Course of Empire
Encyclopedia
Course of Empire was an Alternative
/ post-punk
band
based in Dallas, Texas
.
from 1988 to 1998. In the early days, large drums would be placed throughout the audience as a means to eliminate the separation between performer and audience. Inspired by the Kodo Drummers of Japan, C.o.E. sought to use the theater of mass drumming to illustrate their vision of a future culture that would evolve as a response to the exponentially increasing human population on the planet. This practice was stopped, however, when the drums ceased to be played by ever-increasing crowds, becoming dangerous missiles instead. The band retained one defining feature however: two drummers playing simultaneously (Michael Jerome and Chad Lovell) creating a propulsive, driving beat that underlaid many of the group's songs.
Song topics were initially of a more political and environmental stance (the name Course of Empire having come from a 5-piece series by 19th Century painter Thomas Cole
). Later, the lyrical content would take on topics related to conspiracy theories and the personal quest of spirituality.
They released three studio albums over their ten year existence: one on the Dallas label Carpe Diem, one with Zoo Entertainment, and one with TVT Records
. Additionally, they toured with industrial-metal groups such as Prong, Sister Machine Gun
, Stabbing Westward
, Young Gods and many others. The band's first two albums established the group's sound: precise, driving drums overlaid with heavy industrial guitars and hard-edged vocals. However, the group refused to conform to any particular genre, incorporating elements of Eastern and Middle Eastern music, tabla drumming, and electronic music into their songs. As film students at Southern Methodist University
, members of the band used their knowledge to infuse their songs with references to the environment, culture and the effects of humankind on the planet.
The band released their first single/EP, Infested, ahead of the Initiation album in 1993. The single featured two new songs, Joy and Let's Have A War (a cover of a song by Fear (band)
), as well as a "Darwin Goodman" remix of Infested -- Darwin from naturalist/evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin
, and Goodman from legendary big band clarinetist Benny Goodman
. The remix sampled Goodman's performance of swinger Louis Prima
's big band standard Sing, Sing, Sing
and featured a different, swing-inspired drumbeat.
In 1995, producer John Fryer
(Nine Inch Nails
, Gravity Kills
) was tapped to produce their third record, Telepathic Last Words, as it featured more electronic-edged material. Soon after, the band found support in Dallas radio icon Redbeard who promoted the album weeks ahead of release on Dallas radio station Q102, including heavy airplay of New Maps, which was scheduled to be the lead single from Telepathic Last Words. Unfortunately, the Zoo record label folded in July 1996, just one month before the album was due to be released.
TVT Records signed the band by December 1996 after working out the licensing terms with BMG
for the rights to Telepathic Last Words and the previous Initiation record. At TVT's request, the band recorded additional tracks with drummer Chad Lovell as producer. The new tracks were mixed in Hollywood at Larrabee Studios North with Dave Bianco at the helm. Some previous tracks were also remixed by Bianco. Telepathic Last Words, originally mastered by Bob Ludwig for the Zoo release, was re-mastered by Howie Weinberg
in September 1997 and was finally released in January 1998, almost two years after its original completion. As part of the new deal, the scheduled national lead single was changed from New Maps to The Information. The band received favorable press in the form of a two-page cover story in a local alternative weekly newsmagazine, the Dallas Observer
, as well as mentions in Spin (magazine)
and trade publications. However, a lack of promotion by the record company prevented the song from seeing a wide release on modern-rock playlists across the United States. The Information was picked up by local Dallas alternative-rock station Q102 (KTXQ) after the success of New Maps on Redbeard's show but failed to gain traction and was dropped from the playlist by 1998. Plans to release either Persian Song or the newly re-recorded version of Coming of the Century as singles did not come to fruition.
One track from Telepathic Last Words, The Information, was included on the soundtrack for the film Dark City. A music video was also produced featuring scenes from the movie and was aired on MTV
at the time of the movie's premiere. The band toured with Rob Halford
's ill-fated "Two" project along with John 5
of Marilyn Manson
fame, and also opened for The Sisters of Mercy
in L.A. that spring.
The group disbanded after ten years together over frustration with management, booking, and lack of a proper A&R rep. The final show, played in July 1998 at Trees in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, Texas, drew a vibrant, energetic group of fans determined to give a lively send-off to their favorite band. After the crowd had been pumped up by local opening acts Caulk and Doosu, Course of Empire took the stage and electrified the audience by performing some of their earlier songs, including most of the Initiation album, instead of concentrating on the new material from Telepathic Last Words.
After the group split in 1998, drummer Michael Jerome and guitarist Mike Graff collaborated with Van Eric Martin to form the group Halls of the Machine who released their debut album, Atmospheres for Lovers and Sleepers, in 2001.
