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Escape The Fate: Call For Escape Route
Alternative Press - Rob Ortenzi on 3/11/09 @ 1:21 PM - altpress.com
Story: Aaron Thompson
Photos: Kevin Knight
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is a tomb to the legends of rock 'n' roll where tourists and locals alike come to blow their hard-earned dollars trying to shortcut the American dream and cash in on Lady Luck. Suits, musical equipment and ephemera belonging to everyone from Johnny Cash to Billy Joel, Aerosmith to OK Go-even Las Vegas locals, the Killers-lie in Lucite cases in an effort to define the image of what constitutes "rock." When Escape The Fate members Max Green, Robert Ortiz and Brian "Monte" Money arrive on the hotel's main floor, decked out in skin-tight shirts and torn jeans, they attract more looks from casino visitors than the well-protected artifacts.
The three local boys who seemingly became rock stars overnight know a thing or two about luck. Behind the slot machines, hot women and the Strip lays an underbelly of suburbia that supports the so-called "entertainment capital of the world." Even as most locals shy away from the glitz of the town that luck built, some see luck here wherever they go; like the members of ETF, a bunch of kids who went from jamming in a garage to opening for My Chemical Romance to being one of the most popular bands in the scene within 18 months. But as 2007 came to a close, Green, 24, Money, 21, and Ortiz, 21, wondered if their band's 15 minutes had run out.
"There was a long period of time where I was depressed," Green says, taking a sip of beer at the casino's bar. "It was at a point where I just didn't want to live. I'd go to sleep at night literally saying my prayers to God and asking Him to take my life while sleeping. I just wanted to [die] some way quickly, so I didn't feel it anymore."
But after 10 months and the input of an old friend, Green and Escape The Fate live on. The road to their new album, and this new chapter in their history, is a sordid tale of life, death and rock 'n' roll in the City of Sin. A tale that nearly didn't happen at all.
It was the summer of 2005 when high school best friends Green and Ronnie Radke had finally gotten their band together, recruiting friends Ortiz, Money and guitarist Omar Espinosa from their North Las Vegas-area high school. Their first official gig in January 2005 at the Cheyenne Saloon was slammed with throngs of kids. The following May, they got their first big break when they won a radio station-sponsored contest where the winning outfit would open for My Chemical Romance at a local concert that October. From there, the group got the attention of a fan that had connections to legendary punk label Epitaph Records, who signed them that November. In May 2006, the band released the five-song EP, There's No Sympathy For The Dead, and their full-length, Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, that September. The success of their debut put a whole new spin on the group members' troubled lives. Green and Radke had come from abusive homes, while Money was homeless at the time, living on the streets and struggling to survive. The band's diehard quest had them toruing all over the country and the world: Like their name suggests, the rising fame was an escape from their own fates.
Problems come to many bands on the rise, but absolutely no one was expecting what would happen next. It was a warm May afternoon in 2006 when Green got the phone call from Radke: "I'm not going to make it [to practice]. There's [some] shit going down." Despite numerous pleas, Green wasn't able to convince his friend to come to band practice.
It was just supposed to be a little brawl in the desert. According to the North Las Vegas police department, around 2 p.m. on May 6, Radke and three friends arrived at a desert location to settle a conflict that had been brewing between the singer and former friend Marcel Colquitt, originally started by a female friend talking smack about Green. Radke brought his brothers Chase and Randy and friend Joseph Rader. Colquitt brought his brother Michael and friends Michael Cook and Chris Swan. During the fight, Michael Colquitt and Chase Radke both pulled guns. There was a struggle for Michael's gun, which had been knocked to the ground in the ensuing melee, and Rader fired at Michael Colquitt and Cook multiple times. When the smoke cleared, Cook was dead and Michael Colquitt was seriously injured.
Rader was charged with murder, but the charges were later dropped. Radke and Marcel Colquitt were charged with battery with substantial bodily harm, and both faced prison time. In September 2007, Colquitt, a one-time friend of Green and Radke, could no longer handle the feelings of guilt over his friend's death and committed suicide. Radke's abuse of narcotics had become more prevalent, getting him in even more legal trouble and in January of this year, he took a plea bargain and agreed to serve five years probation and enroll in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.
The damage to ETF had already been done. According to the other band members, Radke's behavior became more erratic and his probation status barred the group from touring outside of the state. The troubles with Radke forced Espinosa, Ortiz and Money to call it quits.
