Matt Knutson and Ben Wills know the rock ’n’ roll cliche well — so well it makes them laugh.
“Oh yeah, ‘Spinal Tap’ is what we are,” Knutson said, referring to the 1984 mock documentary. “I mean, we’ve had five drummers in three years.”
The founding duo for The Empties, a rock band with pop twinges and multi-part harmonies, Knutson and Wills moved to Athens from Denver in 2005 to partake in the town’s thriving music scene. But months into their adventure they hit a roadblock — drummer Dan Buttars wanted out.
The subsequent journey for the right drummer proved longer than the road to Colorado.
“We moved out here with Dan, and he quit,” Knutson said. “Then John Swint with the [Modern] Skirts filled in for a while, off and on. That’s when Joe Rowe [The Glands] got mixed in, and his departure led to Jake Hicks. Then Jake leaving the band led to John again.”
And now?
“Now we have the mayor,” Wills said. “We need to make him a sash.”
The “mayor” is Peter Alvanos, an Athens mainstay who’s played with countless Classic City bands, including Casper & the Cookies and Fabulous Bird. For a group that once advertised it didn’t want any older guys, its choice of Alvanos goes to the essence of what The Empties have become.
“Yeah, we had an ad that sounded something like that, but that was years ago,” Wills said. “We make an exception for the best drummer around. There are cool guys who can play, and Peter is one of them. Plus Peter is the coolest-looking guy in our band. When you match up musically like we have, that’s what you want.”
With their self-titled debut album on Slush Fund Records released on Halloween, The Empties are looking to define themselves. A band kicking around Athens for several years is ready to break out.
Recorded in Atlanta over a six month period, the album is defined neither as “rock” nor “pop”. Boasting sitars, mellotrons, spoken word and vibra-slaps, Knutson likes to describe the 12-song offering as the definitive “Empties” record.
“We’ve been around for a while but people here aren’t familiar with our stuff,” Knutson said. “We wanted this album to be an example of what we are, what we sound like. We made it sound very live, most of it we recorded in the same room at the same time with various overdubs.”
Joining Knutson, Wills and Alvanos is guitarist Chris Giddens, who took up his duties in January following the departure of Joshua Lewis. Giddens, a University of Georgia graduate from Savannah, found his way to the band through his connections with Alvanos.
The “mayor” knows everyone.
“I’ve been around for a while and knew about these guys through Peter, so I weaseled my way in,” Giddens said.
“The day after Josh left, we were wondering who to get,” Knutson said. “Should we steal someone from another band? Then Peter said ‘My friend Chris mentioned before if we need anything call him.’ So we did. When he came to practice, it was impressive. We’ve had people show up who didn’t know any of our songs. But Chris knew it all. We pretty much blew through the set in our first practice.”
“I feel like it’s been pretty natural and everyone in the band is really fucking good,” Giddens said. “I get to play like a cool George Harrison role playing a lick here and there, sing some harmonies.”
Without the perseverance of Wills and Knutson, The Empties might not be here. But four drummers, three years and one guitarist later, the band’s original duo looks ahead with excitement.
“Me and [Ben] have gone through every stage together,” Knutson said. “There’s no particular thing right now that we’re trying to latch on to, but we’re on the right path. We’re just ready to play.”
“Me and Matt have known each other since elementary school, this is the only band we’ve ever had,” Wills said. “Some kind of evolution of this band has been playing for the last 10 years, and will continue to play.”
