Crown the Empire is an American Post-Hardcore band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 2010, the group is currently signed to Rise Records and its subsidiary, Velocity Records. Their debut album, The Fallout, will be released on November 20, 2012. Before signing to Rise Records they released their first EP Limitless featuring guest vocals from Denis Shaforostov of Make Me Famous
History
Formation and debut EP (2010-2012)
The was formed in September 2010 by Brandon Hoover and Austin Duncan who decided to start jamming together back in high school. The other members of the band were quickly added over the year and by 2011 the final line-up was made. The four original members of the band Andrew Velasquez, Austin Duncan, Hayden Tree and Brandon Hoover all went to high school together with new members Bennett Vogelman and Brent Taddie being found through Youtube Videos. They released their debut EP Limitless on October 10, 2011.
On December 17, 2011 the band released their first music video for the Limitless EP "Voices".
Prior to the release of the music video for "Johnny Ringo" the band added a new member to the band David Escamilla who would be replacing Andrew on unclean vocals, although he would still remain singing all of the clean vocals for the band.
On September 6, 2012 the band released their second music video for the Limitless EP "Johnny Ringo".
Signing to Rise Records and The Fallout (2012-present)
The band signed to Rise Records in mid 2012 and began work on their debut album. Upon being signed to Rise Records the band released their cover of Maroon 5 “Moves Like Jagger” for free download as a thank you to their fans support.
The band also plans to release their cover of Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa “Payphone” on Punk Goes Pop 5 with other Rise and Fearless artists. Punk Goes Pop 5 will be released on November 6, 2012.
On October 23, 2012 the band released information concerning their debut album, The Fallout, intended for release on November 20th. The band also released their first single for the album, "Makeshift Chemistry".
On November 6, 2012 the band dropped off of the Infamous Tour because of scheduling difficulties.
Musical Style
The band has described their style as Arena Rock Hardcore with heavy breakdowns, poppy verses and huge concert ready choruses. The bands desire to play heavier music and stand out more than the bands playing in their hometown is what lead the band to have more of a hardcore sound.
Tours
*Participated in the The Devil in Me Tour with The Paramedics and Call It Karma.
*Participated in Unsilent Night IV Tour with , We Came As Romans, Breathe Carolina, and All Time Low.
Members
*Andrew Velasquez - clean vocals (2012-present)
*David Escamilla - unclean vocals (2012-present)
*Brent Taddie - drums (2011-present)
*Bennett Vogelman - guitar (2011-present)
*Brandon Hoover - guitar (2010-present)
*Hayden Tree - bass (2010-present)
*Austin Duncan - keyboards (2010-present)
Discography
;Extended Plays
*Limitless 2011
;Studio Albums
*The Fallout 2012
Videography
*"Voices" (2011)
*”Wake Me Up (Acoustic)” (2011)
*"Johnny Ringo" (2012)
History
Formation and debut EP (2010-2012)
The was formed in September 2010 by Brandon Hoover and Austin Duncan who decided to start jamming together back in high school. The other members of the band were quickly added over the year and by 2011 the final line-up was made. The four original members of the band Andrew Velasquez, Austin Duncan, Hayden Tree and Brandon Hoover all went to high school together with new members Bennett Vogelman and Brent Taddie being found through Youtube Videos. They released their debut EP Limitless on October 10, 2011.
On December 17, 2011 the band released their first music video for the Limitless EP "Voices".
Prior to the release of the music video for "Johnny Ringo" the band added a new member to the band David Escamilla who would be replacing Andrew on unclean vocals, although he would still remain singing all of the clean vocals for the band.
On September 6, 2012 the band released their second music video for the Limitless EP "Johnny Ringo".
Signing to Rise Records and The Fallout (2012-present)
The band signed to Rise Records in mid 2012 and began work on their debut album. Upon being signed to Rise Records the band released their cover of Maroon 5 “Moves Like Jagger” for free download as a thank you to their fans support.
The band also plans to release their cover of Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa “Payphone” on Punk Goes Pop 5 with other Rise and Fearless artists. Punk Goes Pop 5 will be released on November 6, 2012.
On October 23, 2012 the band released information concerning their debut album, The Fallout, intended for release on November 20th. The band also released their first single for the album, "Makeshift Chemistry".
On November 6, 2012 the band dropped off of the Infamous Tour because of scheduling difficulties.
Musical Style
The band has described their style as Arena Rock Hardcore with heavy breakdowns, poppy verses and huge concert ready choruses. The bands desire to play heavier music and stand out more than the bands playing in their hometown is what lead the band to have more of a hardcore sound.
