EMPOOL

Experimental Existential Dada-Psych Rock
[1976 ~ 1978 / Reborn 2018-2021]


LAURENCE MILLER
Standard Guitar, Uniquely High-Strung Guitar, Electric Wholetone 4-stringed Mandolin, Bb Clarinet,
Vocals, 
Watercolor Video Projection, and Prerecorded Soundscapes

BENJAMIN MILLER
Baritone Guitar, 12-string Guitar (tuned individually), C Tenor Saxophone, Electronics, and Prerecorded Soundscapes

_______________________________________________________________________________________

"EMPOOL is (was) a dissonant frenetic wash of guitar-sound w/electronic effects accompanied by original soundtracks. Identical
twin brothers explore 
an interactive art-psych improvisation bordering pure chaos as it builds and fades in & out of itself
with little regard for common tonality 
and rhythm. Found sound, word salad poetry, and video projection
rounds out their cerebral dada approach to music making."

EMPOOL was originally an existential, dada-psychedelic noise band from the mid-70’s. Prerecorded analogue tapes were used
(1/4" reel to reel tape 
machine as soundtracks) to accompany free-form improvisation. Though there were ‘songs’ written,
most of the material back then 
was instrumental and conceptual, absent of tonal center or conventional rhythmic meter.

The band was short lived, lasting from fall 1976 to spring 1977 when its members merged with Cary Loren and Niagara’s art-rock band, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. Shortly thereafter, Ron Asheton of The Stooges and Michael Davis of the MC5 were introduced into
the mix and the rest is history. 
Empool kicked about from time to time in the early part of 1978 with one last blast
studio reunion project in 1994, released in 2018 as a CD Single.

Now, 40 years since its original inception, with the support of Feeding Tube Records and their LP release of 1977 recordings of the band,
Laurence 
and Benjamin have resurrected the essential elements, digitized the old soundtracks as well as creating new ones, and
do their best 
to maintain the original sound of the group, as well as write fresh new material.



                             EMPOOL "Live" at Detroit's MOTOR CITY MUSCLE MUSIC FESTIVAL 
August 17th 2018 
                                                                                          Photography by Brett Kenneth Moyer





MUSIC VIDEOS for their New "Special-Mix Pre-Release CD Single" FarFetched Records © 2021


                                                   
                                                        Empool in the Rehearsal Room
                                                                              (2018 / 2021)

Video Fan Response
"Brilliant. Claustrophobic and odd and charmingly ingenuous all at the same time, which is quite a trick to pull off."
Jon B.



2020 CONCERT SCHEDULE

Sadly, their string of gigs for the year were cancelled due to The Pandemic.
Rehearsals soon came to a stand still and that became the end of EMPOOL. Hopes
are still high that their LP 2019 Collection 'CONTEXT VS. ASSOCIATION' will indeed
be picked up someday by a record label, and released into the world at large.


2019 CONCERT SCHEDULE

APRIL - AUGUST
Recording their new LP in the studio

OCTOBER
Friday October 18th @ Dreamland Theater
26 N. Washington, Ypsilanti MI 48197
Double-billed w/Frank Pahl & Terri Sarris
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
$10.00 Admission

NOVEMBER
Thursday November 14th @ Outer Limits Lounge
5507 Caniff St, Hamtramck, MI 48212
Double-billed w/Chatoyant
8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
$7.00 Admission


2018 CONCERT SCHEDULE

JUNE
Friday June 1st @ Radio Interview w/Sean Westergaard
WCBN FM 88.3 Ann Arbor

Friday June 8th @ Dreamland Theater
26 N. Washington, Ypsilanti MI 48197
Debut Concert celebrating the release of their 1st LP on Feeding Tube Records
"Empool Does; Do, Did, Done"
8:00 pm - 8:45 pm
$10.00 Admission

JULY
Monday July 16th Ann Arbor Cable Television Network
4-song music video production

AUGUST
Saturday August 11th @ Book Beat
26010 Greenfield Rd, Oak Park, MI 48237
9:00 pm - 9:45 pm
FREE

August 17th @ Motor City Muscle Music Festival
The Underground Stage @ Hart Plaza 
7:00 pm - 7:45 pm
FREE

SEPTEMBER
Rehearsing new material...

