Empires - August 16, 2008 - Ottobar, Baltimore
This Saturday, I drove to Baltimore to see Empires play at the Ottobar. It was wonderful, and I fell promptly in love with this little band of failboats who refuse to take our money and arrive late when they're the first band on the bill and chat with me about James Joyce and give me sweaty birthday hugs and shoot plastic darts at each other and get really excited at a printed version of their own photo and make stuffed hamsters talk to us and play drums in socks and.
Okay, consider that your preview. Let's back up a little bit! I was the very first person to arrive. I parked pretty much in front of the venue and chilled out, eating a poptart for lunch, while I waited for summertea to arrive. I saw a group of girls who were clearly fangirls, and did the whole awkward "Are you here for Empires?" "Yep." "LJ?" "Yep!" thing, and we were immediately fast friends! *waves to the new folks* Some of them recognized my username, which was baffling to me. Hee. Then summertea arrived and we went to Ruby Tuesdays to meet up with more of the internet and have a quick snack.
Then we came back to the venue, met MORE of the internet, and got in line to enter the venue. Suddenly, a big black SUV pulls up with a UHaul trailer, and surprise, Sean Van Vleet is at the wheel! With other bandboys in the passenger seats! We waved hi and they pulled behind the venue to start unloading like fiends because they were - gasp! - late! I'm a little bit in love already.
(Warning! About 70 pictures behind the cuts, decent sized. Feel free to take them and use them for graphics or picspams or whatever, no need to credit! I'd appreciate if you let me know though :) )
I got the damning X's scrawled on my hands, a mere 8 dollars taken away, and then we were inside. It was tiny, and also kinda empty. I'm terrible at guessing numbers of people, but there were 30 people there, 40 tops. And later I realized that every single boy in the room was in one of the bands or working with them. Hee.
So we all clustered around the front of the stage and watched as the boys set up. It was really lovely to just watch them interact, the easy camaraderie and friendship. Also, Tom Conrad is beautiful in person. Sean exudes warmth and sweetness even when he's not talking, Al is all smoothness and smiling eyes, Ryan is small and mischievous, and Max is ninja-like and masterful. They are, in short, win. \o/
Then they started playing! It was a significantly shortened set, due to their arriving late, their place first on the bill (which is weird, from what I've heard of this tour), and the fact that there was another show scheduled after this one so they had to stay on time. I would have liked more songs, but Sean's voice was suffering as it was, and they played I Want Blood!!!! So i was MORE than happy. Tom is absolutely incredible on the guitar, I was mesmerized by his fingers. Ryan is a bit of a madman on the drums, it's darling. And Sean!! Oh Sean. He loses himself in the music, and just has so much FUN, and he's a wonderful frontman. And his voice! Even though he was scratching out on a couple of longer notes, in general he sounded fabulous. I can't imagine what he would be like healthy. The setlist was as follows (in vaguely the right order):
Valmont
I Want Blood
Anywhere
The New One
All Night Long
Midnight Land
Ryan later told us that that time they called the new song something to do with bigfoot, and it had Hairy in it... I can't remember exactly, but Sean was rambling on at length about the bigfoot "discovery" on stage. He was very excited about it! As was Ryan, who brought it up to us later. It was pretty precious. Even if it's clearly another hoax.
I have so much more to talk about, so I'll stop talking about the actual set. It was fantastic the end. Pictures! Click twice for huge!
Ruby Tuesdays with the internet!
Hi Tomrad! (See? SO PRETTY)
RyanJ and his arms.
Al!
I know that some people advise against flash photos at concert, but this is what my non-flash ones turn out like. You get a good sense of the lighting, but so blurry! So flash it is.
Ugh, Sean Van Vleet!
I think he's laughing about the fact that he wounded himself terribly again. At least that's what he told me later. (!!!)
The only clear picture I got of Max all night! I'm sorry Max ILU!
He really gets into that tambourine!
No, REALLY.
Aaaand then they were done, and sweaty!
Ryan apparently plays in his SOCKS. ♥
The darling kick drum!
After Empires finished breaking their equipment down, everyone started wandering around. It was clear that some Empires boy(s) was or were at the merch table, from the cluster of fangirls, but I just chilled at the stage while Dangerous Summer set up, chatting with a local girl who was there only to see Dangerous Summer but had really liked the Empires set! She was really awesome and I think has become a new Empires fan, yay!