Tours
*Participated in the The Devil in Me Tour with The Paramedics and Call It Karma.
*Participated in Unsilent Night IV Tour with , We Came As Romans, Breathe Carolina, and All Time Low.
Members
*Andrew Velasquez - clean vocals (2012-present)
*David Escamilla - unclean vocals (2012-present)
*Brent Taddie - drums (2011-present)
*Bennett Vogelman - guitar (2011-present)
*Brandon Hoover - guitar (2010-present)
*Hayden Tree - bass (2010-present)
*Austin Duncan - keyboards (2010-present)
Discography
;Extended Plays
*Limitless 2011
;Studio Albums
*The Fallout 2012
Videography
*"Voices" (2011)
*”Wake Me Up (Acoustic)” (2011)
*"Johnny Ringo" (2012)
The Pain Olympics or BME Pain Olympics, is one of the events that occasionally occurs at BME BBQs, especially BMEFest. Much like drinking games, these are performed at the contestant's own risk as a rite of passage, although the contestants do not intoxicate themselves.
Rites of passage involving pain tolerance have been documented from the earliest of human records. What distinguishes the Pain Olympics from other such rituals, like Kavadi or the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, is that it is rarely done for spiritual enlightenment, but rather out of curiosity and sport. In addition, Pain Olympics are almost exclusively held by those people attending BME BBQs and are usually well photographed and video recorded for bmezine.com and there generally is no prize for winning other than notoriety, although some rumours go around (apparently unfounded) that there are financial prizes for some of the most shocking or painful movies posted.
History
The first Pain Olympics were inspired by games such as at the 2001 July 1 BBQ in Toronto, Ontario, where some of the events included drinking hot sauce, forehead pulling, and seeing how much weight one can carry on a suspension. The "Pain Olympics" name was first used at the 2003 BMEFest in Tweed, Ontario (and then again at the 2005 BMEFest in Toronto after skipping a year when BMEFest was held in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico) in the form of a play piercing contest and set the tone for those to follow, with contestants and MCs like The Lizardman, Shannon Larratt, and The Great Orbax. The Pain Olympics is only a small part of the BMEfest experience, but because of the viral video has taken on a mythical history that is much larger than its reality.
BME Pain Olympics: Final Round
There is a hoax Internet viral video entitled BME Pain Olympics: Final Round that has nothing to do with the actual Pain Olympics. It has been viewed and promoted by a large number of Web surfers and popular bloggers such as Joe Rogan and has been the subject of reaction videos on sites including YouTube. In the video, two men are seen performing genital self-mutilation (including using a meat cleaver to cut open a scrotum) set to the song "Livin' Like a Zombie" by Mortification. The original video, hosted on BMEzine, displays a message at the end confirming it is fake; however, most of the other versions of the video on other websites do not have that message at the end. According to Shannon Larratt, the creator of the video, the two "competitors" (who are actually the same person) used prosthetic makeup and the video contains no actual body modification.<ref name=nowpublic/>
Rites of passage involving pain tolerance have been documented from the earliest of human records. What distinguishes the Pain Olympics from other such rituals, like Kavadi or the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, is that it is rarely done for spiritual enlightenment, but rather out of curiosity and sport. In addition, Pain Olympics are almost exclusively held by those people attending BME BBQs and are usually well photographed and video recorded for bmezine.com and there generally is no prize for winning other than notoriety, although some rumours go around (apparently unfounded) that there are financial prizes for some of the most shocking or painful movies posted.
History
The first Pain Olympics were inspired by games such as at the 2001 July 1 BBQ in Toronto, Ontario, where some of the events included drinking hot sauce, forehead pulling, and seeing how much weight one can carry on a suspension. The "Pain Olympics" name was first used at the 2003 BMEFest in Tweed, Ontario (and then again at the 2005 BMEFest in Toronto after skipping a year when BMEFest was held in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico) in the form of a play piercing contest and set the tone for those to follow, with contestants and MCs like The Lizardman, Shannon Larratt, and The Great Orbax. The Pain Olympics is only a small part of the BMEfest experience, but because of the viral video has taken on a mythical history that is much larger than its reality.
