Okay, so, like, what if Darth Vader picked up a Flying V and decided to shred instead of, you know, choking people out with the force? That’s basically the vibe of Galactic Empire, except it’s actually real and somehow even cooler than it sounds. Known for turning John Williams’ Star Wars masterpieces into metal anthems, under the guidance of Sith Overlords Carson Slovak (Bass Commander) and Grant McFarland (Boba Sett), the band is back with Cinemetal, a new album that blasts into universes beyond the galaxy far, far away. From Harry Potter to Batman to Lord of the Rings, Galactic Empire is proving that film music and heavy metal might just be the ultimate crossover. I sat down with Grant to talk about how the band approaches tackling these iconic scores, winning over audiences, and the sheer fun of making movie magic louder than ever.
JG: You’ve conquered the Star Wars galaxy in full metal cosplay glory. What was it about Middle-earth and Howard Shore’s score in particular that felt ripe for a Galactic Empire takeover?
Grant McFarland: That’s a multi-faceted question because the first part is just that we have three albums of Star Wars material. There’s still plenty of Star Wars music out there, but all the really iconic, memorable themes, we’ve already done them. So, we wanted to move on to other phenomenal pop culture music and sounds within the zeitgeist. The Lord of the Rings was an obvious choice for us because those movies have had such a profound impact on our generation growing up, and Howard Shore’s score for those films is just so instantly recognizable when you hear it. That’s one of the core themes of Galactic Empire, that you don’t really have to guess when you hear the music or the notes. You know it as soon as you hear it.
JG: Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings score is iconic and delicate in places. How do you decide what to preserve and what to really put your own spin on?
Grant McFarland: I actually discussed this a little bit with my brother, who has a college course that he teaches on arrangements. One of the things that we discussed in an interview that I did for one of his classes was talking about when to stay true to the original and when to dive off into your own territory. There’s a specific set of terms that he used that I really liked that aren’t coming to me right now. Something like diverting, but I don’t think that was the word. We try really hard to maintain the original melodies and chord structures. If there’s a note playing in the score, we’re playing that note. And we try as hard as we can to faithfully recreate the pieces, so that every melody, harmony and chord is being represented, but with a guitar. Where we get a little more creative is sometimes when we add an additional section, like in The Lord of the Rings. That’s a perfect example. There’s a moment in the ring motif where there are just these chords that are being held out mostly with strings. That part sounds great with an orchestra, but ours felt like it fell a little flat. So, I made it more exciting by using those chords as a structure to add a guitar solo. Obviously, that wasn’t in the original song, but it keeps our arrangement exciting and interesting. We’ll have little moments like that where we’ll move away from what the original was, but it still feels like it’s glued into the song in a way.
Also, the drums are the other big component where we will accent different things that are happening within the orchestra. But obviously, there were no drum parts in the original Lord of the Rings score. You can almost interpret or hear a low-end rhythm. And sometimes we’ll even exaggerate it or add to it and make it a little bit more interesting, so it feels more metal or metalcore. There’s a lot of death metal and black metal-esque components to the Lord of the Rings track on the album that I really like. It’s just the chord structures in that song lend themselves really well to those specific genres. I just thought of the term from earlier, faithfulness in departure. I departed from the themes a little bit in those moments. The rhythmic components are the main area where we’ll sort of depart. And then sometimes, you know, we’ll add things like a guitar solo. I think our take on Pirates of the Caribbean also has a guitar solo. That’s another example.
JG: You’ve tackled Star Wars, Marvel, Tolkien, and more. If you had unlimited studio time, what’s one cinematic theme or franchise you’re dying to warp into the Empire’s orbit?
Grant McFarland: I feel like an obvious choice here would be more in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s pretty extensive at this point. There are a lot of films. Although I feel like we hit the big one on this album in doing the Avengers theme. That’s pretty instantly recognizable. There are probably not as many movies in the Marvel franchise where I could pull a random person off the street and ask them to hum the Spider-Man theme. Danny Elfman’s theme to Spider-Man is actually amazing. So that would be one that I’d love to cover. But I don’t know if it’s one that as many people would recognize instantly, like the Star Wars theme. The opening to The Lord of the Rings, for example, is just one of those themes that you hear, and it’s an instant earworm.
I know that we want to delve heavily into not just movies, but also work our way into video games. I’d love to explore things like Halo. Obvious choices would be classic Super Nintendo games like Super Mario and stuff like that. However, many people have already done those.
