Photo by Sean Peoples

DCist first interviewed relatively unknown trio, Imperial China, in 2008 off the strength of a last-minute Fort Reno performance and an EP featuring the breakthrough instrumental track, “Radhus.” We’ve followed their trajectory ever since. Imperial China was different, combining a percussion heavy approach and impressive swirling guitar riffs with electronic loops that recalled HEALTH or Battles more than anything else in D.C. It was a unique sound that peaked with the release of last year’s album How We Connect and an explosive live show at the Black Cat for the final Sockets Records showcase. Yet, we couldn’t help but notice that the trio was less visible on the live scene in the past year and a half, so although news of their final show (tonight at the Black Cat Backstage) was disappointing, it wasn’t surprising. The trio of drummer Patrick Gough, guitarist-percussionist Matt Johnson and singer-bassist-guitarist Brian Porter managed to record one final song before calling it quits (look for it later today) and we did a quick interview with Porter looking back on his time with one of D.C.’s most interesting bands.

How long have you three known that Imperial China would be coming to an end?

We talked about it as a group last fall and we were all happy with the decision. I think that some life changes started happening for us individually last summer, and we weren’t really practicing very much, but we didn’t really vocalize it until the fall. I think we honestly got a little burnt out after putting so much effort into the last record released in January 2012. The nice thing is that we’re all friends and really have always been very honest with each other about what we wanted to do (or not do) as a band.

Do you think the three of you will continue to make music on your own now that the group is disbanding?

Patrick [Gough] is currently playing in a Talking Heads cover band and I think it’s likely that he’ll continue to play music even beyond that. I’m not sure if Matt [Johnson] has the same plan. Personally, I’m really excited to devote more time to working on some solo material. I’ve played a couple of solo shows over the past few years, and I’m really looking forward to focusing on that for a little while.

What has been your favorite show (or other moment!) that you’ve had with Imperial China?

We played two Black Cat Backstage shows that were really amazing. The first one was opening up for Medications for their last record’s release. The second one was Double Dagger’s last D.C. show, which was totally insane. It was really great to be a part of those two bands’ events. Of course, all of the Sockets showcases have been a blast, as they’re always a D.C. lovefest. We’re really excited about our last show being at the Backstage, as it’s been our favorite place to play.

Did the Imperial China dissolution have anything to do with your label Sockets stopping production or did all of you coincidentally come to that stop point at the same time?

I think it was actually total coincidence. I think the timing of the last show was impacted somewhat by Sockets shutting down, because we really wanted to play the last Sockets showcase. Sean Peoples has been so supportive of us, and we wanted to help make his last showcase a blast. So, that kind of pushed our last show out to this spring. While it’s more of a coincidence that we’re breaking up and Sockets has shut down, I think the timing was actually great, because it really feels like a natural end point. We were really honored to be a part of the Sockets family and its impact on the D.C. scene for the past few years.

What will you miss the most about this band?

I’ll really miss writing music with these guys. While playing shows is always fun, I’ve always had the most fun writing new songs. I was really proud of the work we did in writing How We Connect. It felt like we finally achieved what we originally set out to do as a band. I think that collection of songs achieved the sound we wanted to create. In fact, Matt and I were recently jamming before band practice on a drum loop that I had made, and in a matter of 10 minutes, we’d basically laid the foundation for a new song and it was completely improvised. I’ll really miss having that connection where the three of us are just all on the same page and everything falls into place in writing a song.