In 2004, Mike Graff and Martin Baird at Verge Music Works recording studio mixed the still-existing 24 tracks of the final performance at Trees in Dallas, TX from 1998 and personally financed and self released the tracks, titled Phone Calls From the Dead. The group's website, courseofempire.com, currently offers all of their major releases as downloads in MP3
format free of charge, and the band also maintains a Myspace
page under "Course of Empire".
Other performing members:
Dave Abbruzzese
(drums)
Kyle Thomas (drums)
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
/ post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
based in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
.
Biography
Course of Empire was a hard-edged, post-industrial, alternative music group based in Dallas, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
from 1988 to 1998. In the early days, large drums would be placed throughout the audience as a means to eliminate the separation between performer and audience. Inspired by the Kodo Drummers of Japan, C.o.E. sought to use the theater of mass drumming to illustrate their vision of a future culture that would evolve as a response to the exponentially increasing human population on the planet. This practice was stopped, however, when the drums ceased to be played by ever-increasing crowds, becoming dangerous missiles instead. The band retained one defining feature however: two drummers playing simultaneously (Michael Jerome and Chad Lovell) creating a propulsive, driving beat that underlaid many of the group's songs.
Song topics were initially of a more political and environmental stance (the name Course of Empire having come from a 5-piece series by 19th Century painter Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century...
). Later, the lyrical content would take on topics related to conspiracy theories and the personal quest of spirituality.
They released three studio albums over their ten year existence: one on the Dallas label Carpe Diem, one with Zoo Entertainment, and one with TVT Records
TVT Records
TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...
. Additionally, they toured with industrial-metal groups such as Prong, Sister Machine Gun
Sister Machine Gun
-The early years:Sister Machine Gun was formed by Chris Randall and Guilherme Machado in New York City. They performed at New Jersey's Pipeline, and New York's Limelight. The band went on a short hiatus after Chris Randall joined KMFDM's tour as a stage technician. After the tour, Randall left...
, Stabbing Westward
Stabbing Westward
Stabbing Westward was an American industrial rock and alternative rock band. They formed in 1985 in Chicago, Illinois and began recording in the 1990s. The band announced a dissolution in 2002.- Early years :...
, Young Gods and many others. The band's first two albums established the group's sound: precise, driving drums overlaid with heavy industrial guitars and hard-edged vocals. However, the group refused to conform to any particular genre, incorporating elements of Eastern and Middle Eastern music, tabla drumming, and electronic music into their songs. As film students at Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
, members of the band used their knowledge to infuse their songs with references to the environment, culture and the effects of humankind on the planet.
The band released their first single/EP, Infested, ahead of the Initiation album in 1993. The single featured two new songs, Joy and Let's Have A War (a cover of a song by Fear (band)
Fear (band)
Fear is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1977. The band is credited for helping to shape the sound and style of American hardcore punk, the group started out as part of the early California punk rock scene, and gained national prominence after an infamous 1981...
), as well as a "Darwin Goodman" remix of Infested -- Darwin from naturalist/evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, and Goodman from legendary big band clarinetist Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
. The remix sampled Goodman's performance of swinger Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
's big band standard Sing, Sing, Sing
Sing, Sing, Sing
"Sing, Sing, Sing " is a 1936 song, written by Louis Prima and first recorded by him with the New Orleans Gang and released in March 1936 as a 78 as Brunswick 7628 . It is strongly identified with the big band and swing eras. It was covered by Fletcher Henderson and most famously Benny Goodman...
and featured a different, swing-inspired drumbeat.
In 1995, producer John Fryer
John Fryer (music)
John Fryer is an English record producer. Best known for his production work, he also branched out as a musician as one of only two constant members of This Mortal Coil , providing keyboards, strings and synthesizer sequencing for the band, and its offshoot, The Hope Blister.- Career :Starting out...
(Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, Gravity Kills
Gravity Kills
Gravity Kills is an American industrial rock band from Jefferson City, Missouri. Their music was described by one critic as "a blending of eerie industrial rock with a pop-infused melodic chorus and a bit of hard-core head banging."...
) was tapped to produce their third record, Telepathic Last Words, as it featured more electronic-edged material. Soon after, the band found support in Dallas radio icon Redbeard who promoted the album weeks ahead of release on Dallas radio station Q102, including heavy airplay of New Maps, which was scheduled to be the lead single from Telepathic Last Words. Unfortunately, the Zoo record label folded in July 1996, just one month before the album was due to be released.