JG: Your live shows are a mix of technical musicianship and intergalactic theatre. Do you approach putting on the costumes and the characters as seriously as nailing the riffs?
Grant McFarland: Definitely not. While we really do try to make the music as intricate, detailed and as good as possible, the visual side of the show is undeniably a little silly. We can attempt to look as serious as possible, but I feel like the band is fun, and we try to keep it lighthearted. Oftentimes, when we’re getting suited up before a show, Carson and I will look at each other and be like, What are we doing right now? You know, just laughing as we’re putting on these ridiculous costumes and going out on stage. But it’s because it’s fun and we love doing it. That part feels a lot less serious and just more silly and fun, which translates because it’s meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek. Everybody in the crowd can feel the same way and just enjoy it for what it is, and not try to take it too seriously.
JG: You’ve supported Ozzy Osbourne and Babymetal, and I know you’ve got shows coming up with Bit Brigade and Coheed and Cambria. How do different audiences take to your live show when you’re supporting these established acts that have a very specific thing that they do?
Grant McFarland: The one thing about this band that works really well is that everyone knows our songs. Even if you don’t know the band, as soon as you hear the music, you know that song. Whether or not they like it, I suppose that’s up to them. But for all intents and purposes, we’re a glorified cover band. So, it helps that our music is recognizable. I think for that reason, a lot of people will start paying more attention to us, even if they were there to see a different artist. And I think we’ve definitely won some people over in that respect.
Our band plays really big into nerd culture, which happens to line up pretty well with heavy metal. I feel like most of the time, if you’re a fan of one, you’re probably a fan of the other. It’s worked out to our benefit thus far. I do think that there are probably some demographics that wouldn’t really find the costume cover band thing interesting, but we’re definitely a bit of a niche phenomenon and also at the same time not. It’s instrumental music, so there’s no vocals to grab onto, but because the songs are just so recognizable, I think that gives us a bit of a leg up. People just have fun with it. We played in Japan with Babymetal, and the whole time, the crowd were raising their fists in the air to the “Imperial March” and just having a good time. We played Download Festival in Spain, and everyone was singing like it was a football game and they were just yelling at the top of their lungs. It was raining outside and they didn’t even care because they were just having fun. That’s the cool part about this band is that it triggers nostalgia for a lot of people, myself included. And I think that’s what makes it so fun.
JG: At the end of the day, are you aiming to be the definitive soundtrack for nerd-dom, or are you secretly plotting to convert unsuspecting metalheads into full-blown cinephiles?
Grant McFarland: That’s a great question. We always joke with ourselves that this band is kind of a joke that has gone way too far. We definitely don’t take ourselves too seriously, but at the same time, we put in a lot of effort into everything that we do. We care a lot about it, but then also don’t at the same time, because you have to have fun. I wouldn’t say that from an earthly perspective, we have any secret plans of world domination. But Carson and I, who are kind of like the two original and starting members of the band, have been pretty busy with our recording studio as of late. We actually have some touring members who have been playing in place of us, and we kind of have jokingly called ourselves the Sith Overlords in the new album liner notes. I guess in that respect, you could say in the Star Wars sense of the band, we have sent them out on a galactic conquest.
JG: That’s awesome. Lastly, what’s next?
Grant McFarland: We don’t have any plans of stopping anytime soon. The band’s going to be playing a lot of shows and touring in support of Cinematal. At the same time, I’m sure that I’m going to get the creative itch sooner or later to start working on some new material, and I don’t really know what it will be yet. I find that oftentimes with this band, I’ll randomly get an idea and say, Maybe this would be fun to do today. And then, a new song happens that I wasn’t anticipating. That’s how the band was born, to begin with. There’s a lot of spontaneity there and not a lot of planning. We’ve been doing this long enough that we have some lists going, so there are always potential ideas that we can go down. But I feel like at the end of the day, it’s usually just whatever inspires us or makes our brain tick, or what makes our hair stand up on our arms, that gets us excited about it today. And that’s the thing that I would end up doing.
Galactic Empire’s new album Cinemetal is due out October 24th via Pure Noise Records. Pick up a physical copy here.
Cinemetal Tracklist:
1. Superman
2. Avengers
3. Back To The Future
4. Batman
5. E.T.
6. Indiana Jones
7. Godzilla
8. Harry Potter
9. Jurassic Park
10. The Lord of the Rings
11. Terminator
12. Pirates of the Caribbean
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