Sometimes the most compelling art can come from life’s greatest struggles, which in the case of Tooth & Nail newcomers I Am Empire, only added fuel to the group’s already blazing alternative rock fire.
Though the San Jose-bred fivesome had no trouble igniting the local scene since forming in 2008, much of the catalyst behind the band’s label debut, Kings, stems from front man Austin Lyons’ fractured upbringing.
“The whole record is about abandonment, particularly the fact that my father is the one who abandoned me,” says Lyons, the scorching singer/songwriter for I Am Empire[…]
