INTERVIEW: Brandon Hoover – Crown The Empire

Since the turn of the decade and the release of their EP, Limitless, CROWN THE EMPIRE have continued to grow from strength to strength in each new release. Their popularity not only spread out of their hometown of Dallas, Texas, but also spread into the rest of the United States and across the world. In the run up to the their recent album, Sudden Sky, as well as a tour within their home country coming up, we chatted with the band’s guitarist, Brandon Hoover about the upcoming album, their tour, and his thoughts on genre. 

Since your performance at Slam Dunk Festival, how has the year been since that performance?

Brandon: Honestly it’s been a complete blur. We toured non stop and in between finished up the album Sudden Sky, created all the marketing and visuals and now it’s all finally coming out. It feels amazing but at the same time the work has only just begun. Now that the music will be released to the world we will be back out on the road for the next year or so to promote it. Very stoked on the future. 

You’re about to release your fourth album, Sudden Sky, what do you hope that people would take away from it once they get the chance to listen to it?

Brandon: I just really want people to listen to the music and lyrics and form their own opinions. This is the most personal record we’ve ever created and I think people are going to be able to relate more than they ever have before. We’ve been creating a world around the album with the visuals and marketing so people have something to dive into. 

You’re also going on tour in the US with ATTILA, VEIL OF MAYA, and GIDEON – have you been on the road with those bands before, and what can fans expect from these shows?

Brandon: We toured as support to ATTILA way back in the day when we first started as a band. VEIL OF MAYA we’ve played Warped Tour with. All the other bands on the package we haven’t toured with yet so I’m excited to see their performances. We really wanted to do something different this time around and being way heavier bands then us out on the road. Fans can expect one of our most insane shows to date. We’re bringing a full light show, production, CO2, etc. it’s gonna be wild. 

There’s a lot of electronic elements within the music of the new album. As there are some rock and metal fans who argue about the sound of the alternative music scene and what constitutes as each genre, what would you guys have to say about that?

Brandon: I don’t really focus on any of that. People are going to categorise and put bands/artist into these boxes no matter what I do or say. I just know this new album is heavy emotionally and musically, and whatever genre people want to put that into, have at it. 

When it comes to writing your music, which comes first; music or lyrics?

Brandon: For this new record the music came first. We started off by writing guitar riffs, drums, bass lines, and production with Josh Strock, one of the producers. Then we took it to the studio to our main producer WZRDBLD and rearranged the instrumentals, added melodies and lyrics, and then polished it until it was perfect. We worked with WZRDBLD and Josh on our last record Retrograde so we had a better idea this time around of how the process went. They really understand what we are trying to go for as a band.

There’s a lot of up and coming names in the world of rock and metal – if you could bring any band/s along with you on your next tour that you think people should know about, who would they be and why?

Brandon: There’s a ton of exciting new bands and artists coming out it’s hard to choose…we brought out a band called SHVPES on our last headlining tour and they are so dope. I would love to bring them out again. We hung out with them everyday of the tour and their music is so good. Love those dudes.

Sudden Sky has a blend of different sounds to encompass the different emotions in each song that you and the rest of CROWN THE EMPIRE want to deliver; do you think this album will help in breaking down the genre walls that elitists like to put up with all music?

Brandon: I have no idea what the album is going to do or how people will react. All I know is I’ve put in 16 hours a day for the past two years on this entire process and am going to keep working hard to make sure my vision comes to life. Whatever happens happens. 

Finally, after the new release and US tour, what’s next for CROWN THE EMPIRE? Back to the “album, tour, album, tour” cycle, or will you plan on shaking it up?

Brandon: Right now we are focusing on the release, the headliner and we have some shows in the Ukraine and Russia. I’m sure once the album is out we will start booking more tours and festivals. Can’t wait to see what happens next…

Sudden Sky is out now via Rise Records.

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