Stephen Wisniewski: Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Harmonica, Banjo, Electric Air Organ
John Duffy: Electric Guitar, Slide Guitar
Mark Michalik: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Machines
Vince Moreno: Electric Guitar
Chris Thibodeau: Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Brandon Trammell: Keys, Backing Vocals
Jeff Buffmyer: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Michelle Lukezic: Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Nick Mayberry: Bass Guitar

Base of operations: Flint, MI

MP3s at www.myspace.com/emptyorchestra
Website at www.hereliesemptyorchestra.com

Biography:
Empty Orchestra (the English translation of the Japanese word “karaoke”) is a band from Flint, Michigan that features Stephen  Wisniewski and his close friends out on the road and in the studio.  The band, forming after the hiatus of Wisniewski’s former act Lingua Franca, have been touring and recording for two years and already have an EP, a full-length CD, and over 100 shows performed to their name. 

What kind of circumstances might breed such a tightly-knit, motivated, and hard-working band?  For one, they’re from a town that has been suffering from the departure of General Motors (famously depicted in Michael Moore’s Roger and Me) over the last twenty-plus years. The effects of this environment are seen throughout their newest CD, Here Lies Empty Orchestra, but most prominently on the subdued track titled “What Do We Want? When Do We Want It?” Sparks of Bruce Springsteen and Woody Guthrie flicker and become ghosts as Wisniewski sings, “They tore down the machining plant and paved the river and we still believe in smokestacks here/Go figure…/And it will take more than iron and light bulbs to help us get better.” Wisniewski wrote the song as an attempt to write a modern labor ballad, although he says it also speaks of “labor ballads as song structures.” “It’s about how labor and capitalism have changed so much since the ‘30s and ‘40s. It doesn’t mean the same thing to strike today, if globalized capitalism makes it possible for companies to just leave.”

Other songs on Here Lies Empty Orchestra, such as “I Forget,” “It Gets Better,” “Vaudeville Tears,” and “Always Already” deal with the relationships between memory, history, and writing. Wisniewski uses the songs as a way to document the events and experiences that he feels doomed to forget, but also to ask questions about how memories and history are made and re-made through the process of songwriting. “It must have rained for my face to be so wet, unless something happened somewhere that I forget,” Wisniewski exclaims in the upbeat, Wilco-esque album opener “I Forget."

Empty Orchestra are constantly touring and have already shared the stage with great acts such as Lucero, Crooked Fingers, Onelinedrawing, Jeremy Enigk, City On Film, Murder By Death, Shooter Jennings, Scouts Honor, Bear Vs. Shark, and Xiu Xiu to name a few.  Check them out on tour this Fall and be sure to pick up your copy of Here Lies Empty Orchestra

Similar artists: Wilco, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Lucero, Crooked Fingers, Sixteen Horsepower

Discography:
"Here Lies Empty Orchestra" Thinker Thought Records 2009 (CD reissue)
"Here Lies Empty Orchestra" Thinker Thought Records 2009 (LP reissue)
Split 7" with The Silverbird Band Capeside Records 2008
"Saturday Afternoon June 7, 2008" Self-Released 2008
"Get Well Soon" Thinker Thought Records 2008 (digital reissue)
"Here Lies Empty Orchestra" Thinker Thought Records 2007
"Get Well Soon" Karaoke/Acutest 2006


Empty Orchestra - Download printable press photo 1 (1596 x 2400 jpeg) - by Brett Rhoades


Empty Orchestra - Download printable press photo 2 (2400 x 1596 jpeg) - by Brett Rhoades


Empty Orchestra - Download printable press photo 3 (1596 x 2400 jpeg) - by Brett Rhoades

Track Listing:
1. I Forget
2. Always Already
3. Vaudeville Tears
4. This Heart is a Monster
5. Words and Music
6. What Do We Want? When Do We Want It?
7. It Gets Better
8. Like Pianos
9. World On a String
10. Someone Else's Grace
11. Lonesome

Press:
"Empty Orchestra's skill for earworm jangle and twangle comes courtesy of leader-guy Stephen Wisniewski, who, in an earlier time (say the mid-'90s), woulda been a bona fide contender for the kind of major label bidding war that brought us such awesomeness as the Jayhawks, the Bottle Rockets and AM-era Wilco... I'm loath to pigeonhole the goods on offer at their MySpace page, so check for yourself. I will say that there's a grand pop sense at work." - Detroit Metro Times, 8/6/08

"They're torchbearers of the rough edge urban folk of Billy Bragg, or the smoky idiosyncratic poet-blues of Tom Waits and a revival of classic 70's singer/songwriter balladry--only amped up with a squadron of talented musicians bringing a fire to even the slower tunes...The distinct sound of classic American R&B, that meloncholic escapism, that near-bluesy visceral howl and that near-country twang, combined with a distinct whirlwind alt-rock urgency, beautiful intertwining guitars, be it the strummed acoustic, the steady rhythm or the more exertive lead, with its solos and pedal roars...an invigorating live band." - Jeff Milo, Real Detroit Weekly

"Empty Orchestra's music might be best described as experimental Americana. Perhaps inspired by whatever cosmic forced produced the off-kilter creative freedom of Wilco, Tom Waits and Bobby Bare, Jr., the quintet that composes Empty Orchestra seems as interested in masterful '70s rock and balladeer song-writing as they are in the folksier outer-rings of the indie circuit." - the Ann Arbor Current

"Stephen Wisniewski serves as the front man for the Flint, Michigan collective Empty Orchestra. Apart from that, as a friend of mine Stephen is one of the very few people I know personally that I find continually interesting and inspiring. Although Empty Orchestra takes up a great deal of his time, it is not his main focus. He is also a (currently striking for a increased stipend) doctoral candidate in the field of American Culture. This interaction served as much as an 'interview' as an opportunity for me to ask him a couple questions that I had kicking around about the band for my own personal interest.

