If you’ve yet to experience the mythical goodness from Perth, Australia, known as Empire Of The Sun, then you my friend have been living under a rock. But if you’ve been following this site for awhile you’ll know that last August we were first introduced to the band via the video “Walking On A Dream”, which was epic. Shortly after this song became a staple on most of our writers iPod as quite a few of us were highly anticipating album drop. Unfortunately for us that drop was only for Australia, but fast forward a few months later and the mystical duo, Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele, would have their album released for North America.  To celebrate that release we caught up with Nick Littlemore and talked Empire Of The Sun, previous bands (Pnau, The Sleepy Jackson and Teenager), the concept behind the name, album and an Empire Of The Sun opera???

Killahbeez: I’ve been an avid listener of Pnau and The Sleepy Jackson, as well as Teenager. So give us the story of how you and Luke Steele met and then decided that there was enough of a connection to work together?

Nick Littlemore: I love to collaborate. I pretty much try to work with every person I meet.
Luke and I have always worked together. I guess we like to make sounds and write songs rather than drink together or chase girls. We have that kind of friendship. Making music together is like hanging out. Nowadays it is about songs and expressing our own emotion, something we relate to about our lives, loves and lyrics. Luke has an immense talent, I am in awe of his voice, it’s a joy to write for.

The thing that was always apparent from working with Luke was that his voice is so strong. I wanted to work with him to embrace his genius, to create a coupling around his voice; to frame it, if you like. We first messed with a PNAU sound and things suddenly took flight. We cut “With you forever” with Luke on guest vocals and we stood back and realized that something had happened, we had a spark, something new, something wild.

I went to Italy and wrote songs while my girl nursed a broke leg. I needed a break after the PNAU record but this new sound with Luke persisted in my thoughts and scribbles. The sun was constant for me in Italy and for Luke in Perth. We knew we had to act. I rushed back to Australia and both Luke and I were ready to explode. We knew we had started something that could not be stopped, that we could not resist. The Empire began…

KB: The bands name, Empire Of The Sun, what’s the significance behind it and how did you both come to use that name?

NL: We are mystics, travelling to all the ancient places in the world, where the sun has great power and significance, the Ballard connection is merely a nod to one of the best writers in the universe (Referring to the novel Empire Of The Sun).

KB: For the North American fans that haven’t heard the album yet, what’s the concept / theme behind the album?

NL: Life is a journey. But even listening to a record is one too. Time passing, light shifting. The world changes in a second, let alone in the time it takes to walk on a dream. I think we make soundtracks to life. To the journey of life. Just with Empire things are more magical and impossible.

KB: Wow. That is true, in listening to the album myself I felt like I was listening to a soundtrack of my travels. In the bands bio, I read that the one word you wanted listeners to associate with the album is – “Surrender”. Is there something specific that the band wanted people to surrender to? Love?

NL: Close your eyes and listen to our album, or even just one song. Take a chance and let yourself go. Yes Surrender to our journey. We mean it all; we lived every word, every dream. Empire is a wish, a dream for us, so much pain so much love. For if you surrender, you can be healed and in turn heal the world.

KB: The band’s first single, “Walking On A Dream”, was an instant smash last summer, even though it’s just officially being released in North America. I remember hearing it quite a bit at various parties here. When I sat down and followed the lyrics I realized it was a bit of a love song, was it written for someone in particular? Or just an emotion that was inside that was waiting to get out?

NL: My girlfriend was in the jungles of Brazil, sick and exhausted, she called me from a small village deep in the forest, I felt so much empathy, so paralyzed by the distance between us, that I could not do anything to help so I wrote this tune, to try to capture all the magic in the world and force a melody so positive that I could actually send a signal to her that everything would work out, so its really that, yes a love song and a long distance call, a channelling of energy towards positive ends….

KB: All the women around the world just let out a collective sigh. Your videos, “Walking on a Dream”, “We Are The People” and the soon to be released “Standing on the Shore”, are BEAUTIFULLY shot, the visuals are amazing. They seem to somewhat flow from one to the other; will the other following videos continue on the same sort of theme?

NL: There is an order to all things and when the time is right all will be revealed.

KB: Definitely looking forward to that. What were some of the difficulties you guys faced when taking your concepts and actually filming them?

NL: We are both so visual. So inspired by film and art that it is hard to collaborate. That is why we jumped out of the safety net of studios and conventions and made the videos as adventurous as they look. We explored, we lived those moments. We saw vultures circling around us in the desert ready to attack. I would love to travel forever and take inspirations from all the wonders of this planet. We use the experiences to create so even those at times things can be daunting the adventure is always worth it.

KB: In a recent interview you guys did I read that you wanted to take a page out of Kanye Wests book when it came to making the visual aspect fit in with the music. Can you speak a bit on that? The man is definitely more than a hip-hop artist; he’s an entertainer in the true sense of the word.

NL: Music is colour to me, it always has been, I don’t see notes on a stave I see landscapes, clouds, drops dirt sirens in the sky, we are always trying to get closer, closer to showing the audience what we see, the costumes, the locations are just the start, this is an evolution

KB: So are there any plans to taking Empire Of The Sun live? With the music being quite cinematic, it could almost be a play.

NL: I would love to do a play, a film and opera. I think this music has so much potential, so much atmosphere. I think music is moving into a new sphere where it will not be judged by its references. All music is the sum of all things. That is the kind of records I want to make, like great art, this is music that you can feel and read so many things out of. Close your eyes and dream and you will see the play, be your own story and the Empire will be with you.

KB: Moving away from the Empire of the Sun project, will fans of Pnau, The Sleepy Jackson and Teenager hear another potential project? Any chance on working on that with Ladyhawke again?

NL: Teenager will never break up and yes Pip is never too far away, she is a wonderful light in my life and like Luke makes me honored to make music with.

KB: Who are some of your musical influences?

NL: Laurie Anderson, John Cage, Lindsay Buckingham, Moondog, Skinny Puppy, Meat Beat Manifesto, Mirror Mirror, M.Craft, Brian Eno, Vangelis, Xenakis, Harry Nilsson, Django Reinhardt, Leonard Cohen, Silvia Ocougne, Isao Tomita, Jefferson Aeroplane and Elvis.

KB: That’s quite a list. I want to thank you again for taking the time to do this. For the fans out there that will be picking up the album, what did you want them to take away from the listening experience?

NL: That anything is possible, that creativity is what we preach, that which is in each and every one, we all got something brilliant to communicate, after all that’s what the world revolves on.

Empire of the Sun’s homepage: www.walkingonadream.com/
Empire of the Sun’s MySpace: www.myspace.com/empireofthesunsound

Be sure to catch these videos in order as they tell a story as Nick Littlemore mentioned above.

Empire of the Sun “Walking On A Dream”

Empire of the Sun “Standing on the Shore”