Kansas City's "Distance to Empty" to return to Emporia

After first forming in 2002, Kansas City’s Distance To Empty have released two records, and played all over the country all with out the help of a label. Now as the band is preparing to release a new album, with a new lead singer, Distance To Empty is beginning a new chapter of their lives.

Last October, the band’s long time lead singer Curtis Hayton decided to quit the band.

“Whenever we go into a new album, we all have to make sure we are on the same page and communicate that to each other,” said guitarist Bo McCall. “And with how the next two years were going to look with touring and finances, Curtis said his heart wasn’t in it anymore and he was tired of being poor. He was totally professional about how he left and we’re still good friends and he couldn’t have handled it more respectfully towards us.”

After Hayton’s departure in October, the band quickly began searching for a replacement.

“Within a week of Curtis announcing that he was leaving, we were already looking for people,” McCall said. “We had a singer fly out from San Diego, another guy that was slated to fly out from New York. We just had a list that we were going through.”

Although, Lonnie Coleman had no professional experience, and had never been in a band before, the band recognized his talent immediately.

“He came in and just did a warm up and everybody kind of knew,” McCall said. “But we still had to put him through the process. We’re a full time group, so there are other considerations when it comes to joining the group. It’s a lifestyle, so we had to make sure he understood that.”

“I grew up singing in church, in choirs here and there, but I was never pushed musically by my parents or anybody else,” Coleman said. “I didn’t have any plans of singing, I basically just sang in my car.”

As well as Coleman has fit in, he almost missed his shot as he was about to leave the country.

“I had sold all my furniture,” Coleman said. “I was about to go teach English as a second language in Korea. I’ve always wanted to have the chance to perform but I’d always put it on the back burner my entire life.

So I jumped at the opportunity.”

After finding Coleman, Distance To Empty got right back to business.

“We threw him right into it,” McCall said. “I think his fourth show was a showcase down in Nashville with [Broadcast Music, Inc.] and then his fifth show was in Chicago in front of about 500 people for [National Association for Campus Activities]. So we didn’t waste time.”

The new record is nearly complete and will be mastered by Bob Power, who’s produced records by The Roots and a Tribe Called Quest. The band is hoping to have the album ready for an August release.

The band had already written a number of songs when Hayton decided to leave, but according to McCall, Coleman has meshed well with the new material.

“It’s a departure from our last couple albums,” McCall said. “It’s a lot more Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai, Beck, that genre. It’s uite a bit more danceable. The songs we were writing before Curtis left were leaning that way and Lonnie has fit in perfectly.”

Even though he is new to the band, Coleman is definitely getting his input on the new record.

“I wrote my own things in the past, just as a hobby, but the band gave me two tracks and just told me to do what I can do,” Coleman said. “The band has given me the opportunity to explore myself creatively. I’m so glad to be a part of this group, they’re really open to any suggestions I have.”

“The way it kind of is working is Ryan [Whitehouse, the band’s drummer] is bringing up the instrumental parts, some arranged some not, and just letting us run with it,” said bass player Kyle Akers. “It’s an organic process where one part works off another and it just snow balls until we have a song.”

The band taking a more experimental approach to this record and shifting their sound from indy rock to something more akin to dance or funk rock.

“It’s a different sound, but that’s what makes it intriguing,” Coleman said. “They’re always trying to be innovative and I feel like I’m a innovative person. So I try to bring a new kind of soul to it.”

“We’re doing a lot electronic sounds, a lot of synths and stuff that we’re putting in to it,” Akers said. “We’re trying to get every sound that we think fits the song and not worry about whether we can play it live or not.”

As with their previous records, the band is releasing their record independently.

“We’re basically operating as our own label,” McCall said. “We’ve hired a publicity group like labels do. With the industry changing as much as it is, labels can do a lot, but if you want to do it on your own it’s worth the effort.”

Not that the band hasn’t had any offers.

“Its not that we’re against labels, we’ve courted a few but until the perfect deal comes along we’re not going to sign, we’re doing fine on our own.”

Distance To Empty will be playing with Kansas City’s Tide House, a band featuring former Emporian Clay Hughes, at 10 p.m. at Desperado’s, 802 Graham St., on Friday.