EMPOWERED BAND

by: Nicole Brice

Empowered is a Christian Rock band based out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana since 1998. Fronted by Benny DiChiara, who also has a background in Advertising, Marketing, and Graphic Design, I recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Benny to get a little backstory on the new EP, Three Days, produced by Mikey Howard (7th Time Down, Love Journey Music), on what the future holds, and what makes the band unique. Empowered wants to “empower” others with “His” message. Rockin’ 4 Jesus!

Listen to Empowered on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Google Play.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/empoweredrocks

Reverb Nation: www.reverbnation.com/empowered

NB: I’m sitting here with Benny from the local Rock band, Empowered. Benny and I have known each other for quite a while through the advertising and marketing world. How are you this morning, Benny?

BD: How are you and the kiddos? I know you have your hands full.

NB: We’re good - the kids are actually behaving for once. I do this thing where I FaceTime my husband and he enacts fear in them so they behave for me. It actually works. Go figure.

BD: Teamwork makes the dream work! I’m telling ya!

NB: This morning, I was re-listening to your albums to reacquaint myself with your sound. You guys released “Soulcry” in 2012 and the opening track just sucks you in. It was amazing. Great mellow tunes to start things off. It’s amazing how great your band sounds. As long as I’ve known you, who would have thought that you have such an amazing voice!

BD: Yes, who WOULD have thought.

NB: Seriously, though, you meet people and you don’t know if they can sing or not and then, whoa, it just takes you by surprise. That album was released in 2012. Tell me a little why you waited from 1999 to 2012 to release new music.

BD: Well, so, okay…so…it was a little bit later in my life anyways. I had been in church every single day of my life. I grew up Lutheran, so been there done that. Oh, I guess around 1990, I went through a really horrible divorce, which we won’t dive into because it’s past, right? I just ran to Memphis because I was in the military. I was a Navy Corpsman and I was stationed up there at the big airbase and then I moved back to Baton Rouge in ’92. I was a Floor Manager for a car dealership and I sold vehicles and there was this lady who asked me, “Don’t you like music? Aren’t you a musician?” and I was like, “I am.” She said, “There’s this little church you need to come check out to maybe do that.” After some time I went. What is Healing Place Church now used to be Trinity Christian Church. Anyway, in 1995, I would always have people ask me, “Are you saved?” and I would creep out over it, to be honest. Get away! I was weirded out, but I found out in 1995 that I did need to be saved and the last song on Soulcry “1995” is my testimony to music. That was the official video we did, actually. It’s on our website.

Empowered Band Three Days Album Modern Grace Magazine

NB: Tell us what your website is so everyone can check it out?

BD: It’s rockin4jesus.com. So, because I had done secular rock music for years and because I had hair, I was always playing the New Orleans rock circuit and we actually got invited all access to a King’s X show in New Orleans.

NB: I love King’s X! They were supposed to be doing a show at the Varsity here in Baton Rouge, but it got postponed because of COVID-19. We need to find out the rescheduled date and go!

BD: So, we went and back then….this is late 80’s, early 90’s and a press kit was a typed up piece of paper of what you’ve done and a cassette tape. We got to hang out on their tour bus and everything and we were supposed to open up for them on their next thing, but the southern swing of the tour got cancelled and we didn’t get a chance to do that. Also, at that time, I was going through my thing, too, so back then I was thinking, if I can do rock for the Devil, I can certainly do it for God and I didn’t want to do the traditional tambourine and hallelujah thing, because it’ll make me vomit, but if you can let me rock a little bit, we can do that. God kind of spoke to me. I was 35 when I got saved. God was like, “How many people grew up on the music you grew up with who get saved and they don’t get any of that in like Christian music?” “That sound…that sound that you’re familiar with.” I don’t think once you get saved you’re meant to be boring and your personality all of a sudden slips to dull. I think it slips to shine and God’s like, “Let people know you’re still you! You just have ME”. When we’re on stage now, I mean, it’s a party!

