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Face to Face Interview

Holy Roman Empire

Written by Jackie McBrien

Tuesday, 10 July 2007

Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire: To many of you, the mention of that phrase sparks thoughts of monarchies and unbearable 50-minute history classes. To me, it's a kick-ass band.

Holy Roman Empire, out of Chicago, Illinois, is a rock band on the rise. Their ability to produce beautiful and upbeat yet haunting melodies is their weapon for attracting all types of music lovers. There is defenitely nothing boring about this band.

I recently got to have a little interview session with guitarist Jay Jancetic. Check it out and check them out at www.myspace.com/holyromanempire.

Q: Alright. Name, instrument and the worst movie you've ever seen?
A: Jay. Guitar stage right. That would be the Sly Stallone vehicle of the comic book adaptation of Judge Dredd. Not only was it the only time I've ever fallen asleep at a movie, but to my dismay there was no rendition of the Anthrax song bearing the same reference.

Q: How did the band first get started?
A: Long story but I'll make it short. Neeraj Geoff and myself had an aspiration to do something different than all our previous bands. We had a project going for a while that fell apart and we soon after found Tony to play drums. We kept writing material and searched for a singer for nearly a year. We wanted to get someone who could actually sing so our searches went awry quite often. We finally heard of Emily through a friend and we were absolutely blown away by her from the beginning. After a couple practices we decided she was the one. From there we decided on a name and recorded the first demo in the winter of 2004. Shortly after that, we played our first show. But the process of making sure we were "ready" before we came out of the gates was quite brutal and painstaking. We took our time to make sure things were right.

Q: How would you describe your sound?
A: We like to try and keep a good mix of something that's melodic, catchy and powerful, yet has its subtle heaviness about it. Something that is intelligent and well rounded.

Q: Who are some of your musical influences?
A: Sunny Day is a big one. Texas Is The Reason, Helmet, Quicksand, Foo Fighters, Hum, U2, Failure, Seaweed, Cave In, At The Drive In, Mars Volta, Slayer...

Q: and non-musical?
A: Bruce Campbell, John Stamos and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Q: So your full length CD came out earlier this month. you guys have a favorite song on the record?
A: Yeah, we all seem to have our favorites. My personal favorites are Undeserving you and Take It Outside. Collectively we all seem to lean towards An Alliance Of Thieves and Vicarious Haunting though.

Q: Where does the band name come from?
A: That's a story Tony usually tells. But we were having a hard time deciding on a name. Tony's friend had suggested Holy Roman Empire because it was so epic sounding. We all liked it because we felt it stood out. We liked that it represented how we felt our band should be about something deeper than what the state of music seemed to be about these days.

Q: What's your opinion about the "popular" bands today, like Fall Out Boy?
A: That is really two questions in my mind. I think some "popular" bands out there can be examples of what true music is really all about. But on the flip side I think the majority of "popular" bands today embody exactly what is wrong with the music industry these days. In fact I'd say they should not really even be considered "bands" or even part of the music industry, but rather more a part of the fashion world or perhaps even a division of a wrestling federation.

Q:To answer the second part of that question, who is Fall Out Boy?
A: I've never heard of them.

Q: So, you're going on tour with rise against. that's awesome. have you guys been on the road for a long period of time before?
A: As individuals, we all have toured extensively in our past. As HRE, we've done pretty minimal touring prior to this which is why we are so stoked to get out there and do this. This is what we've been building towards. Especially with guys that are good friends and a great band.

Q: What advice would you give to up and coming bands?
A: Keep trying, no matter what. Music is important and although it can be discouraging, your toughest times are when you learn the most.

Q: Any funny or embarrassing recording/on the road stories?
A: The moment that will go down in history for HRE is when we arrived at the first venue of our first tour all happy and excited only to step out of the van and see gallons of transmission fluid on the blacktop. Come to find out that we had just blown our transmission. Yeah. Mom always told me playing music was a bad idea

Readers have left 2 comments.

(1) Awesome interview
2007-08-02 08:33:02

Wow Jackie, this band sounds amazing. I went to their website and listen to their tracks non stop. Ask them to send you their tracks (MP3) so we can add it to MP music player.