Empire of the Sun Mix Music and Movies for First Gigs

Posted on Sep 15th 2009 3:00PM by Benjy Eisen
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By all means, Empire of the Sun is on a winning streak. Their debut album, 'Walking on a Dream,' has gone gold in the UK and charted in the Top 30 across Europe. Their songs have been featured prominently on the television show 'Entourage.' And now frontman Luke Steele was asked to collaborate on the lead track of Jay-Z's new album, 'The Blueprint 3.' It's pretty impressive for a band that has yet to play its first show. They're finally going to add that to their resume as well, at the end of this month when Empire of the Sun performs a string of festival dates across Australia, beginning Sept. 26 in Brisbane.

"I've kind of designed the show like a movie," Steele tells Spinner. "It's like a 3-D movie. There's narration and there's lots of dance, and so it kind of takes you on a journey like the record does and goes to a lot of different places. It's a cross between a movie and a live band show."

Interesting that he should compare his show to a movie. Lots of people have incorrectly assumed that the band name Empire of the Sun comes from the movie of the same name (directed by Steven Spielberg), which comes from the book of the same name (written by J.G. Ballard). Not true, says Steele, despite what you may read on Wikipedia. "But after shooting the first video in Shanghai, it's like, I don't know how the Emperor Steele is going to beat himself out of this one in interviews," says Steele, trying to beat himself out of it in an interview. The book and movie both take place in Shanghai, but now it's time to cut to a different scene -- Australia -- for 'Walking on a Dream.'

"It's always been about making our own story," says Steele. And for that, he just might live happily ever after.