NB: Oh, I gathered that from the new video. So, let’s talk about this new video for “Listen to the Children”. Wow, amazing video. The shots, the scenery, wow…whoever did the video did a phenomenal job! I absolutely love it! Also, though, back to 2012’s Soulcry CD, let me tell you, “Throw it down”, is one of my favorite songs on the CD. It has a great 80’s sounding intro that builds to an awesome opening and then the rest of the album takes you on a meaningful journey of sound. That’s one of those albums I can put on from start to finish and never skip a track. A true indication to me of how good an album is if you can get in your car and turn it ALL the way up and it sounds amazing, then you know it rocks! I did that recently with your CD’s and I was like, “Yes! This stuff rocks!”. I can’t even pinpoint the sound. It’s so unique. That was the other thing. I know you have several influences, probably the same as me, but you guys really do have a type of crossover sound.

BD: I get that a lot. As a matter of fact, you were asking about the delay in the release of Soulcry. I mean we played during that time. I went through a lot of band changes between ’95 and 2012 and that was the first CD we went to Nashville and cut. It’s self produced with us and the engineer who did it…and it was okay…and for me, it’s like um…you know we don’t have a pastor coming behind us giving us a sermon. So as a Christian rock band, a lot of people don’t want to be known as a Christian Rock Band. You know, BS. He gave you a platform, so there is something in the book about if you’re ashamed of him, he’ll be ashamed of you, so get over that! It’s not about being famous, it’s about making HIM famous.

NB: Right, exactly! Couldn’t agree more.

BD: So, to your point, a lot of people come to us and are like, “You sound like Boston or Journey or Styx or Bon Jovi” and there is a Christian artist that my son in law knows, and he had sent him our newest “Three Days” EP and he was like, “Ya’ll sound like a combination of Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons. I hope that doesn’t offend you.” I was like, who are you kidding??That does not offend me! That familiarity in the style of music is what draws people and then they get ahold of the lyrics and it touches them even more.

NB: The lyrics are so STRONG…so much thought went into them.

BD: And that’s great…and you look at it…the whole time we’ve done the CD’s, you could be in the car and your husband turns to you and goes, “Nicole, guess what? I’m in love with your friend named George or whatever…Susan…or vice versa…etc…or you have a child is that is young and pregnant and doesn’t know where to turn or a person hooked on drugs, who is depressed, suicidal and that’s who we play to and want to play to. We want to inspire.” Right. It’s just we want to make sure that his message comes through clear…that you’re chosen…that you’re protected and if we can wrap it around some energy, which I personally feel sometimes, especially in Christian music sometimes…I feel the energy and artistry are kind of gone ‘cause Christian music is praise and worship…which is great on a Sunday, but you can stand up and you can move in church and all that. We have all of that, too. There is definitely a difference between praise and worship bands and then us. We are definitely more of a performance and worship band. When you see a performance from us, you’re going to get his word through the music because I’m not going to take his name out of lyrics. I’m not going to say “he” or “his” because that could be your Uncle or Dad. Right? We’re not going to do that. We are not going to mask our message, but oh my gosh, we are gonna have a party doing it because I believe that was what we were called to do!

NB: I completely agree with you. Just the sound of you guys…so, I can’t exactly compare your sound to a Bon Jovi or Styx. Because I know you personally, I know those are your influences, but the band sound is very unique and and I would not compare it to anybody else. This new EP, I mean, “Three Days” is amazing. Benny, you guys made an amazing EP! You should be proud! I even put it on my iPod. Yes, I am one of those people who still uses an iPod in her car. It’s from 2007 and works just fine. ::laughs:: I also wanted to say on “Three Days”, the guitar sound is amazing. Some of the sounds your guitarist gets on these tracks, I’m just like, “Oh my gosh, this guy is so talented!”. …and then I wanted to add that I loved the goofing off at the end. I forget which album it was, but I was laughing.

BD: So, let me tell you about that track. November of 2018, we got an invite to a Christian music festival in Slidell and we opened for Seventh Time Down. If you have never checked these guys out, you need to. Their big hit was “When you don’t know what to say, just say Jesus”. Man, what a message! This is a rocking song. …and then it went #1 across the country, but anyway, we opened for them and at the very end of our set, we said, “Listen, here’s the title track for our next CD coming out. It’s not even released yet, so you get to hear it. It’s called Three Days because basically everything in your life was taken care of in just three days.”

