EYE EMPIRE is the current FEATURE ARTIST at Hard-Rock-Reviews
We're bringing you something new and fresh every day this week from the "Empire!"
We're bringing you something new and fresh every day this week from the "Empire!"
CLICK THE NAMES to see the exclusive Hard-Rock-Reviews.com interviews
with Donald's Eye Empire bandmates,
with Donald's Eye Empire bandmates,
Donald talks about where he's come from, how far he's come in doing so, and where the Empire is going, now that he's part of the family!
Angela:
Angela:
What was going on in your life before you got the call from Corey Lowery to see if you'd be interested in working with him & B.C.?
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| Donald "DC" Carpenter, Photo Courtesy: KELLY LLOYD |
DC: The best way to put it, right off the bat, was that it was at the perfect time. After the band Submersed was done, I spent a couple of years, transitioning in and out of different realities that were just crazy, and I spent a year working in the office of the Tampa Bay Lightning, at an arena. Going to work in a collared shirt and tie and sports coat, talking on a phone, sitting behind a desk. I was just doing, just survival, and I got to a point there that I figured maybe I'd had my chance, and it was just something that didn't work out, and now I had to move on.
There was a little bit of desperation there. My wife has always been a huge supporter of me, and a believer in a purpose for me, and she reassured me that this was what I was here to do. It wasn't a necessity for me to work 80 hours a week for 40 hours pay, so I decided to stop working for the Lightning, and I started working for a little fish place over here in a little town called Ruskin, right by the water. My goal was to work 3-4 days per week, live real simply, and try to get my name back out there and start doing music again. Basically make some sacrifices to try to see if we could do it all over again. So I'd sit back in the room, cutting fish, wondering what was going to happen. I was probably there for a month and a half, or two months, when I started to network on the internet, to see what kind of opportunities were out there.
There was a little bit of desperation there. My wife has always been a huge supporter of me, and a believer in a purpose for me, and she reassured me that this was what I was here to do. It wasn't a necessity for me to work 80 hours a week for 40 hours pay, so I decided to stop working for the Lightning, and I started working for a little fish place over here in a little town called Ruskin, right by the water. My goal was to work 3-4 days per week, live real simply, and try to get my name back out there and start doing music again. Basically make some sacrifices to try to see if we could do it all over again. So I'd sit back in the room, cutting fish, wondering what was going to happen. I was probably there for a month and a half, or two months, when I started to network on the internet, to see what kind of opportunities were out there.
I'd heard a little about Corey and what he had going on, but didn't really look into it, but had just heard about it. So it was about a month and a half when he called me, which was kinda ironic since I'd heard something about it. I hadn't reached out, but he reached out to me. But as I said, it couldn't been a more perfect time. I was definitely at a humbled point. To me, looking back, it was something I needed to experience. Maybe that's part of the greater picture, in the end, and this goes back to what we were talking about earlier. How life, whether it's a series of successes or failures, it has a purpose. So I was definitely at a humble point in my life, and he called me up and said "Hey, I've got this situation, and I'd really like to see if you'd be interest to take a part in it." I said, "Yeah, I'm definitely interested." I knew he had a reputation, I had no idea what the music was going to sound like, but I was just ready.
I was hungry, I was humbled. I just wanted to contribute. I knew that Corey was a very strong-willed person, and this was probably going to be a scenario where I could not have to worry about being a driving force. I could just sit back and be the best contributor I could be, try to do my part to make it the best band possible. He sent me the first four or five tracks, just the music, it didn't have any of the vocal ideas. That was really awesome, because right off the bat he was like "Just write what you feel, and we'll get you up here and sit in the room for a couple days, and we'll throw down your ideas and see if we've got something." So I took the tracks, put them on my MP3 player, and sat up there, cutting fish and writing songs."
I was hungry, I was humbled. I just wanted to contribute. I knew that Corey was a very strong-willed person, and this was probably going to be a scenario where I could not have to worry about being a driving force. I could just sit back and be the best contributor I could be, try to do my part to make it the best band possible. He sent me the first four or five tracks, just the music, it didn't have any of the vocal ideas. That was really awesome, because right off the bat he was like "Just write what you feel, and we'll get you up here and sit in the room for a couple days, and we'll throw down your ideas and see if we've got something." So I took the tracks, put them on my MP3 player, and sat up there, cutting fish and writing songs."
Angela:
Had you been singing, collaborating, writing or doing your own recording in the meantime over those years between the time Submersed disbanded and when Corey contacted you?
DC:
There was little bit of creative writing with some guys, called it Million Man Army. But other than that, no, not really. I was on a weird journey there.
There was little bit of creative writing with some guys, called it Million Man Army. But other than that, no, not really. I was on a weird journey there.
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| Photo Courtesy: KELLY LLOYD |
Angela:
What happened when you got to Atlanta, when you stepped inside the studio? Did you know immediately that this was going to work?
