Empire Of The Sun: A Two-Hit Wonder
In 2000, label mates Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of Pnau crossed paths through an A&R representative at EMI. Their collaboration began slowly, with each helping the other’s band off and on until 2007, when they decided to focus more seriously on a new project called Empire Of The Sun.
Before the debut album was even released, they dropped Walking On A Dream in 2008, which became their first big hit. As the track climbed the Australian charts, the band quickly followed up with We Are The People, another success, and released the album named after their debut single.
Empire Of The Sun quickly gained attention for their high-energy live shows, where they wore extravagant outfits and used flamboyant props—a clear homage to their major influence, Daft Punk. Their commitment to their live performances, however, took a toll on Littlemore, who eventually opted out of performing live, citing exhaustion. Steele interpreted this as Littlemore leaving the band after just a year in the limelight.
Despite the band’s apparent fading from the public eye, Walking On A Dream and We Are The People continued to earn them recognition. The tracks were featured in TV ads, and word of their music spread globally. This led to the band’s reunion, but despite their efforts, they have yet to match the success of those early hits. They released Ice on the Dune in 2013 and Two Vines in 2016, with a fourth album reportedly in the works.
Empire Of The Sun has often expressed the view that Daft Punk’s greater success is due more to superior marketing than better music. Regardless of the reason, the band remains a two-hit wonder—at least for now.
Their most recent success is the re-recording of Elton John’s Cold Heart, in collaboration with Dua Lipa. This was released under the name of Pnau, Littlemore’s original band, who are signed to Elton John’s management label.
In the end, it seems clear that for all the extravagance and drama, the true takeaway from Empire Of The Sun’s journey is that great music is what matters most—the rest is just fluff. Or, in their case, extremely flamboyant fluff.
Empire Of The Sun Tunes | Related Pages
We Are The People | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play We Are The People by Empire Of The Sun using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Em | Em | Bm | Bm |
We can remember, swimming in December…
Check out the full TAB lesson here: We Are The People (Empire Of The Sun) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Empire Of The Sun on the web
