Tucson, Arizona’s Holy Rolling Empire began making music together in February of 2005. After the sudden breakup of their current band; Shocat, Moran, and Horton quickly regrouped with close friends Mertz and Carstensen to push their creativity in a new direction. They aimed to compose music that took heavy influence from the psychedelic and progressive movements of the 60’s and 70’s and infuse it with more modern indie and post-rock elements.
The group immediately went to the drawing board and at the beginning of April had self-recorded and released a five song demo and had begun circling the Tucson music scene. In June of 2005 the band set out for their first west coast tour followed the month after by a trip through New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado.
When they returned, the band regrouped. They immediately started writing new material; honing and refining their sound… as well as their equipment and friendships. In November they went into Nathan Sabatino’s, Loveland Studios and began work on a six song EP. In early 2006, “Secret Serpents†was mastered and self-released. It featured the best of their material and was an honest representation of everything the band had accomplished and learned over the past year.
The Holy Rolling Empire spent 2006 focusing on Arizona. They saturated the downtown Tucson music scene, heavily promoting and playing 2-4 shows per month, sharing the stage with such national acts as Cold War Kids, Grizzly Bear, The Bled, Soul Asylum, Dios Malos, The French Kicks, Limbeck, Malajube and many more. They began playing local events and getting regular airplay on local radio station 91.3 KXCI. Trips to Phoenix and Flagstaff were becoming a more regular occurrence and a large Arizona following began to appear.
In the waning months of the year the group once again began the creative process. New songs began to pop into set lists and one entitled “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things†was recorded and released on Inchworm Record’s “Desert Mountain District†compilation. The song was then put immediately into rotation on KXCI and has been played ever since.
Many things are on the horizon for 2007. They are nearing completion of the writing of a full length album. West coast and southwest tours are being set for the summer as well as recording and completing their first full length album. They will be forever and passionately working, writing and delivering the music that they love to the ears of anyone who is pleased to listen.
*note* The Holy Rolling Empire were named The Crowd until May of 2007 when they were forced to change their name for legal reasons.