BME Pain Olympics: Final Round
There is a hoax Internet viral video entitled BME Pain Olympics: Final Round that has nothing to do with the actual Pain Olympics. It has been viewed and promoted by a large number of Web surfers and popular bloggers such as Joe Rogan and has been the subject of reaction videos on sites including YouTube. In the video, two men are seen performing genital self-mutilation (including using a meat cleaver to cut open a scrotum) set to the song "Livin' Like a Zombie" by Mortification. The original video, hosted on BMEzine, displays a message at the end confirming it is fake; however, most of the other versions of the video on other websites do not have that message at the end. According to Shannon Larratt, the creator of the video, the two "competitors" (who are actually the same person) used prosthetic makeup and the video contains no actual body modification.<ref name=nowpublic/>
Lipstick Prophets is a fashion line by American fashion designer Ali Barone, as a collaboration with other graphic designers, including Geoff Kresge from Tiger Army (and formerly AFI) and her aunt Elizabeth Stanton (also known as "Aunt Death") who developed the "dead teddies" line.
Editorial coverage
* Tattoo Savage featured a 2 page spread covering Lipstick Prophets in the 'Fashion Buzz' section of the April 2009 issue.
* Inked magazine featured an article on Barone & LP in the Sept./Oct. 2008 issue
* Inked magazine featured Lipstick Prophets in an editorial in volume 2 issue 2
* ' featured Barone in the Feb. 2007 issue
* Punk Rock Confidential ran a feature about LP in the Spring 2007 issue
* Punk Rock Confidential ran an editorial spread on LP in Spring 2008.
* Alternative Press has featured the LP line multiple times. AP issue #214 featured a full story on LP.
* Alternative Press issue #221 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Alternative Press issue #224 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Alternative Press issue #227 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Alternative Press issue #236 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Reax featured coverage of LP in the March/April 2007 issue.
* Girlfriend Magazine featured coverage of LP in the August 2007 issue.
Editorial coverage
* Tattoo Savage featured a 2 page spread covering Lipstick Prophets in the 'Fashion Buzz' section of the April 2009 issue.
* Inked magazine featured an article on Barone & LP in the Sept./Oct. 2008 issue
* Inked magazine featured Lipstick Prophets in an editorial in volume 2 issue 2
* ' featured Barone in the Feb. 2007 issue
* Punk Rock Confidential ran a feature about LP in the Spring 2007 issue
* Punk Rock Confidential ran an editorial spread on LP in Spring 2008.
* Alternative Press has featured the LP line multiple times. AP issue #214 featured a full story on LP.
* Alternative Press issue #221 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Alternative Press issue #224 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Alternative Press issue #227 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Alternative Press issue #236 featured coverage of LP apparel.
* Reax featured coverage of LP in the March/April 2007 issue.
* Girlfriend Magazine featured coverage of LP in the August 2007 issue.
The 12 Barz of Christmas is the largest pub crawl in Ontario run by XL Lifestyle and partners. It currently runs in 7 cities across the province with over 5000 participants. The 12 Barz of Christmas is growing constantly and working towards being the largest pub crawl in the country spanning from coast to coast.
This iconic event was created in Waterloo, Ontario in 2003. It originated with a small group of friends who decided they would celebrate the Holiday season by trekking around the city to 12 bars, while completing a list of challenging shots. This small group of friends grew over the first couple of years until 2008 when the event could not be contained the whole city wanted to be involved. As the brand slowly gained recognition across Ontario University cities the numbers of attendees continued to grow. 12 Bars currently takes place in Toronto, Waterloo, Kingston, St. Catharines, London, Ottawa and Guelph.
A night you may only remember by the sharpie messages on the back of your legendary 12 Barz Shirt. Crawlers from across the province deck themselves out in red and green and all kinds of Christmas gear and challenge themselves to finish 12 different shots while attending 6 bars throughout the city. All participants wear the famous 12 Barz t-shirt which allows them to enter all the 12 barz venues for free, gets them exclusive drink specials, and the chance to win amazing trips and prizes from all the 12 Barz sponsors
This iconic event was created in Waterloo, Ontario in 2003. It originated with a small group of friends who decided they would celebrate the Holiday season by trekking around the city to 12 bars, while completing a list of challenging shots. This small group of friends grew over the first couple of years until 2008 when the event could not be contained the whole city wanted to be involved. As the brand slowly gained recognition across Ontario University cities the numbers of attendees continued to grow. 12 Bars currently takes place in Toronto, Waterloo, Kingston, St. Catharines, London, Ottawa and Guelph.
A night you may only remember by the sharpie messages on the back of your legendary 12 Barz Shirt. Crawlers from across the province deck themselves out in red and green and all kinds of Christmas gear and challenge themselves to finish 12 different shots while attending 6 bars throughout the city. All participants wear the famous 12 Barz t-shirt which allows them to enter all the 12 barz venues for free, gets them exclusive drink specials, and the chance to win amazing trips and prizes from all the 12 Barz sponsors