However, I ended up missing the entire Dangerous Summer set due to Empires boys - sorry, kids! Because I turned around and saw Sean just standing there, alone, and summertea gave me a nudge, so I went over and said hi! I introduced myself, and he introduced himself (they all did that, and I had to resist the urge to say "I know!") and then aborted an offered handshake, saying "I'm sweaty!" and holding up his hand for a high five. Okay, Sean Van Vleet, I'll high five you. *hands* Love love love. I don't remember in what order this conversation occured, but I told him that I loved the set, and that it was my first Empires show, yadda yadda. I then said that I wanted to thank him for playing for my birthday, since it was my birthday on Monday. He made a big surprised face when I said it was my 21st (so adorable), said happy birthday and opened his arms up for a hug! He said again that he was sweaty, but I said I don't mind! And claimed my first bandboy hug of the evening. Hee. We continued chatting, and I somehow mentioned I'd been in Dublin? Idk, I can work that into a conversation about cheese, so. And he said that he is currently reading James Joyce's Dubliners!!! How cool is that?? I told him that I love Joyce, that Portrait of the Artist is one of my favorite books, and he lit up and said he'd read that last week! SEAN. Seriously. I must mention that for a lot of this conversation I was obliged to lean in and essentially shout into Sean's ear, because Dangerous Summer had started playing. I am not complaining.
This is my favorite part, so new paragraph! I said that I had something for him to sign, and should he do it now, or...? And he said, yeah, sure! So I reached into my backpack and pulled out the hard plastic cover containing two glossy 8x10 prints, one of the Howl cover and one of the second page of the artwork, with the equipment and their names and everything. He got all excited and was like "Wow, what's this??" And I said it's just a print of the artwork! And he thought it was the coolest thing ever. "Tom has to see this!" he exclaimed, and quickly looked around for Tom. He spotted him and literally zipped across the room. I blinked and followed in his wake, to find him poking his head right into a conversation Tom was having with fans. He held it out and Tom went "Whoa, what's that!" Sean told him that it was mine, and Tom looked at me like it was the coolest thing ever. He and Sean kinda flailed about it for a bit, and Tom said "I took that!" I wanted to squish him! Honey, you SELL prints of your photos! Ugh so adorable. So I asked Sean if he would sign it, and he of course said sure, so I gave him my silver sharpie, and he made sure he got my name spelled right and wrote "Thank you Anne!" in darling girly handwriting. There's a picture later in the post with the completed five autographs, so we'll get there :D Sean thanked me very earnestly, and I think he said he'd catch me later? Idk, but he went to talk to other fangirls, and I caught Tom and asked if he would sign it too. He scrawled his very truncated signature, and I didn't find him awkward at all, just very sweet. I think having one of his photos broke the ice a bit :D
Then I wandered towards the back of the venue, where the merch tables and the bar (with GUINNESS ON TAP! I was so angstful that I couldn't have any) were. I got a cup of water and mingled with the internet. Ryan wandered by and I caught him and had a really adorable conversation. Again with the mutual introductions! Earlier another fangirl had told me that Ryan had wounded himself dreadfully - he cut his finger open on his snare drum. SIGH RYAN. So I asked if he was okay, and he showed me his gory wound. I asked if he would sign my picture, and he too was all O.O WHAT'S THIS? about it. How are they so adorable? He signed it happily, with a little smiley face! <3 I miraculously still had him to myself at this point. I thanked him too for playing on my birthday, and there was chatting about other things, I don't remember. But when we were done talking he said "Thank you, and happy birthday, seriously!" Ryannnnnn.
This all occurred right in front of the merch table, which Sean was now manning! Or shall I say, "manning", because he's a very adorable failboat about it. Trying to figure out where shirts are, etc. We chatted some more, I don't think about anything particularly memorable but he continued to be epically sweet. OH! He tried to remember my name! He said "It's... Anna?" and I grinned and said "Anne. Close!" And he was like "Oh, Anne! Duh!" all sheepish. I thought it was so sweet that he even tried, and got really close too! I had never done this before, so I kind of shyly asked if I could have a picture with him, and he was all enthusiastically "Sure!!" about it. The picture is really really cute, he has this huge earnest smile, it's down a bit in the next picture section. Then I wanted a t-shirt, and he asked me which size, and I said "Large?" because that's what I usually wear in girls' tshirts, like from Threadless and such! And he looked at me and went "What???" I almost DIED. Thank you, Sean Van Vleet, for being so sweet I could eat you with a spoon! He looked at me kind of dubiously and fished out a medium, and held it up. Bizarrely, it did look way too big, even though it's a slim-fit, long shirt. IDEK. So he looked for a small, but there wasn't one, then he checked the one displayed on the table and it was their last small! He handed it to me and I was like "are you sure??" I tried it on and sure enough it fit like a charm. Sean Van Vleet, making girls feel better about themselves!
