It’s been five years since Southern Empire’s critically acclaimed Civilisation was released and now the Australian five-piece are back with Another World. Keyboard player Sean Timms and new singer Shaun Holton reveal what was going on behind the scenes, and why the current line-up are looking forward to a vibrant future.

Words: Rich Wilson

After a few years away, the new-look Empire is striking back.

Images: Damien Steele Scott Photography

"It was good to leave Unitopia on a positive note. I think that the Damanek trilogy is complete. That's not to say there won't ever be any other Damanek but there's nothing in the pipeline."

Sean Timms

Five years ago, Adelaide-based Southern Empire created unbridled momentum with the release of their well-received Civilisation album. The band completed a tour of the UK and Europe that garnered themselves more attention, before a radio silence fell over recent years. That leads to the understandable question of what exactly happened?

“Well, it certainly wasn’t our intention,” recalls keyboard player and project leader Sean Timms. “Things were going really well for the band and we wanted to capitalise on that. We got back to Australia and then Covid hit, which took everybody out for a while. I have a recording studio and because musicians couldn’t play live, the studio got really busy. Anyway, we finally got the album completed. It was all recorded, everything was ready to go. All I needed to do were a few finishing touches on the mixes and master the album.”