US Emo Band Escape Injury After Ute Crashes Into Members' Home

Keith and Cathy Latinen, the husband-and-wife central force of Michigan-based emo-revival heroes Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), have escaped unharmed after a pick-up truck reportedly driven by a drunk driver crashed into their house and parked van on Sunday night (US time).

Recounting the drama on Facebook this morning (AEDT), the Latinens explained that they, and dog Ollie, were in another room when the incident occurred, "but the driver took out most of both our other bedrooms".

"The driver was also somehow OK. We live in the middle of nowhere and about 100 feet off the road, so the odds of this happening have to be so silly mathematically low," the band wrote.

The band had been due to start a tour with Warren Franklin & The Founding Fathers this week, in honour of a long-awaited repress of their seminal debut full-length What It Takes To Move Forward (2009), and they have now confirmed that it is "looking pretty good" for the tour to still go ahead, despite moments of uncertainty in the immediate wake of the accident, especially with regard to the damaged van.

"A giant pick-up truck barreling through your house and car at a very high speed does a lot of damage and complicates life to a ridiculous point," the Latinens said. "Since then, we have been on roller coaster after roller coaster, trying to get things back in order and also seeing if it was going to even be a possibility to go out on tour.

"Setting house stuff aside — there is now no longer a gaping hole and our house is now not being supported by a large, Chevy truck, but there are still many things to fix — we still have to deal with issues with our van. The insurance company won't let us move it, let alone use it for tour … we are getting a rental van, we are trying to make this happen. I would give it a solid 90% that tour is still on at this point.

"We lost a lot of stuff, but stuff is replaceable. We are just happy to be OK, and happy that we can go back out on the road to see everyone for this special tour. See you soon!"

Read the band's full post below the track.