OCTOBER
Thursday October 11th @ Mexicains Sans Frontieres w/Matt Weston
1230 Division Ave S, Apt 226 Grand Rapids, MI
All Ages / Doors @ 8:00pm

Saturday October 27th @ Entropy Studios w/Jimbo Easter & Devotional
25908 West Six Mile Redford, MI 48240
Doors @ 8:00pm / Music @ 9:00pm
$10.00 Admission

NOVEMBER
Friday November 9th 2018 @ Outer Limits Lounge w/Devotional
5507 Caniff St, Hamtramck, MI 48212

Friday November 30th @ Zal Gaz Grotto Club w/Porcelain Hammer
2070 W. Stadium Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
7:00pm - 10:00pm
$10.00 Admission



Ron Asheton: The Stooges, Destroy All Monsters & Beyond

John Wombat Blog "From EMPOOL to D.A.M. to EMPOOL" Ben & Laurence Miller

Part One: 17th March 2019   
Part Two: 19th March 2019
Part Three: 20th March 2019




MERCHANDISE


EMPOOL DOES "Do, Did, Done"

(5-song 12" LP $15.00 plus P&H)
Recorded 1977 / Released July 2018
SOLD OUT on Feeding Tube Records





Feeding Tube Records Press Release July 27th 2018   
 
EMPOOL DOES do did done

Finally, what the world has been eagerly anticipating for the last four decades - an LP by EMPOOL! Empool was a whacked-out, Detroit-based prog-noise combo that would eventually merge into the rock-band era DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. Guitarist Laurence Miller was a constant throughout.
Organist Andre Cynkin was generally on hand as well. Laurence's
brothers, Ben and Roger, 
showed up now and then,
as did pianist Rick Scott.

EMPOOL only played three live shows 
but they recorded everything,
and their use of pre-recorded tapes as a live sound source
may have informed Roger's decision to do the same
when he formed MISSION OF BURMA.

The tracks on this album were recorded in 1977 and they're
pretty amazing. Structurally, the stuff is far away from No Wave,
but it has a lot of the same rough structural textures and jumbled
sonics, although there's also crazy tape noise (some of it resembling gushing synth sequencing) and stun guitar stirred into the mix.
The fact that it's mostly instrumental gives things a certain prog/experimental thrust that feels a bit parallel to the bands
on the Random Radar Label but it runs wilderly against the
grain of anything else you'd hear in that era. With an insert
containing Laurence's memories of the project, and album art
guaranteed to lull prog heads into submission, EMPOOL
DOES Do Did Done is a magnificent head scratcher.
Can be filed neatly between SPROTON LAYER
and DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

THE TRADITION

(2-song CD Single $5.00 plus P&H)
Recorded 1994 / Released July 2018
FarFetched Records/Bond Voyage Music



EMPOOL T-SHIRT

$10.00 White / $15.00 Gray ~ plus P&H)

 


EMPOOL III
Their Arts Rag Counterpart

Click Here


BAND HISTORY
(1976-78)
Click Here


P.S.  something we found on the Internet while googling the word EMPOOL.

EMPOOL (The Water Treatment Works) WATER INDUSTRY ACT 1991: SECTION 19(1)(b) THE SECRETARY OF STATE
FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD, AND RURAL AFFAIRS: 
is satisfied that Wessex Water Services Ltd "the Company" is
supplying water from the Empool water treatment works which may 
be at risk of exceeding the standard for
the prescribed concentration of nitrate. This means that the Company  is 
likely to contravene its duty in
respect of supplying water which meets the  Regulations under Section 68(1)(a) 
of the
Water Industry Act 1991and meets 
the  requirement set in regulation 4(2)(c)
of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000.

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