NB: Oh wow…I never thought about that…three days…

BD: So Three Days about the resurrection going into Easter right now, is just great. And that song has a little energy and power because when he was resurrected, he had business to take care of, right?

NB: Right

BD: So, as an artist, much like an athlete…when you get done with a show, there are two things on your mind or that you are talking about. One is we should NEVER do that again.

NB: ::laughs::

BD: …and the second is…wow…what did God just do? We had the second one. So, Mikey who is the founder / lead singer for 7eventh Time Down. Great guy. We’re talking in between sets with them coming on and us coming off stage and he’s like, “Are you leaving?” and I’m like, “No, we’re hanging around for a bit” and so he and I talked for like an hour after the show and then he was talking and said we were smoking it live…and then he said to me, “God is telling me I need to produce your next record” and i’m like, “Get out of here!”. You know, don’t blow smoke up my leg ‘cause you know headliners rarely spend time with the opener…

spotify shout out EMPOWERED BAND Modern Grace Magazine Nicole Brice.jpg

NB: Oh, I know, they act like divas, in fact.

BD: It rarely happens. So, we switch cell phone numbers. Donna and I are talking and she’s like, “Who is this guy? Is he on the up and up?”. So, we do all the legal paperwork and figure out how much it’s going to cost and he comes to my house and stays for a week and we do pre-production for three days and then he says, “See you in six weeks in Nashville. You and the guys work this up.” So, we worked it up. This thing is crazy. He then says to me…and “Listen to the Children”, that’s the radio single…”it’s amazing to me that with everything going on with kids right now, right. Your son doesn’t have to be Robert. He can be Roberta if he chooses to be…with all the stuff going on, what’s your driving point”, he goes. I go, “Well, if we would listen to our kids, we can hear what the world is telling them”.

NB: Wow, absolutely.

BD: …and so we can combat that a little bit…so that’s where that song came from. Three Days, God just kind of gave me that one. Now, “Jeremiah 29:11”…that’s the third cut…

NB: Yes, a little more mellow of a cut. I definitely dig it, though.

BD: Yes, so about four years ago now…actually 4 1/2 years ago, I had a traumatic brain injury where I was shut down completely, which you know about. In the middle of my recovery one day, as clearly as you’re talking to me, I get an audible voice while I’m home alone in my living room. Donna had gone somewhere. The voice scared me to death. …and God goes, “Benny, I have huge and great plans for you coming out of this” and I cried like a baby for a few more days. Ironically, on a Thursday, he said to me again, “I have plans for you coming out of this”. “Jeremiah 29:11” is my favorite verse in the entire bible because it’s a great promise, right, plans of prosper not to harm you. Plans to give you hope in the future, so when we sign stuff after shows, I sign my name with Benny, Jeremiah 29:11 under it…and people look at me and I tell them, “It’s a promise. Go look it up.”

NB: Benny, I’m stealing that. I’m going to put that with my signature from now on.

BD: Do it! So he literally had given me lyrics. So, the first couple of verses in 29:11 is ME speaking from ME. As it slips into the other verses, it becomes God’s voice talking to you. That song is just crazy to get through on stage. It’s a powerful moment. …and then on “Rock Bottom”, I, literally, had a friend at rock bottom questioning relationships…questioning everything and that’s where that song came from.

NB: I can honestly say all of us have hit rock bottom, so I get that song.

BD: Tell me who hasn’t.

NB: Exactly…

BD: Everyone has…so hopefully these songs speak to people and point them to HIM. That’s what we’re hoping…so we’re on the radio all over lately and it’s just insane. We’re not doing this for US, though, we’re doing this for HIM. Whatever doors God opens up, I’m going to run through them. Whichever ones are shut, I’m not going to try and force…I’m walking past. Me doing this interview with you is a way to get his message out and because of our relationship for all these years, this is great.

NB: Yes, friends for so long.

BD: Yes, so long…

NB: In order to refresh myself with your music, I listened to all the albums recently and then the new EP has been on constant repeat in my car.

BD: …and the new one, tell me, Mikey Howard, isn’t he a beast! I mean, he just produced his brains out on this album.

