Joseph D'Agostino

Joseph D'Agostino is an indie rock, noise rock artist currently as the creator of the project/band Empty Country. He was the frontman of the now-disbanded Cymbals Eat Guitars from 2007 to 2017. He began the project of Empty Country in 2019 and is now signed to Get Better Records as a band based in Philadelphia, PA. D'Agostino originally grew up in New Jersey, but later lived in Staten Island, NY, as well as Philadelphia, PA. He is married to Rachel Browne from the band Field Mouse. Browne and her sister are featured in songs from the self-titled debut album fully released in March, 2020: Empty Country.

Empty Country is expecting to release a new album, Empty Country II fully on November 3rd, 2023 through Tough Love and Get Better Records. It is produced by John Agnello, who also produced the 2014 album LOSE by Cymbals Eat Guitars. The album will feature Anne Dole from Cymbals Eat Guitars, Patrick Dole, and more.

Joe D'Agostino mainly plays the guitar with vocals, but he sometimes also plays the piano/keyboard. His signature sounds almost always involve multitude of pedals connected to the instruments and some of the vocals. During live performances, he is in full control of the sound by using the pedals with little to no pre-recorded versions of the songs' components. If it is possible to create the sounds on stage, he is dedicated to the live band sound performance.

Joe D'Agostino’s never wastes a single word; His lyrics are packed with complex meanings often incorporating astrophysics and cosmology to the metaphors. In Empty Country’s self-titled debut album, he uses acoustic guitar in most of the songs which brings a stark contrast in soundscape to Cymbals Eat Guitars, where he mostly used electric guitars with a myriad of pedals that created extremely altered sounds. His vocals are less shouted and more mellow and melodic in Empty Country. The songs are also less biographical–the album is full of character songs–influenced by his love for short stories, poetry, musicians (e.g. Bruce Springsteen), and more.