I Am Empire
American rock band
I Am Empire is an American rock band from San Jose, California. Formed in 2008, the band currently consists of Austin Lyons (lead vocals) and Joshua Case (bass and vocals). The band's first label release, Kings, was released by Tooth & Nail Records on January 25, 2011 and has since made Billboard's Top Christian Albums and Top Heatseekers charts.
History
The band originally went by the name Vespera, but after unsuccessful touring, two member departures, and legal threats from another band with the same name, they took the name I Am Empire in August 2008. Following the name change, the band independently released a self-titled album, I Am Empire, in April 2009. While the album itself did not chart, its two singles, "You're A Fake" and "The Elevator", peaked at No. 15 and No. 11 on Billboard/R&R's Christian Rock chart. They toured through the remainder of 2009 and toured in 2010 including an appearance at SXSW. Features on AOL.com, KingsofA&R, and Myspace Music, garnered the attention of Tooth & Nail Records.
The band was signed to Tooth & Nail Records in May 2010, on which they released their second album, Kings, on January 25, 2011.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “I Am Empire” as american rock band. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5975961. VIAF identifies the subject as 172978839. The Library of Congress control number is no2011110569. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008, 2011, 2009 and 2010.
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This entry incorporates text from “I Am Empire” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.