About Crown the Empire
Crown the Empire is an American metalcore band from Dallas, Texas formed in 2010. The band comprises vocalist Andrew "Andy Leo" Rockhold, guitarist Brandon Hoover, bassist Hayden Tree, and drummer Jeeves Avalos. They are currently signed to Rise Records and have released five studio albums. Their most recent studio album, Dogma, was released on April 28, 2023.
Crown the Empire was formed in May 2010, when "Brandon and Austin decided to start jamming together" during their time at Colleyville Heritage High School.
The initial line-up consisted of lead vocalist Andrew "Andy Leo" Rockhold , rhythm guitarist/backing vocalist Hayden Tree, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Brandon Hoover, bassist Devin Detar, drummer Alex Massey and keyboardist Austin Duncan. The band's ultimate goal was to "be heavier than most bands in their area," while "bringing huge, poppy choruses to a genre that can become pretty stale." Crown the Empire played their first show at Compass Church in Colleyville, Texas, on July 10, 2010.
During their formative years, the band experienced a number of lineup changes: In late 2010, Detar was replaced by Brandon Shroyer and in early 2011, the band fired their drummer Alex Massey. After some months of auditioning drummers, Brent Taddie was announced as the band's new drummer on June 6, 2011. Five days later, the band uploaded a video asking their fans for vocal covers with a focus on harsh vocals. The winner of this contest was announced on June 30 as Zac Johnson, who was invited to join Crown the Empire, performing harsh vocals at their live shows.
Around October 2011, bassist Brandon Shroyer decided to leave the band, which resulted in the guitarists switching instruments. Brandon Hoover switched from lead to rhythm guitar, Hayden Tree took over Shroyer's position on bass and Bennett "Benn Suede" Vogelman joined Crown the Empire as their new lead guitarist.
This line-up, with the exception of Johnson, would go on to record their first EP, Limitless, which was released on iTunes on November 29, 2011. On December 5, 2011, the band released a behind-the-scenes look at the filming for the music video for "Voices". During the video the band announced the release date for the music video to be December 11.
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