LE EMU TAVERN!

 

 

Long before the Tavern was even a twinkle in Le Emu's eye he endured many adventures as lead singer with glamorous oxford ne'er-do-wells Holy Roman Empire.... 

 

Formed in the dying days of the bloodiest century Holy Roman Empire consisted of old friends Ste Fleming (Le Emu), Emma Empire (nee Killick, now Yendel) and Martin Ungoed Jones. They shared a house and a vision.

Both involved a drum machine balanced on an ironing board...

"Holy Roman Empire are some kind of a nightmare. Can't sing, can't play, look terrible. No really, they're worse than that. And yet, believe me they are one of the best nights out you could get. They are funny in a way that no band who tried to be funny could ever achieve. Two boys, one girl. The boys look like rejects from a Gary Numan fan convention, the girl looks like she'd rather be anywhere else but here. They play tinny synth pop that falls somewhere between Carter and Dweeb - all brassy synth sounds and crunchy guitar - and all three of them are under the drug induced-illusion that they can sing.If they had league tables for singers then all three of Holy Roman Empire would be in the relegation zone of the Icis League Division 3. They lend a whole new dimension to the idea of harmonies. Best of all, the keyboard player plays his instrument like a demon, all the while punching the air and making dramatic, sweeping gestures with his arms while looking like he's having a painful bowel movement, blissfully unaware that we can see his keyboard isn't even plugged in and that he's actually got  a rather large tape machine 'hidden' underneath it. But, for all that, there's something wholly irresistable about Holy Roman Empire's brash and rousing tone-deaf anthems like "My Life For Yours" and the overheated traffic jam chaos of  "Incontinent". We laugh and grin along with them all and we even raise a glass to their sheer audacity when their ballad "Benazir Bhutto" gets every dog in the neighbourhood howling in sympathy. Stars in the making." 

                                                                                                                         Nightshift

The Glitterkissed EP (CD single on Three Stripes):

1. My Life For Yours
2. Benazir Bhutto
3. Atom Bombs
4. Shotgun!

Holy Water Baby (CD single on Luscious Peach):

1. Holy Water Baby (Featuring The Water Babies)
2. Thick as Thieves
3. Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Benazir Bhutto (7" Single on Luscious Peach):

1. Benazir Bhutto
2. Even In My Sleep

Dante's Inferno (CD Single on Blue Fire):

1. Dante's Inferno
2. I Bleed Petrol (Catch Me If You Can)
3. No Tomorrow

In addition to some of these songs appearing on various compilations over the years, the song Leftwinger appeared on the "Snakebite City Seven" CD compilation and the song Turn It Up! appeared on a thing called "LSCD", but that really did sound like a high speed car crash involving a busload of childrens television presenters armed to the teeth with megaphones. But, in spite of this, Turn It Up! was actually one of Ste's favourite HRE songs and will no doubt appear in some stripped-down acoustic form on the inevitable The Rise And Fall Of Holy Roman Empire CD. Oh yeah, and there was also a song on HRE's first demo called Superman II that sounded like a slow car crash involving dolphins on helium. Very hard to get hold of. Check eBay!

Finally, anybody who was ever chosen by the gods to see Holy Roman Empire live will be absolutely terrified to learn that there is in existence a Digital Audio Tape containing a recording of the night HRE performed for John Peel at the old Oxford United Manor ground. In the absence of a DAT player it has, to this day, gone completely unappreciated by anyone. But, it will probably feature as a bonus disc with the first 500,000 copies of the innevitable The Rise And Fall Of Holy Roman Empire CD.