WAIT THERE'S MORE. After that, I relinquished my place basking in the glow of Van Vleet and wandered off to hang out with fangirls some more. I adore fangirls. It was around this point that some of the other girls gave RyanJ his present, which was plastic pirate weapons. YEAH. Of course he immediately took the dart gun and shot a plastic dart at Sean. I was standing immediately next to him when this occurred, though I wasn't aware until people started cracking up. I turned around and whipped out the camera, with some adorable results - see below. After he shot one dart, he hid the gun behind his back, grabbing a beer with his best "I'm innocent!" face. Then he mischievously tried to shoot another, grinning adorably, and it took Sean a hilariously long time to figure out what on earth was going on. They were so cute. *hands*
Okay, let's break up my rambling with some more pictures!
Me and summertea!
The venue was really neat, small and intimate and covered in posters.
SEAN. His earnest smile! How he's ducking down a little! Asdlksjdlfkjs be still my heart.
Ryan taking his first shot!
He was very pleased with himself.
LOOK AT THEIR EARNEST FACES. They're really LISTENING. Gah!
Hushies!!
Al hanging out with the internet!
figletofvenice whispering sweet nothings to Max!
As evident from the above photos, Max and Al also came out and were hanging out with the internet! I wandered in that direction and spoke briefly with both of them. More mutual introductions, and thank yous, and "you guys are awesome"s. I had both of them sign my picture, and my set was COMPLETE! \o/ I asked Max about their plans for the next album, and he told me that it was going to be SO much better than Howl, to which I replied "Oh, so it will blow my mind?" I am SO EXCITED for more material from these boys. They clearly have so much in their heads, and the talent to say it with. Al was very warm and personable and just easy to talk to. SIGH ♥_♥
Then Mark Rose started setting up, and as he started to play I tugged figletofvenice (who I love, by the way - MCR lovers unite! \o/) over to watch with me. He/they were WONDERFUL! A more stripped down sound than Empires, but very listenable, and I loved Mark's voice a lot. He's really pretty but hard to photograph. I really enjoyed their set a lot.
The sequence of events gets fuzzy in here, but after their set, and more hanging with the internet, we spotted Mark wandering around and went to chat with him. I don't remember a lot of the details, but it involved him speaking through the stuffed hamster other fangirls had given him, adorably. We prodded him about recording an album, because his music's only on MySpace right now, and he said he can't until he has the money, and he doesn't! :( I asked if that was a subtle prod to buy t-shirts (because I'm a bitch? ha) and he was like "Hmmm, no, but..." and proceeded to give us a treatise on the merits of v-necks over t-shirts, because apparently they have both in their merch. First he started by restating how surprised he was to find that his v-neck was THAT plunging - he had said that on stage, how surprised he was when he put on his guitar and found how low the vee went. I wasn't complaining! But then he went on to say that t-shirts are all well and good, when you just want to... wear a t-shirt (and pointed to the fact that I was wearing one as an example, oh Mark) but that v-necks are a bit more... exciting! And stylish! I don't even know, but it was really ridiculously cute. He's clever and a bit sarcastic and very friendly, I enjoyed him a lot and will be keeping an eye on him!
Mark and his very pretty brother, Dan
After Mark Rose was Oh the Story!, a local Baltimore band (I think). They all seemed quite young (at least half had the under-21 X's) and there were SIX of them on stage. They were loud and energetic, but the main attraction was their darling lead singer. He was probably about Brendon height and Beckett circumference - he was seriously mini. And all writhey and and talkative and adorable. They were a lot of fun to watch.
Sean watching Oh The Story!. I know it's dark, but I kind of love it.
Meet BABY BECKETT!! I really loved this kid.
Tiny! Skinny! Bopping about! His hair was an object of fascination.
They had a xylophonist! A cute one, at that, and it actually sounded really cool.
SERIOUSLY. *puts him in pocket*
Sean watched most of their set from the audience.