TVT Records signed the band by December 1996 after working out the licensing terms with BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
for the rights to Telepathic Last Words and the previous Initiation record. At TVT's request, the band recorded additional tracks with drummer Chad Lovell as producer. The new tracks were mixed in Hollywood at Larrabee Studios North with Dave Bianco at the helm. Some previous tracks were also remixed by Bianco. Telepathic Last Words, originally mastered by Bob Ludwig for the Zoo release, was re-mastered by Howie Weinberg
Howie Weinberg
Howie Weinberg is a music mastering engineer who has worked with numerous bands.- Career :He has worked at Masterdisk, New York City, since 1977...
in September 1997 and was finally released in January 1998, almost two years after its original completion. As part of the new deal, the scheduled national lead single was changed from New Maps to The Information. The band received favorable press in the form of a two-page cover story in a local alternative weekly newsmagazine, the Dallas Observer
Dallas Observer
The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
, as well as mentions in Spin (magazine)
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
and trade publications. However, a lack of promotion by the record company prevented the song from seeing a wide release on modern-rock playlists across the United States. The Information was picked up by local Dallas alternative-rock station Q102 (KTXQ) after the success of New Maps on Redbeard's show but failed to gain traction and was dropped from the playlist by 1998. Plans to release either Persian Song or the newly re-recorded version of Coming of the Century as singles did not come to fruition.
One track from Telepathic Last Words, The Information, was included on the soundtrack for the film Dark City. A music video was also produced featuring scenes from the movie and was aired on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
at the time of the movie's premiere. The band toured with Rob Halford
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...
's ill-fated "Two" project along with John 5
John Lowery
John William Lowery , best known by the stage name John 5, is an American guitarist. His stage name was bestowed on him in 1998 when he left David Lee Roth and joined the industrial metal group Marilyn Manson as their guitarist, taking over from Zim Zum...
of Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
fame, and also opened for The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
in L.A. that spring.
The group disbanded after ten years together over frustration with management, booking, and lack of a proper A&R rep. The final show, played in July 1998 at Trees in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, Texas, drew a vibrant, energetic group of fans determined to give a lively send-off to their favorite band. After the crowd had been pumped up by local opening acts Caulk and Doosu, Course of Empire took the stage and electrified the audience by performing some of their earlier songs, including most of the Initiation album, instead of concentrating on the new material from Telepathic Last Words.
After the group split in 1998, drummer Michael Jerome and guitarist Mike Graff collaborated with Van Eric Martin to form the group Halls of the Machine who released their debut album, Atmospheres for Lovers and Sleepers, in 2001.
In 2004, Mike Graff and Martin Baird at Verge Music Works recording studio mixed the still-existing 24 tracks of the final performance at Trees in Dallas, TX from 1998 and personally financed and self released the tracks, titled Phone Calls From the Dead. The group's website, courseofempire.com, currently offers all of their major releases as downloads in MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format free of charge, and the band also maintains a Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page under "Course of Empire".
Group Members
- Mike Graff 1988-1998 (guitar)
- Vaughn Stevenson 1988-1998 (vocals)
- Paul Semrad 1988-1998 (bass, backing vocals)
- Anthony Headley 1988-1991 (drums)
- Chad Lovell 1989-1998 (drums)
- Michael JeromeMichael JeromeMichael Jerome Moore, born in Wichita, Kansas, is an American rock musician and drummer. Jerome is a former member of the Toadies , Course of Empire and James Hall's band Pleasure Club, which was formed in 2002. He was also a member of the Saginaw, Texas band Pop Poppins...
1994-1998 (drums)
Other performing members:
Dave Abbruzzese
Dave Abbruzzese
David James Abbruzzese is an American musician who was the drummer for the American rock band Pearl Jam from 1991 to 1994. He replaced drummer Matt Chamberlain in 1991, shortly before the release of the band's debut album, Ten...
(drums)
Kyle Thomas (drums)
Albums
- 1990: Course of EmpireCourse of Empire (album)Course of Empire is the debut self-titled album from the Dallas, Texas band. The album was originally released on Dallas based Carpe Diem Records and sold over 5000 copies in the city alone. All songs were written by Course of Empire and produced by David Castell...
(Carpe Diem Records)- After selling over 5000 copies in Dallas alone following its November release, BMG subsidiary Zoo Entertainment signed the band in August, 1991. This first album was reissued on the new label in January, 1992
- 1994: InitiationInitiation (Course of Empire album)Initiation is the second full-length album by American industrial, Post-Punk band Course of Empire. All songs were written by Course of Empire and production by David Castell....
- 1998: Telepathic Last Words (TVT RecordsTVT RecordsTVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...
)
Other Releases
- 2004: Phone Calls From the Dead (Lust)
- 2004: Hiss DVD (Self-released)
- 2008: Initiation Demos (Self-released)
Singles and EPs
- Infested! [CD] - 1993
- Infested! [12] - 1994
- The Information [CD] - 1998