if we did this interview? (laughs)
All in unison: Thanks Tom! Rock on!