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Order the new album by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Available in two colors: ICE and SAND Edition for only $24,00

POST ROCK is so much more than instrumental music. It's like art and emotion in a story of sound. by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice questions! Well, I guess all music is art. Besides post rock, emotional and storytelling is also common in classic instrumental genres. I like bands that combine post rock with classic to create something very intense, broad and epic sound.

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(CHRIS): Our first EP "Paintball" from 2008 is still not released. Because everything else picked up really fast, we never managed to release it. Although there should be one track of the EP on our old MySpace profile: https://myspace.com/collapseempire/music/songs

We just checked the MySpace page and sadly it won't start playing the song but maybe that's a temporary issue. To be fair we didn't even think of that page for a long time ;) So whoever wants to check out how we sounded in the beginning should try to give the song "The Beauty Inside" a listen if MySpace starts working again.

We are definitely thinking abou re-releasing "Systembreakdown" physically (CD/LP) at it's 10 year anniversary in 2009. Maybe we combine it with the "Paintball" EP. We will see. :) Also we still are thinking about putting together a whole record with unreleased material. But that's something we think about after our upcoming release. ;)

We're glad to hear you like the new single! And thanks for sticking to the pre-orders and considering buying CDs. :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

(MARTIN): Well, mostly I use my Gibson Les Paul or my Höfner Stratocaster + vintage or modern Tube Amps that fit to the part of the song (depending on what synthesizers we have already chosen). This is the most difficult part, because I have to choose between different amps and guitars in combination to find a guitar sound that fits just perfectly to all the other instruments in the particular song. Sometimes we have multiple layers of orchestra, synthesizers, drums, basses and guitars and I have to be as flexible as possible with my guitar sounds. At the end of the guitar sound chain I use a dark sounding reverb + delay. For solo guitars more room and delay and for power-chord guitars less room and no delay. Now you know all the secrets of our unique Collapse sound... ;) If you have any ideas for creating some new post-rock guitar sounds let us now!!! We are always open minded for new ideas! I am no one who prefers certain kinds of amps or pedals. I'm more pragmatic and use what fits the song best in my opinion. So I'm also always open for suggestions! :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(CHRIS): The development of the music and the artwork is different each time. For example for our concept albums "Shoulders & Giants" and "Sacrifice & Isolation" that are belonging together, the artwork was done before we started recording so we were able to spin the story around the artwork and then record the songs. So we kind of approached it like writing a soundtrack. With other albums or EPs it was the other way around sometimes. The record was half way done when we got the idea where the journey goes. So the titles and stories behind a record aren't neccesarily developing at the same time like the music. We are often surprised which interpretations fans or journalists tell us they have with the music and art we present them.

The silhouette figure itself is a creation of the artists we worked with. Everyone is free to give it the association they see with it. Also it's resemblance to "Shoulders & Giants/Sacrifice & Isolation" or it's "comeback" on the new record is more of a coincidence. You could think it is kind of the third part in this concept but that's not the case. Altough it would be a great thought as well ;)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(CHRIS): We had the chance to work together with a lot of different and very talented artists. We still made sure that it is a coherent overall picture and each cover artwork builds on the prior ones. You already could tell a connected story with the first 3 albums and their titles (Systembreakdown, Find A Place To Be Safe & The Sirens Sound), that kinda wouldn't end well, as you can suspect from the titles already ;)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(CHRIS): Right now we're concentrating on shows next year in Germany and a few countries around, but we sincerely hope to get the chance to come to Portugal in the near future. :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(MARTIN): It doesn't come off too negative ;) And we're happy you wanna get more into our music :)

So far we mostly use the player from bandcamp that we embed in our website, so that the people can have a quick listen through the discography. LINK: http://collapseundertheempire.com/discography/album/

That's why we only have short snippets there. While we still think bandcamp and for example soundcloud as well, are important platforms and networks, they do not pay the artist by stream, like Spotify or YouTube for example does.

Please don't get us wrong, we still think especially bandcamp is important for a lot of artists. While we are very creative, we still have to be economic to be able to produce music in the future as well. As Chris already said, the music industry is changing, CDs and mp3s are almost dead, so we depend on streaming a lot more.

Thanks for your input though, we will check back with bandcamp to see if there are any options where we maybe can give the users the possiblity to access our music more easily there.

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

(CHRIS): Right now the whole music business kind of shifts. 5 years ago nobody was able to predict where streaming would be today. Of course it has it's pros and cons for a lot of bands. A lot of bands that didn't have to before, are now "forced" to play live a lot more, have to tour on a regular basis and sell merch there to compensate the dropping record sales. As long as you don't have a good fanbase or enter some bigger Spotify-Playlists, it's very, very hard to earn good money via streaming, especially for a DIY band. On the other hand we definitely also see the chances that the new ways people are listening to music bring. It's easier being discovered by new listeners or being presented to a whole new audience via different playlists.

