Eye Empire was another fun, short-lived band I was fortunate enough to see live in concert. I only saw them once, when they opened for Sevendust at the Myth in Maplewood, MN, but it was a memorable show. Sevendust members Lajon Witherspoon and Clint Lowery contributed to the group's first album, and Lowery played guitar for a bit with Eye Empire during their set. I also remember waiting for Sevendust's post-show VIP hangout and chatting with bassist Corey Lowery for a few minutes.
The group formed not long after Dark New Day went on hiatus. Dark New Day was created by Clint and Corey Lowery, Will Hunt, Brett Hestla, and Troy McLawhorn. Guitarist BC Kochmit replaced McLawhorn in 2008. When Dark New Day went on hiatus in 2009, Corey Lowery and Kochmit joined forces with drummer Dan Richardson and vocalist Donnie Hamby to form the band Violent Plan. The new quartet eventually recorded a nine-song demo.
At the same time, Kochmit and Lowery also started working on another project, this time with guitarist Dixie Duncan and former Submersed members Garrett Whitlock and Donald Carpenter. This new group would be known as Eye Empire. Eye Empire was announced in November 2009, along with the breakup of Violent Plan.
Demo versions of the songs "More than Fate" and "Victim" were released on MySpace and Eye Empire started touring with Sevendust in late 2010 and early 2011. After that tour, the tracks "Ignite" and "I Pray" were also released on MySpace as the band resumed touring. Work soon began on their debut album Moment of Impact. Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose wound up playing drums on multiple tracks on the record after drummers Whitlock and Hunt departed the band. Duncan also left the group before the record was released in 2010.
Drummer Ryan Bennett joined Eye Empire before they went on tour with Wayne Static in 2011. A two-disc edition of their debut album (known as Impact) was issued in 2012. It contained all of the songs from the initial release along with acoustic and Iive versions of several album tracks.
Eye Empire's second disc Evolve was released in 2013. The group announced that Carpenter was no longer in the group in 2014. They later went on to say that they had planned to continue on as a group with Carpenter as their frontman. However, nothing new has happened with the group since. Carpenter has recorded new music with the band Apollo Under Fire and as a solo artist. Bennett is currently the drummer for Mark Tremonti's solo band, Lowery is the second guitarist in Seether and Kochmit went on to be the lead guitarist for Nonpoint before retiring from touring.
Even though an Eye Empire reunion sounds unlikely with all of the band members' current commitments, we still have the memories and recordings to return to whenever we need a bit of nostalgia. The next article in this series will concentrate on the group Overscene. Until then, have a happy and healthy holiday weekend, everyone!
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