Interview: Escape The Fate - 04/12/2009

Alter The Press! managed to sit down with the Las Vegas foursome, Escape The Fate, prior to their main support slot on the Hollywood Undead UK Tour.

The rising stars spoke to ATP! about touring in the US/UK with Hollywood Undead, signing to Epitaph, recording 'This War Is Ours' without ex-vocalist Ronnie Radke, the forthcoming re-release, new material and more.

Alter The Press: How has the tour been going with Hollywood Undead?
Escape The Fate: Good, we just toured with them in the US; so to come over here with them now, is pretty comfortable. We’re having a lot of fun, going out every night. We've become good friends with them and, being in a different country where no one has phones and a lot of money, we just hang out. On this tour, they've grown respect for us musically and now seen our success over here.

ATP: Hollywood Undead being a rap/rock group, how did you think the crowd would respond to you before the tour started?
ETF: Honestly, hearing their songs on the radio, and seeing how much rap is a part of their set, their style is very different to us, so we weren't sure how we'd come off. We re-arranged our set list to kind of cater a little bit to a mainstream audience, so we pulled back the heavier songs till later in the set to let us grow into them. We've gone over really well and the plays on MySpace are going up, so you know the tour has been successful.

ATP: How did Escape The Fate originate?
ETF: We started years ago and were all in different bands together in high school. One day we started to stop messing around and started Escape The Fate. We had a couple of line-up changes and then Craig (Mabbit - vocals) joined the band.

ATP: How did you end up signing to Epitaph Records?
ETF: The MySpace thing was going really well, that's when MySpace was really taking off. This kid heard us, and had an aunt who worked at Epitaph, and said to check us out. They had been trying to get hold of us on our .com website but we didn't know how to use that and we only used MySpace so they thought we weren't interested, but they finally hit us up on MySpace. Brett Gurreitz (President of Epitaph Records) messaged Max (Green - bassist) on there and, at first, he disregarded it as someone just joking around, getting messages at the time saying people know people at labels, and shit just fell through, but it turned out to be real.

ATP: How was it not having Ronnie Radke (ex-vocalist) and Omar Espinosa (ex-guitarist) on your latest release, 'This War Is Ours'?
ETF: It felt like we were brought together as a band more. We were still learning about each other, re-started and re-kindling this flame, but felt closer than we did before. On the first EP and album, when Ronnie was doing vocals, we just flew home because he didn't want us there. This time, we worked in the studio and were bouncing things off each other. At first, it was weird, because we didn't know how to approach things, like saying, 'Craig, we don't know if that sounds good.' Now we all understand each other, at first, it's test ground, but now it's become more open and more easy.

ATP: When can fans expect on the re-release of 'This War Is Ours'?
ETF: A few b-sides that we didn't release, two new tracks, a remix done by Clown of Slipknot, a new music video and a ton of DVD content. The CD with extra tracks and a DVD to complete the whole package. We are trying to pull together something extra, like a piano version of a song. There is no release date yet as it's all stemming around, as we are doing a new music video as soon as we get home after this tour. It's going to be more crowd reaction and just a way of giving something back to the fans.

ATP: The next album, what is the progress so far?
ETF: We have about 8-9 done and another 8-9 ideas. When we go into the studio, we will have 30 solid tracks and we'll pick the best ones. That's why we have the re-release coming out, to have some new material while we are working. There isn't a title; we have one really strong idea, which we've been considering for a while. Bryan (Money - guitarist) wrote a song with Mick Mars (of Motley Crue) and we might work with Josh Todd (of Buckcherry). One of the guys from Hollywood Undead might come in on one of the ballad tracks and one of the guys from Slipknot is interested.

ATP: How would you describe the new material compared to 'This War Is Ours'?
ETF: It's more of a solid kind of sound; it doesn't bounce back and forth like 'This War Is Ours'. That was so dynamic and eclectic in it's own sense but the new one is leaning towards one, focused, kind of sound. If God and the Devil were battling on Earth, this new album will be the soundtrack to that. We are hoping to release it in the Fall.

ATP: Will the new album be released on Epitaph?
ETF: Definitely, as we only have one record left with them. Contractually, we have one record left with them, but who knows what the future holds. It's all about pushing our band and pushing our record. Epitaph have done a great job, but it depends where our songs are at, whether they can help deliver that to the next level.

ATP: When are you coming back to the UK?
ETF: In the summer, like some of the festivals, instead of doing Warped Tour again.

ATP: What's planned after this tour?
ETF: We are going to demo the new album, do the re-release, go to Australia and Japan, then go record the new album in March.

'This War Is Ours' is out now on Epitaph Records.

- Jon Ableson