NB: Honestly, I wish you guys could have done a full album. “Listen to the Children”…I’m in love. That video is just so powerful. Your presence. I just can’t say enough good things, and it’s not just because I’m your friend. ::laughs:: When I first listened to the “Three Days” EP, I got chill bumps and they say that people who get chill bumps when listening to music have a different type of brain and they’re wired differently to enjoy certain things with music more. Your EP gave me chill bumps and that’s how I knew it was good.

BD: That’s awesome. See, the official video, we shot downtown Baton Rouge in November and we were dodging rain all day. We were set up at one of the Live after 5 stages and the ending of the video was supposed to be this big concert with a drone flying overhead and the sky opened up and we got flooded.

NB: I remember that! I was going to go to that and then it started raining and I was like, “Nope”.

BD: Three days to dry out…and so I don’t know what has happened to the weather patterns…we can’t find a dry hole in the sky, it seems like. So, Richie and Gary with LA Post, they do all my ad agency stuff. This are my guys. We were talking about this video and they were on board and it came out outstanding. These guys are phenomenal. He asked me how I wanted things to roll and I told him, “This is all you”. We went to Healing Place in Denham and that’s where we shot that. That’s on YouTube for everyone to see. Anything that anyone wants to see is on YouTube with us…or they can go to Rockin4Jesus.com. We are all over Spotify, Amazon Music…everywhere…on Spotify alone, we have over 116,000 streams, which is just amazing because no one knows who we are yet.

NB: What’s crazy is that you built that fanbase yourself. It’s difficult to build a fanbase, so doing that on your own is amazing. What does the future hold for Empowered? Do you plan on making more music and touring or will this continue to be a side project for you?

BD: Both and all that. We had a little bit of action on the Soulcry CD, but with this EP, it has just been, “Boom this happens…just boom…”. A lot of things happening with it. It’s kind of like God saying, “Do the fields worry about being clothed? No, I give them flowers.” “Do birds worry about eating? No, because I feed them.” So, yes on the new stuff - working on some of it now. The days of cutting full CD’s…the music business is so different now. A lot of bands are only releasing EP’s or singles, but I like there to be at least four or five songs to create a new album and we’re actively looking for shows. If it means opening, that’s fine…if it’s headlining…even better. Our headlining set is actually both the Soulcry album and the Three Days EP. It’s a combination of the two. Some of the songs on Soulcry were fillers and some not. Like Raise Your Hand - pshh….we open every show with that because it’s just rocking in your face! But now what we’ve done, because those are from 2012, we’ve changed some stuff with the tuning and presentation so those songs are much more in tune to what we did with the Three Days record.

NB: You know, a lot of bands do that. They re-record older songs and clean them up because you always come up with other ideas down the road and you tell yourself, “I could have done this or that differently”. I think that’s awesome that you change it up.

BD: I used to be a purist, right, where I wanted every song to sound live the same way it did on the album. Now, I’m all about rockin.

NB: But you don’t want it to sound like the CD live because that’s boring and you can just sit at home and listen to the album.

BD: Well, here’s our band mantra…it’s cool for people to hear the CD and go, “Wow, that was great!”, but we want people to go, “If you think their CD is good, you’ve gotta catch them live because it’s a whole other level”. See, we have the extended intros and outros and I get to talk to the audience and connect with them. You don’t get from a recording. Kind of where we are.

NB: I just wanted to take a second to compliment your voice. It’s so clear! I consider myself a HUGE music snob and always critique and pick apart bands. My brother is always sending me stuff to critique and I’m like, “Eh, too much guitar…too much this…” Your sound is impeccable, though, and I feel Empowered has their own unique sound and I feel you will continue to do great things. I look forward to hearing more!

BD: We want to get more out there. We want to be playing more. I could easily look back at my other career and just roll with my music now. The kids are grown. It’s time.

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Empowered has opened up for:

• Clay Crosse 10/2002

• Jaci Velasquez 6/2003

• Point of Grace 8/2003

• Audio Adrenaline 6/2004

• Switchfoot 7/2004

• Switchfoot 6/2005

• MercyMe 6/2015

• 7eventh Time Down 11/2018