TRE Epilogue Questions Answered
Happy Wednesday!
I meant to get these questions and answers compiled a couple of weeks ago, but life has a way of getting busy out of nowhere. Especially when you’re ebbing away at important tasks! But we are here now, and that’s what matters.
The River Empires was and is a special project that I’m really proud of and will forever live in my heart, so getting a chance to answer some of your questions was fun and a bolt of nostalgia. Made me think of the late nights at Castle House studio, and recording the Oregon State Women’s Choir, which transcended Epilogue to a higher level. We also built a wooden platform and threw on some big boots and stomped as we sang “woman you’re going to drown, it’s too late.” Though one of the best parts was having Casey Crescenzo from The Dear Hunter // Cave and Canary Goods as a large part of the project. One of my favorites in the business to work with, hands down.
Needless to say, it was a good time with good people!
So enjoy the read and thanks for stopping by!
TRE Epilogue Q&A
I) Which song are you most proud of and why?
A Dimmer Lux. I think simply because it was the first one written.
II) Can you talk about the visual/lyrical theming in "From Outside the Cellar?" and how that came about?
Without being too specific or too broad, cellars are a big part of my writing world. In this song being outside of the cellar refers to approaching closely to death. But in other songs the cellar references don’t always represent death nor allude to the way it’s used in TRE.
III) What was your favorite memory from the recording process?
The Three Tigers group vocal session…but a favorite post recording memory was while driving home after recording, I witnessed a green meteor trailing across the night sky right in front of me.
IV) Wasn’t there a song after the album called something like Five Rings? What happened there?
Almost every time after finishing an album I have sort of this “aftershock” of writing. And usually these songs don’t really have a home — they’re in between albums. For TRE it was “Five Circles.”
V) Any connection between River Empires and Falling Up/Gloomcatcher lore?
Yeah! TRE is a folklore version of a story I’ve been trying to tell for a long time and it has spanned across a lot of my career. The concept is separate from the FU universe and timeline, but I’ve written FU lyrics inspired by certain elements in the story. The story in its updated form is called Calypsan, but I wouldn’t read into the lyrics of the song Exit Calypsan too much, only the title is relevant to the story of TRE.
VI) When's the movie version getting made?
As I mentioned above, TRE is a folklore version of Calypsan! We’re on course with that as a streaming series…you know, if all goes accordingly!
VII) Any Interest in selling The River Empires Merch? T-Shirts, etc.? The River Empires Vinyl? Cassette Tapes? Graphic Novel?
& If/when there could be more music/another album from The River Empires, is the belief it would stay with the original idea/story? Might it be titled "Mars/Brighton II"?
The plan is to have a store on the website! When exactly is TBD. And yeah Mars/Brighton II was the title of the next album. Since it was working backward that would’ve been the end of the story. But there wouldn’t have been context until the third planned album Mars/Brighton.
VIII) Where’s the rest of it?!
Will there be another album? Hopefully yes! Out of the gates I originally stated this would be a seven album project. What is amended is the amount of albums. But what is still promised is the rest of the story. What that medium looks like is tbd. As of now…Calypsan.