DC:
The first thing I did was "I Pray." I heard the music to that and the flow of it was exactly what I wanted to get out. Corey picked me up from the airport, we went in the studio & asked me what I wanted to start with. I had a book-full of ideas, and I said let's start with "I Pray," because I knew that was either going to work or it was not going to work. If it worked I knew it'd be incredible, but if it didn't work, I didn't know what was going to happen. As soon as we got into that first chorus when we were laying it down, we looked at each other....since then we haven't really questioned anything. It's really weird but, probably since the first 20 minutes, it's been smooth ever since.
Angela:
Are there any areas where you have noticed a change in your writing, your attitude w/being in a band now as opposed to many years ago? Now that you have a wife and two young boys, has it affected the way you write or anything else when it comes to recording?
DC:
It didn't really change the way I write, but maybe the emotion behind it is stronger. I think more than anything it changes your drive, affects your focus. It does make it better for sure because when you're single you can definitely get sidetracked and lose focus on what matters.
Angela:
How did the name MOMENT OF IMPACT come about for the CD?
DC:
To be honest, it's funny, because those are the moments you dread more than anything: having to name your band or name the album or hash over the art. The track "Ignite," had a working title, and it was called "Moment Of Impact." It had a unique time signature and even when we had named it "Ignite," we kept calling it Moment of Impact and we liked that title. Once we started thinking and talking about the whole meaning of this record and we started, ourselves, to hear the overall sound of it, the more we thought that it fit as an album title.
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| Photo Courtesy: KELLY LLOYD |
Angela:
Were there some songs you guys wrote together that stand out to you?
DC:
"Idiot," "Great Deciever,"
Corey has a great way of putting root things to a bass line so you have a great thing to build a song around. There's nothing flashy about it, but we just got together and jammed.
Angela:
The first 1000 limited edition, hand numbered, hand signed CD's did really well! Now a 2nd run of CD's 1001-2000 are in the making. Eye Empire IS an independent band that made, marketed and is distributing it's own band. EE is self made, the art is even homemade (by B.C.). I'm sure there are those that are wondering: are you going to remain "Indie" or, with the "showcase" you played in NYC, are you looking for more?
DC:
Right off the bat we were gung-ho, ready to go independent. It's a really weird market right now, the whole business is in a kind of transition, trying to figure out exactly where the future is. It's a weird spot to be in, especially for a band like us. In the same sense we want to see what kind of interest is out there & what kind of possibilities exist and that takes TIME. It takes months, really. Even when you do lock in a deal, it takes months to get things signed, finalized, etc. We've been working on this for a while, we've drawn the process out to make sure we had the best end result, but at the same time, we have a lot of these supportive fans that have been here from the very beginning. We wanted to give them something, we wanted to make sure we could get something IN their hands. If it does take a little longer to kinda sort through some of this, & figure out what our direction is, the people have something to enjoy and spread the word with. This 2nd run of 1000 CDs kinda gets us through the next few months & within the next month or so we're going to kinda know whether we're going with a label, which label that is, or whether we're going independently. After this we're going to be doing either a full album release through a label or we'll do a full album release independently.
Angela:
Really long hours in the studio, weeks of hard work....any funny stories you can share?
DC:
We have a good time. It's not too juvenile. At one point we were jammin with this guy, Dixie Duncan, and it was incredible, cool. He's amazing, and we spent a month at his house in the boondox of ATL, locked inside. Spent hours writing, doing demos...etc. I remember one night we didn't have any money, nothing to drink, were were standing around, in the kitchen, just kinda looking at each other. So me and Brad (B.C.) said "Let's write a rap song, we'll call ourselves Cash N Prizes." We actually wrote a rap song called "I Got Jets." It was our parody on people that own leer jets and our idea was, what if you don't just own jets, but your own F-16's, your own Air Force. So we did a video of us recording this song to this beatbox on an Iphone. We have this whole master plan to do this viral campaign where Cash N Prizes goes out there and does some funny music videos & some funny parody tracks. Don't be surprised! We have some crazy ideas on how we want to interact with our fans! We even joked about coming out for the encore of our own shows as Cash N Prizes...still a little work to do, but don't be surprised!
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Written by Angela Villand
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ang@hard-rock-reviews.com
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Note: The content within these articles, reviews, news updates and interviews may not be used without proper attribution and credit given to both the author and the website. The content within this website is protected by License & Digital Copyright Laws. All photographs, links to other websites & news have been used with express written permission from the artist, publicists, photographers and other applicable owners of material, in all instances. This content may not be copied & re-blogged without express permission from the owner/operators of this website.
The content herein, written and published by by Angela Villand is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at ang@hard-rock-reviews.com.
Written by Angela Villand
All Rights Reserved
ang@hard-rock-reviews.com
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Note: The content within these articles, reviews, news updates and interviews may not be used without proper attribution and credit given to both the author and the website. The content within this website is protected by License & Digital Copyright Laws. All photographs, links to other websites & news have been used with express written permission from the artist, publicists, photographers and other applicable owners of material, in all instances. This content may not be copied & re-blogged without express permission from the owner/operators of this website.
The content herein, written and published by by Angela Villand is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at ang@hard-rock-reviews.com.
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