"Ghettoblaster: Stephen, I've always been interested, and I am stealing this question from a Chomsky interview (I know this greatly pleases him), in what connection, if any, do you see between your intellectual pursuits and what you do with the bnad. That is to say, are they at all connected?

"Stephen Wisniewski: Well, I really believe they're part of the same thing. The subject matter for many of the songs as well as what I'm doing in school come from me trying to understand certain things about myself. Things like- What is home? They also come from my understanding of the society we live in as being the creation of a destructive economic system. I just think, where do I fit into this? How can I in some way provide a constructive critique of what I see? It stems somewhat from my interest in understanding what a postmodern society is. What is representation and how are things represented, especially using the written medium? 'Always, Already' comes straight from Judith Butler. I think that I am a better song writer for having gone to school and a better student for having music. It has also served as a way to get away from one thing or another. I had a semester after we moved to Minnesota that all I did was write songs in my seminar classes. I also want to say though, that I hope, and I don't think that, this makes the songs inaccessible. I think that the idea that academics cannot be relevant to life experience is completely wrong; it is the exact opposite of my experience.

"Then for about an hour here, talk devolves into babble about old roommates and current roommate and how the flute solo in 'What Do We Want?' is derived from Lisa's protest song in the strike episode of 'The Simpsons.'

"GB: Ok, Stephen, second and final question. How do you reconcile your personal socialist/anarchistic beliefs with what you do with the band? I think that, especially now, the idea is you try to make a profit with what you do artistically.

"SW: Well I say I am a socialist and at 18 I voted a straight socialist ticket and felt very self congratulatory but I am not naive enough to think that we do no live in a capitalist society and that the way I view the world, including music has not been shaped by that. With the band, my idea is that I'm offering some level of critique of that, that there are possibilities outside of what most people consider being the normal way of conducting oneself. Being in a band at this age (a sickly 30) does not make sense. Conducting ourselves the way we do does not make sense. Things like this can serve to cause disruptions in what people view as important-at least that is the idea. The way that music is currently made is destructive, 18 or 19 year-olds are picked up and worked (toured) to death and then dumped at 23 because whatever the trend their band came in with is now out of fashion. Where does this leave them? Running the band as a success machine, where I worry about the economic successes of the band and depend on it for my livelihood is not interesting to me. I see this more as a lifelong project. This way I am able to focus on the records, and not worry about selling them, it makes very little difference to me financially. I don't want to be monetarily tied to art. I don't want this to be professionalized." - Jerry Crago/Ghettoblaster

"While the venue for Chiodos' 'Bone Palace Ballet' headlining tour was Clutch Cargo's, it nearly felt like one of the local, all-ages shows that helped the band gain regional popularity before expanding their sound worldwide.... The band's set spanned 2005's 'All's Well That Ends Well' and 2007's 'Bone Palace Ballet.' Owens paused several times during the set to express gratitude to the fans and special guest opening act Empty Orchestra, whose members Owens credited for his desire to play music. Boasting former members of May/June, Lingua Franca, Kid Brother Collective, Dead By Sunday, The Hot Flashez and Silence the Wake, its lineup was a who's who of bands that grew up in downtown's Flint Local 432 all-ages venue alongside Chiodos. - John McKay/The Flint Journal

"Unconventional top album, but I ran into Empty Orchestra player John Duffy at work today and I was like, 'You know, that album, for me, sums up Flint more than any other album I've heard since Kid Brother Collective's Highway Miles.' It is blue-collar rock from the heart of the Mitten State, and done with an energetic, alt-country flair that seems to be all the rage these days. I've followed Stephen Wisniewski's songs since my inception into the whole Flint music scene and I have always admired the risks he has taken. I remember how confused people were when May/June would entertain kids with Suicide Machines tees with delicate, heartfelt folk music that inspired sitting quietly and watching, rather than mixing it up on the floor. His songs commanded respect then, and they certainly deserve the audience they're getting now. Highly, highly recommended." - Stand Up Jack!

"There's something about the worst of situations that seems to be able to bring out the best in art. Based out of Flint, MI, Stephen Wisniewski and his friends who make up the Empty Orchestra know a little something about the worst of situations. Home to the abandoned promises of the American automotive industry, the Empty Orchestra have fashioned themselves as a new sort of labor hero - challenging both the corporations who've ignored them and the social mindset that even still relies on them. Taking cues from the likes of Woody Guthrie, Tom Waits and Mike Patton, the music has been finely hewn by the band's dogmatic touring, but it's in listening to the words where the true inspiration is found." - Big Takeover #61

"Overall, this is a pretty sad album. Listening to sad music probably isn't the best thing for me to do, as it kills what little motivation I have, but its so damn good, honest and heartfelt that its hard not to listen to, especially a band like Empty Orchestra. On the bright side, they do have a good amount of rocking numbers that keep the energy level high. Empty Orchestra sound like a combination of Lucero, Bruce Springstein, Johnny Cash, Drag the River and Tom Petty, mixing country, folk, hard rock and punk rock. They put all of those influences to good use, creating a strongly written and very honest and sincere album.

"This is an album that you could get lost driving to; a time when you're 1/3 paying attention to the road, 1/3 listening to the album and 1/3 getting lost in your own head. Its good music to just drown the rest of the world out and spend some time getting to know the inside of your head. There are some killer licks that are best when repeated, as its something that you want to hear again and again, and the vocals of kingpin Stephen Wisniewsk are the centerpiece of this thoughtful, intricate album." - The Playist Dot Net

"If you're into Wilco or Son Volt then make sure you give these guys a listen. I promise you won't be let down." - Black Balloon