BAND BIO & PHOTOS

...is an alternative rock duo based in Springfield, Missouri, USA. The band members are guitar player ERIC LAWSON, and bass player & vocalist JIM ED SMITH. They have been writing, recording and performing original music together for a hell of a long time.

In the beginning the band started out as the trio Dung Beetles. But soon the trio became a duo, and they very briefly went by the name Sleestak (if you're a Land Of The Lost fan, you know). But after deciding the band needed a more permanent name, they blindly chose 2 random words on a 100 word list. It was then they changed the name to Empire Adrift.

The early days of the band were spent recording tons of demos on an analog 4 track cassette tape machine that Eric still owns today. The early 2000's brought the band into digital recording. It was then that they began posting their original songs and unique sound on the internet. With no auto-tuned vocals, no computer effects of any kind and no BS.  What you hear is what you get from these guys. 
 
In early 2021 the band released Empire Adrift The EP: Vol. 2, a four song EP of new material. And in the Summer of 2022 the band released two singles, On My Way To You and Burn Your Bad Day Down. And both of those songs were included on the 9/9/2022 release of The Best Of Empire Adrift, the band's six song compilation album. On 5/16/2025 the band released it's latest song, "The Dealer".

So after all this time Empire Adrift continues to write, record and perform their unique brand of original alternative rock music.