The Empire Strikes are a Helsinki band trading in Garage and Action Rock. After a decade on the road, the group returns with their fifth album, aptly titled Vol. 5, out November 7 via Ghost Highway. In interview Paavo Kuukasjärvi and Topi Tarkki tell how an empty calendar and a hard studio deadline pushed the band to define who The Empire Strikes are in 2025.
The core idea inside the band is simple, they want to stay busy. “A band exists when it has something to do.” Paavo says. Previous album Motell Scandinavia (2023) took them back around Europe, especially Spain, which over the years has become almost a second home. When the tour ended and everyday life returned, they realised there was no next step planned. “We noticed there were no band things in the calendar, so we decided to just make a new record to keep it alive.” Topi laughs.
This time they flipped the process. Earlier The Empire Strikes would write the songs first and only then think about studio time, but now they locked in a four-day session months ahead, before the new material was really there. “If the gig calendar is empty, a four-day studio booking couple months away will activate you.” Paavo grins. Writing for Vol. 5 began on the Baltic coast in a quiet off-season village in northern Germany, then grew through song camps and home demos, all aimed at that fixed studio date.
The tight schedule also shaped individual songs, opener Congregation started as nothing more than the feeling that the album still needed one big track. “We were missing one song. I was at home and thought, this has to be written in an hour, and it was, even a bit faster. Tommi then did the lyrics.” Topi says.
On Vol. 5 you hear more than a decade of experience and a road-tested group playing ever tighter together.. The band have often played abroad more than at home, Torino before Tampere, Paris before Porvoo, and the new songs are built to travel. Vol. 5 captures The Empire Strikes as a live band still hungry to move, rolling into shows in Germany, Belgium and finally back home to Semifinal in Helsinki.
The Empire Strikes interview 13.11.2025
Topi Tarkki & Paavo Kuukasjärvi
Producer: Janne Vuorela
https://www.theempirestrikes.com/
Picture: Planting Pictures / The Empire Strikes
