Empty Vessels – “Waves of Waves”
So what’s all this hubbub about Empty Vessels anyway?
Well here’s what wikipedia had to say:
The phrase “empty vessel“ literally means a container with nothing inside.
“As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers.”
In martial arts, the empty vessel approach is utilized for internal and spiritual training. Many Asian religions and arts also utilize similar approaches to achieving inner peace. In Christianity, the saying may refer to a willing mind ready to receive teaching, or an expectation that God will provide for the poor. The latter refers to the miracle of “the widow’s cruse” in the Bible, in the time of Elisha, when a poor woman’s vessels were filled with valuable oil from a single small container.
Empty vessel or the empty vessel approach is a term describing the negative effects of how one ends up with a worthless outcome when trying to please everyone. The term is more commonly used in psychology and behavior analysis. Worthlessness cannot be measured, but there will be consensus among the participants that the end product does not even come close to the previously desired outcome.
In business, the “empty vessel approach” can be characterized by lack of leadership and unwillingness for the members to take individual responsibility. Larger corporations with many mid-level managers are more easily trapped in this negative spiral where the company essentially becomes a “meeting company”, where most of the employee’s time is wasted away in meetings instead of actually making products or providing services.
And here I thought “Empty Vessels” was just a simple punk band from the country of Connecticut featuring Matt on vocals, Allison on guitar, Dean on bass and Justin on drums. Who knew …
Hey, hang on a minute, “Empty Vessels” IS a punk band from the country of Connecticut, but there’s certainly nothing simple about them. As I mentioned already (elsewhere on this site), upon closer inspection you discover death vocals combined with a twangy, hollow-body, almost rockabilly guitar vibe wrapped around a funky groovin’ bass and drum backdrop.
The best analogy I can come up with is “Empty Vessels” is what you get when you take equal parts of Mission of Burma, The Pixies and Nepalm Death and mix them together in a blender. To say that “Empty Vessels” is a unique band is an understatement. And in this case ‘unique’ means very, very, very good.
At the end of 2012, they released their first full length CD called, “Waves of Waves”. It contains the 3 tunes, ‘Saucer Country’, ‘Court of Owls’ and ‘Everything’s about Michael Cera’ that appeared on their previously released EP, ‘Restraining Order’ along with 7 new tunes. You can listen and download all from the following bandcamp link, http://emptyvesselsband.bandcamp.com/.
‘All Day’ crawls up and out of the well urgently with a bass solo. Then a guitar riff enters sounding like squeelings from a deranged Hungarian folk song or maybe a Quentin Tarantino sound track. Soon appears Frankenstein-esque vocals lamenting, “I’ve got a crush on you”. Kind of creepy, but it works well.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/02 – All Day.mp3|titles=All Day]
Lights, camera, action, here comes ‘Business As Usual’. Drums followed by short choppy guitar chords. According to the singer, it looks like something bad is about to go down in south L.A. So, don’t be caught dead there. Nice guitar work throughout.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/07 – Business As Usual.mp3|titles=Business As Usual]
Finally there’s ‘Salem’, my favorite tune of the CD. It starts out as a real toe-tapper, but makes a few left turns before the end. All very mind altering. Uh,oh, I think I’ve gotten a nose bleed …, does anybody have a hanky?
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/09 – Salem.mp3|titles=Salem]
“Empty Vessels” and “Waves of Waves”. Good and good for you, but don’t tell your mother. Speaking of which, ‘Happy Mother’s Day!!!’
(Andy Bang)
