Despite having formed as recently as 2015, the three-piece band have made an immediate mark on their local scene and beyond. The Empty Page have created their very own brand of pop/rock, straddling the line between grunge, post-punk and noise-pop, creating a sound that has an unerring ability to draw you in through it’s melodic choruses as well as it’s fuzzy, driven guitar lines. Having enlisted the skills of uber producer Garth Richardson (Rage Against The Machine, Biffy Clyro, L7, Melvins) to shape the sound of their debut record, The Empty Page are now preparing to unleash their sound to a wider audience.
Comprised of Kel (vocals, bass), Giz (guitar) and Jim (drums), the band first came together as friends jamming cover songs, before realising that they’d be much better served writing their own tunes. The results were immediate as, fast forward one year, and they now have a Gggarth Richardson produced album, support from the likes of Louder Than War and Punktastic as well as completing a full UK tour to coincide with the release of their debut album release Unfolding.
In this interview spotlight, we chat with this creative trio about the new project, influences, navigating the digital era and much more.
Full Q&A along with links and streams below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
Giz: I’ve always loved fuzzy, noisy guitars so this has always been part of my style. I guess the type of songs we’re writing are inspired subconsciously by a lot of the bands I listened to as a teenager.
Kel: I think we can all say that we have very eclectic music collections, but with this band we were channelling the music that impacted us all the most when we were teens which was 90s era alt rock. From my own point of view alternative rock offered me a lot more interesting things lyrically than I heard in some of the other music that was on the radio/TV at the time. But it also had this visceral, seething anger juxtaposed with insanely catchy melodies. It just spoke to me on so many levels.
Jim – The honesty of it. We’re compared to a lot of 90s alt rock bands and it’s such a compliment. Bands from that era – Pixies, Pumpkins, Sonic Youth had this honesty and passion without the pomposity and theatrics of the music that preceded it, and the arrogance and chest beating machismo that followed it.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
Giz: For as long as I can remember.
Kel: For longer than I dare to remember, haha! Let’s just say I played my first gigs with a band where I wrote my own original music when I was 16, I did covers for a few years before that, and have never stopped since then.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
Kel: I’m influenced by all the great music that’s out there from every era, as long as it comes from a place of passion and soul. I’m thirsty for more always, and not only influenced by music but also art, film, literature and overheard conversations on the bus. What motivates me to keep going is that I have an urge to create, and any time I stop being creative for a period of time I almost lose my mind. The motivation is the expression itself, and the joy of playing music which comes straight out of your heart.
Giz: It’s just something I do, I’m always just jamming on the guitar and thinking about creating and writing songs. Playing live is a great buzz too, there’s nothing like it.
Jim – there’s so much that influences our music; moods, art, music, each other. Playing music is all I’ve ever wanted to do and it’s what I see myself doing for the foreseeable future.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
Giz: Not really we started as friends jamming covers and it just went from there.
Kel: Yeah it was nothing too contrived really, but we were keen to strip back the bullshit and focus on writing really good pop songs.
What was the last song you listened to?
Kel: ‘Too many hippies in the garden of love’ by Silver Ginger 5
Giz: I’m always listening to music, as I type right now I’m listening to a song called ‘Unwanted Place’ by a band called Swearin’.
Jim – Don’t Pity Me by Sue Lynn. I’m a big Northern Soul fan.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Giz: I like both vinyl and CDs.
Kel: Vinyl for at home and mp3 for on the run. I have 1000s of CDs from the past few years of living in tiny flats where vinyl was just impractical, I’m hoping to eventually convert the collection to vinyl but I’m broke as a joke so it will take some time!
Jim – I prefer vinyl but I tend to listen to MP3s more. I walk and get trains a lot and I listen to music constantly.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Jim: Jim – Spotify and Bandcamp. Especially Bandcamp if there’s a new band I like so I can buy their music and support the band directly.
Giz: Out of the above three I like bandcamp the best, it works more in favour of the artists.
Kel: Yeah Bandcamp is definitely the best one for supporting bands, they take the smallest cut and I think they have a personable, DIY nature which is appealing. Spotify really take the piss with what they pay artists but I concede they are a good way for people to check out bands and discover new ones.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
Giz: Exposure is the biggest challenge, just trying to get across to new people to check out what we do ‘cos like you said, there are so many bands out there.
Kel: As independent artists you can’t compete with the big budgets that labels have to advertise new releases, tours etc. It’s harder to get press too for that reason so we very much appreciate people like you talking to us!
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
Giz: We do gig, it’s a big part of what we do. We’ve played all over the UK, so keep an eye on our facebook, bandcamp and website for upcoming shows.
Kel: We gig and tour as much as we can, given that we have to hold down jobs in between to pay our rent and, y’know, eat and stuff. I would play 300 gigs a year if I could. Do you live stream? Is that some kind of chat up line? I wouldn’t have the first idea how to live stream and I really think that the experience of being in a room watching live music being performed right in front of you, vibrating you with the bass, is unbeatable. I don’t really get why you wouldn’t leave your house and go to a gig as often as possible. I’m still not bored of doing it.
Jim – We do gig a lot. It’s our first love.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
Giz: Facebook is still a good way to keep up with what we’re up to, we have quite a few videos on you tube too.
Jim – I suppose Facebook for connections. Most people have it, it’s on almost everyone’s phone and it’s easy to use… to a degree. We use instagram too.
Kel: We’re everywhere, facebook, bandcamp, twitter, Instagram, bandsintown, we try to keep up to date with all the social media stuff as much as poss but we still haven’t quite figured out snapchat.
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Jim – Buy our record! It’s very good!