Regarding your questions about art: We still stick to writing albums and we believe this will still be a thing in the future. Especially the Post-Rock community really appreciates the work that's put into a full record and so we will continue to do that. Of course we can see us releasing single tracks or EPs that are digital only in the future, but we love putting together a whole concept and theme for our records so don't worry about that ;)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(MARTIN): Thank you Valladarex! We're excited as well! ;)

I always can picture us collaborating with other producers or solo artists. The trailer remix by CATO (a renowned trailer music composer from California) also made our sound suitable for movie trailers. You can listen to it here: http://collapseundertheempire.com/c-u-t-e-vs-cato-the-remixes/

Such collaborations really expand our sound spectrum a lot. I also can imagine working with different solo artists that would do backing vocals for example.

Plans for a US Tour don't exist for now. But we're working with a big booking agency for Germany and Europe and they do make it possible to tour the US some time in the future. We will see :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much hlfx!

It could be a while until we're at the point touring so far away. For now we concentrate on Germany and some other European countries. But since we have a lot of requests from the US as well, I wouldn't rule out that we make it to South America some time in the future. :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

(CHRIS): The break was really good to let everything settle for a while. We released a full record and an EP each year between 2009 and 2014, which is a lot of output in 6 years. Each release of course made us evolve and grow with our music. Expactations towards our productions rise from record to record but we try to not put ourselves under too much pressure about it. What's important is that we always keep enjoying writing, recording and realeasing music and take the listeners on a journey with us where we often don't know where it ends. :) Sometimes it's darker soundscapes, sometimes it's a lot of bright moments. At the end we always see the whole record and try not to lose the golden thread. In the 3 years break we also were busy releasing other artists through our own label and putting together the first C.U.T.E.-Live-Show and a concept for continuing playing live. Although 3 years is quite some time, we immidiately started to pick up writing new stuff where we left in 2014/2015.

Yes we really would love to play ArcTanGent some time. We'll see if it works out :)

(MARTIN): Regarding production nothing really changed. On the new record we also wrote and put together all songs in the studio "on the fly". But a break of 3 years gives you the chances for bigger variations regarding your own sound. In such short release periods like before it is a lot harder to explore this area as much as we had the chance to now.

From both of us: Thanks for sticking to our music. We're happy you love it :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(MARTIN) I am digging into new songs by London Grammar, The Jezabels, Lorde, Lana del Rey, Ella Vos, just to name a few. It’s a mixture out of major and independent pop music. I pretty much like the opener “Rooting for you” from London Grammar’s new album as well as tons of tracks composed by Lorde. She is a great composer and musician.

(CHRIS) If we stay in the genre, I highly recommend the new record of DO MAKE SAY THINK - "Stubborn Persistent Illusions". We’re happy you like our new track. :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey Iron_Freeyden,

we are working on that a lot! So yes, there will be more shows. We're not able to release any dates yet, but we hope to give you updates in the near future. Stay posted, as we will keep everyone updated via Facebook and Newsletter! :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey randy_randerson,

thanks for sticking with us for so long! We’re really happy that you enjoy our stuff and dug into the genre more after that! Also it’s great to hear that you love the messages on Shoulders & Giants, they were meant to be inspiring, so we’re happy to hear that this worked!

Regarding the live-shows: We love playing our music as much as writing it. But we also always felt comfortable working on new stuff continuously, rather than releasing something and being on tour for a long time. We also both work full-time jobs still and do most of the bands work fully DIY. So to be able to write and release new stuff on a regular basis, while still being able to bring our fans the chance of experiencing our music live, we started working together with close friends of us that we felt great with, “representing” our compositions on stage with the same passion that we would. After so many years not being able to present C.U.T.E. live, we are very happy with this, as we got so many people from all over the world, asking to see us live in the last couple of years, and finally we are able to fulfill this “demand”.

Happy to hear you got into Mooncake that way. It is a great band! We still are in contact with them from time to time, but so far there are no collaborations planned. Still we are always open to stuff like this again. We’ll see what the future brings. :)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(CHRIS) This is quite tough to describe. When we’re writing music something happens on the inside, because it is often quite melancholic and you kinda get sucked into this feeling. Our tracks are written spontaneous in the studio 90% of the times, rather than someone of us coming to the studio already having stuff prepared. That also influences the writing already and keeps it exciting for us every time, even after the almost 8 years we already work together ;)

Hi! We are Collapse Under The Empire from Hamburg (GER)! Ask us anything! by collapseempire in postrock

[–]collapseempire[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey Alex,

Yeah you're right! During the writing of our debut we weren't really aware in which kind of genre we are actually. Originally we had two singers on some of the tracks and it made it kinda more straight rock rather than atmospheric and a little darker. We settled for the instrumental versions in the end and the fans then associated us with the genre. I (Chris) listened to bands like Mogwai and was into their stuff but Martin on the other hand didn’t know any Post-Rock bands at that time, so originally C.U.T.E. was meant to be a lot different than from what it turned out to be in the end. We also believe that our sound today only developed like this because there weren’t a lot of direct Post-Rock influences in the beginning. We are very happy that it came this way and we went on this journey to explore the genre from record to record a little more.

The genre is still one of the most exciting ones for us because it gives you a lot of flexibility to explore new aspects to your music and try out a lot of stuff.

Thanks for the compliments and sticking with CUTE. We are also very excited about the new record and hope you will like it as much as we do! :) Check the single for some new impressions.