Travis White knocked on Scott Manning’s door and said, “Let’s try to get something started.”

Within two months Empirates had seven songs and is ready to perform. 

“We’ve all been in bands before, so this band is created off of a collaboration of ideas,” Manning said. “We all have a voice and we say what we want and think. It’s kind of like a democracy, which is really rare for a band.”

The Empirates fit into the British Post-Punk Revival genre.

“The bands that resemble us most are Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes and The Bravery,” Manning said. “It is a really different style and it is really uncommon to hear it coming out of Provo. We really enjoy playing around this area.”

Manning said the band has a light-hearted, humorous feel to its songs.

“Most of our songs are just about the funny things people do,” he said. “They are about those ‘what was he thinking?’ moments. But even though the songs are funny, the lyrics are really good. We all help with the lyrics but Travis has come up with some really good ones recently that reference books like ‘The Iliad’ that you probably won’t catch the first time you listen to the song.”

To listen, go to myspace.com/empirates.