The Debut of Pop Empire

For the second night in a row, a local music release show at the Southgate House brought in a sold out crowd, again turning away fans at the door. Friday night, 500 Miles to Memphis drew nearly a thousand people to the whole house show, which featured over ten bands on all three of its stages. Last night, Pop Empire made their debut upstairs in the tiny parlour, bringing in about one hundred and fifty people that filled the room wall to wall. I know one hundred and fifty people doesn’t sound like a whole lot compared to the previous night of a thousand, but if you’ve ever been in the parlour at the Southgate House, you can probably imagine exactly how it felt in this room last night.

The great thing about a show in the parlour is that it provides a much more up close and intimate concert experience, not just for the fans but for the band as well. I like to think that because of this, it’s easier for a band to feed off of the crowd’s energy, thus providing some of the most classic shows you’ll ever witness in the Cincinnati area. Last night was certainly one of those classic shows.

The night began around 8:30 pm in the third floor gallery, where several local artist’s displayed artwork inspired by the music from Pop Empire’s EP, Rainy Child. There was a lot of visually-stimulating pieces, and having already heard these songs, it was interesting to see how these artist’s interpreted the songs onto paper.

The music began just after 9:30 pm, with The Lion’s Rampant up first. Stuart, Nick and Nate are typically a rowdy bunch, perhaps captivating that rockstar persona the best among any of the area’s bands, but they seemed to tone down the wild mayhem last night. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a great performance (it certainly was) but they did have the same strong stage presence and the musical closeness to each other that still proves they are deserving of the title of best live act in the area. They covered older songs from their first two EP’s, like “Need A Man?” and new songs from their upcoming debut full-length, It’s Fun To Do Bad Things, which comes out next month. They kick off their midwestern Spring tour with the release party on March 13 at the Mockbee with The Guitars.

Up next was another one of the area’s best bands, The Seedy Seeds. Their set featured mostly new songs from their critically-acclaimed/local album of the year, Count the Days. With Mike switching back and forth between banjo and guitar, Margaret with guitar and accordion, and Brian Penick whose drumkit is fashioned with synchronized Christmas lights to his every beat, The Seedy Seeds will always make you feel good and put a smile on your face with their mix of electronica, folk and indie pop. They’re heading back to Austin’s South by Southwest Festival in a few weeks, and will celebrate with a send-off show March 12 at the Mad Hatter with MidPoint vets Loyal Divide, Peasant, and Ben Davis of Bad Veins and Yusef Quotah of You, You’re Awesome, both whom are also playing SXSW this year.

But the band everyone seemed overly anxious to see was Pop Empire, who were making their live debut. Most everyone seems to be familiar with Cam Cochran, whether it be his work as a solo artist, his time with The Lion’s Rampant and The Sheds, or even his work in the studio as a producer and engineer, Cam is certainly one of the most respected names in the Cincinnati music scene. But not everyone is familiar with the name Henrie Wilson and his work as a solo artist. I’m not sure how this collaboration came to be, but I’m glad that it did.

Pop Empire’s set last night was short, sweet and inspiring, with Cam handling the guitar duties and Henrie taking control of the keys/synth and all the samples and beats coming from his laptop. Both Cam and Henrie share lead vocal duties for the songs, and for the most part, it seems like they were out to bring a number of styles, influences and elements to the table, creating no two songs that sound alike. Like I said, it was a short and sweet set, and every song seemed to be better than the last. Before I knew it the show was over and everyone was left wanting more. We may not have gotten an encore from Pop Empire last night, but this is a band that you’ll be hearing a lot about this year.

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