Interview with Escape The Fate

Interview with Craig Mabbitt (frontman) at the Molotow in Hamburg, December 8, 2009

The interview was done by Laura Schriefer of Punk76 at the Molotow in Hamburg on December 8th, 2009

Punk76: What kind of genre would you consider your music to be? Post-hardcore?
Craig: I don't know, a lot of people ask us that question and I don't think people should put bands in genres anymore. Escpecially with the technology where people can go directly to your myspace page or purevolume page or itunes or whatever it may be, where you can listen to the music yourself I think it doesn't need a label. You should check it out and just decide for yourself whether you like it or not. I personally think that our band is hard to put into a specific genre. Our album that we have out right now [This war is ours] is just so diverse. Pop-punk to metalcore to hardcore, it has so many different sounds to it. If we had a genre it would be „Escape The Fate“.

Punk76: What would you tell the people who say that ETF was better with Ronnie singing?
Craig: I'd tell them.. whatever (smiling). For every person who says that, there's ten people who say the opposite. That's what I've seen and that just makes me happy. And it even makes me try harder to convince the people who say that ETF was better with Ronnie.

Punk76: Are you still friends with the guys of Blessthefall?
Craig: I am. I was supposed to go to one of their shows actually. They're out here right now.

Punk76: Really?
Craig: Yeah! But.. well, not in Germany. They're in the UK. I totally forgot that we travelled longer yesterday.

Punk76: Yeah, you're in Germany now!
Craig: Right.. and I see them all the time when I'm in my hometown, in Phoenix. So we're getting along very well. I'm very good friends with their new singer, so..that definitely shows that I have more positive attitude than some other people might.. (smiling)

Punk76: Let's talk about your recent record „This war is ours“, did it come out exactly how you wanted it to sound?
Craig: No, when we first released it, it didn't come out exactly how we wanted it to be. I think that was because I didn't see e whole picture of the album, I didn't see it as a piece of work or something I enjoyed until we went on the road and toured with it and started playing those songs and fans started giving us love. And nowadays, when I sit down and listen to the album I'm really happy with what we made and released. I mean at the time I didn't really get it and I wasn't happy with it but as soon as I gave it a chance which I think a lot of people did, not only me, being a member of the band, but a lot of people didn't really get it at first. Now a lot of people get it and I get it and I love the album! I'm just really excited to continue making music with this group of guys and release the next record.

Punk76: When will the next record come out?
Craig: We're releasing „This War Is Ours“ with two new tracks as well as a remix of a track and we're adding a bunch of DVD footage, my friend Tim is out with us right now, he's a very good photographer and does a lot for the DVD. We have this little camera with us actually (shows me a blue camera) every time I hold it it's called the „Craig Cam“ and every time one of the other bandmembers has it, it's their cam, so.. we're filming a lot of different footage that people can check out. We're very stoked. And when that's out, we're going to the studio, to work on another album but we just wanted people to have new stuff to listen to while we're recording the new record.

Punk76: Are you going to work with John Feldmann again?
Craig: Uhm, I don't think so. But nothing's set in stone yet. We're working with a bunch of producers, you know, certain producers are into it. So we just gotta wait until we finally get home and end touring and then we need to have a time set when we can get into the studio and then we'll make the final decision with whom we're going to work this time.

Punk76: Could you explain why you chose „This war is ours“ as a title?
Craig: Just all the background stuff that the band was dealing with.. it just felt like that song kind of said it all. Everything we were going through. And on top of that, that was kind of a transition song, that was a song that the original line-up, before I joined, had said they were going to do a part two for the fans. And so that was my opportunity to do the part two and make my mark in the band. And all that combined, what other title could it be? It was either going to be just self titled „Escape The Fate“ or „This War Is Ours“. And „This War Is Ours“ just was stronger to us.

Punk76: There's a song on the album called „Ashley“, is it a real person? If yes, who is she?
Craig (smiling): She is a real person but her name isn't Ashley, that's for sure. Ashley definitely rhymed better and it is the most common female name in the states right now. So that's why we chose that name.. You know, sometimes it's better especially if you're going through things with a certain person, not to put the real name in a song 'cause who knows what's going to happen and then you have to sing that name for the rest of your career. So, Ashley is real, but that's not her real name in my life. And no one ever really knows, who she is.. (smiling)

Punk76: And you won't tell?. Alright.

Punk76: When you walk along the streets in Germany, do people recognize who you are? Does it bother you sometimes?
Craig: Well, today was our first day in Germany.

Punk76: But you've been in Germany before, right? With the „Give It A Name Festival“?
Craig: Yes right.. where exactly have we been in Germany..

Punk76: I think it was Cologne and Munich?
Craig: When we were in Cologne and Munich, I didn't actually get the chance to walk around. The venues there weren't really in the city. Actually the only place I got to walk around was in Sweden I think. [Tim saying: We weren't in Sweden, dude..]
Craig: So where were we? Do you remember when we walked around the corner and there was a Starbucks?
Tim: That was Cologne.
Craig: Oh, okay. Well, there were people that recognized me when I was walking near the venue.. It never bothers me. Sometimes I have a bad day like every normal person but I just have my bad days behind closed doors. If I have a bad day and someone stops me on the street and wants a picture or something, yeah I'm having a bad day and I don't wanna do it but I keep that on the inside and smile and I'm always willing to take a picture or sign an autograph because without the fans we wouldn't be where we aretoday. But you know, I have my bad days and my good days just like everybody else. But I never want to come off as an asshole or something. The other guys can do it. If someone comes to us on the street the other guys are like „look I'm trying to get across the street to get something to eat“ and they'll just turn around and go. And I would stop and stop and stop..sometimes my friends gotta pull me away saying „you need to get some food, everyone was waiting like forever“ but it doesn't bother me.

Punk76: And the last question: please complete the sentence „if I could be anywhere in the world right now I would want to be...“
Craig (answering really(!) fast): home. Especially now with the holidays coming up, I would like to be home with some hot cocoa, my two girls, playing some video games.

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