Ryan watched for a while from upstairs by us, and so did Tom but I didn't manage to stalkerize him.
Sigh this KID.
I ♥ FANGIRLS. figletofvenice, me, and skyfalling!
After all the bands were done, Sean was still hanging around inside and a bunch of us were talking to him. I don't remember what we were talking about in general, but he continued to be ridiculously sweet. At one point, I said "So I wanted to ask you, about the tour support collection--" and I was going to ask if it had helped, but his eyes went wide and he was like "Were you part of that??" aaaand then he gave me another hug. Hee! Their open gratitude and graciousness is so lovely and wonderful. I told him that it was our way of saying thank you to them, for making such great music and being so amazing to their fans. He was so effusive and darling, I was glad I brought it up :D
Another girl poked her head in to ask Sean to sign her t-shirt, and she didn't have Tom or Max so she asked Sean if he knew where they were. He looked around and told her he would go find them, so he turned to us to say goodbye. He was like "Is this the last one? Goodbye for real?" and hugged each of us in turn because he is ADORABLE. Sigh Sean Van Vleet.
So we all kind of ambled outside (into the SUNSHINE, as it was about 6 in the afternoon *hands*) and just hung out chatting for a while (I reiterate - I ♥ the internet!), and there were bandboys coming and going the whole time with equipment. Ryan stopped and talked to us for a long time. We told him that he should really get stitches, but he doesn't want to because then he couldn't drum! Which is valid, but it was still BLEEDING THROUGH the thick bandage he had over it. SIGH RYAN. He also brought up bigfoot again - their fixation was pretty hilarious. It was then that I got my picture with Ryan, and ughhh it is beautiful, all sunlit. See below. He wandered off at some point, and then there was Mark and Dan Rose, who also chatted with us for a while. They were funny and awesome. Then Sean came to hang out AGAIN, for what seemed like forever. We bonded further over James Joyce, and he told me that I absolutely have to read Dubliners. Which I'm going to! I also said that I loved Portrait largely because of the teacher I had when I read it, and he went onto a passionate tangent about how important good teachers are, and how sometimes you have to be forced to read the books you're going to love. He's obviously SO SMART and I could talk to him forever.
Finally the guys had to go, and they all wandered toward the back of the venue towards their vehicles. summertea and I said goodbye to all the other awesome fangirls and also headed to the back of the venue where her car was. She wanted photos with Tom and Al, and they were just standing there, so we wandered over and asked and they were so sweet about it. I really like Al and wish I had gotten to speak to him more! We got pictures with them both, Tomrad making his patented picture face, and thanked them and said goodbye, yadda yadda. We stood in the parking lot talking for a long time, mainly because she is awesome, and had the bonus of watching the guys as they hung out and laughed and got into the car. They're such a precious little family.
This is such a ridiculously gorgeous photo of Ryan. How the sun's hitting him? Guhhh. I rather wish I wasn't in it to ruin it, haha, but instead I will appreciate how lucky I am :D
Tiny adorable baby Beckett! (He must have been 18 or 19.)
He spoke very earnestly to Sean for a long time. Mostly about a band whose career trajectory he thought was very similar to Empires (releasing shit online for free, suddenly touring and coming out of nowhere to be like WOW we're awesome!) and that he thought they should tour together. It was kind of awesome to just stand there and listen to band dudes chat about bands. Sean was so sweet to him.
Moar band dudes, just chillin! That's the bassist and drummer for Mark Rose on the left.
Dan and Mark Rose. They were so funny and nice and hung out for quite a while.
A billboard just outside the venue.
Tomrad, your face. Hee.
Al is such a warm person, he just makes you feel comfortable being around him. And his waist feels very, ahem, toned. :D
This is what the failboats are riding around in. <3
On my way home, the sun was setting behind me, so I took out my camera. I kind of love this shot. (Sunnydale! I got that at Shore Leave :D)
Goodbye, Baltimore!
And this is the photo I got signed! Sean is at the top left. I love his totally girly handwriting. He made sure he spelled my name right! ♥ Tom's scribble's at the bottom left, Max is in the middle, Ryan's at the bottom (with a smiley face!), and Al's up at the top. I'm seriously thinking about framing this.
Thus ends the tale of my incredible day hanging out with Empires. They are such genuine, gracious, friendly, talented, funny, sweet guys, it was absolutely a privilege and a pleasure to get to meet them and see them play. I only hope I get to repeat the experience soon!