"It was too much," Ortiz says of the group's darkest days. "I left the band ... It was that bad at that point. I could have seen the world, and we had to turn it all down [because of Radke]. I've worked my whole life for this goal, and it's not going to happen because of other people's actions. Everything I worked for, and everything that made me special, suddenly was ripped away from me. And then one day you wake up, and you're like, 'Dude, what the fuck am I going to do?' I was living at my cousin's house for a while because I knew if I went back to my parents' place, I'd have to go out and get a real job. This may sound snobby, but after all of this, I can't go back to working a real job."
But Green wasn't ready to give up. After all, it was either his band or nothing, literally. "Either I'm in Escape The Fate, or I'm doing nothing," Green says, lighting a cigarette with his heavily tattooed hands. "I mean, I'm just not really built for real work."
Craig Mabbitt never thought he'd be the saving grace for anything. The singer grew up in Phoenix, but much like his fellow bandmates, life was slightly more complicated than just going to school and then starting up a band. "I came from a rough upbringing," Mabbitt says via phone from his home in Phoenix. "Getting the shit beat out of me growing up [was] a daily occurrence."
When Mabbitt was in his early teens, his father locked him up in the notorious Durango juvenile detention center for two months. Mabbitt says the first thing he wanted to do after leaving Durango was find a way to release the raw energy and anger that had built up during his stay there. "I wrote my first song the day I got out," Mabbitt remembers. "I hopped on the computer and found that this band, Blessthefall, were looking for a singer, so I tried out."
Blessthefall's openly Christian stance set them apart from other hardcore groups in Phoenix, scoring them a deal with the Warner Bros. imprint label, Science Records. When the band toured behind their 2007 debut, His Last Walk, Mabbitt met and ultimately befriended ETF. "We did the entire Warped Tour together and we were going to do the Black On Black tour together, so we were like, 'We should get to know these guys pretty well beforehand.' We became pretty good friends."
While he was touring Europe with Blessthefall, stories about ETF falling apart made it back to Mabbitt. Ironically, the clock was running on his time in Blessthefall. The singer says during that 2007 Euro-tour, he had flown home to be with his newborn daughter. The band were not happy about it, and they released him shortly afterward. From there, Mabbitt began to tinker around with California screamo group, A Skylit Drive when a miswritten phone number opened the doors for something new.
"I was calling [A Skylit Drive guitarist] Joey Wilson, and I had written the number wrong and ended up calling Joey Simmrin, Escape The Fate's manager. That's when he informed me that the band had broken up." Almost overnight, Mabbitt found himself being flown out to Vegas to tryout for the band.
"It was difficult. The fans had to get used to it and we had to get used to each other," Mabbitt says. "I wasn't used to being in their band, and they weren't used to my voice. But we were friends from the get-go and that helped a lot."
The quartet began to practice regularly, eventually writing "The Flood," their first song together. At that moment, Ortiz says, they knew they finally had something going for them again. "When we went to record, it all fell into place. It felt like Craig was always there. We were on the right page and the same frequency." With the singer situation figured out, it was time to work on the album. But the group's situation with Radke had begun to complicate things. Despite participating with the band throughout the writing process for what would become This War Is Ours, Mabbitt continuously tried to mediate with the guys to bring Radke back. "Every time me and ETF would practice, I'd [talk to Radke] and be like, 'Look man, it's hard to replace a vocalist, and we're in a good position to stay a band ourselves. But everyone likes the original band and they hate change.' I was telling the guys to give Ronnie another chance, because he was going through the same thing I was." The band agreed and booked three "test" shows: Two shows-one in Phoenix, the other in California-would feature Mabbitt on vocals, while the third, a home show in Vegas would feature Radke front and center. It was the best situation for the moment and Mabbitt was happy with it.
"[Radke] was like. 'Dude, I'm cleaned up. I can do it,'" Mabbitt says. "And the day after they said he should give it one more try, he went crazy. I don't even know what happened. He was drugged up and totally out of it, and they weren't going to have it again." Mabbitt would go on to front all three shows and seal his position in the band. Recording for This War Is Ours began almost immediately in Los Angeles, but on this second time around in the studio, things were different. Songs normally penned by Radke about drugs and tragedy morphed into tomes about strength and hope. It was a sea change that took Ortiz by surprise.
"[I would say to Craig], 'Dude, why aren't you writing about drugs?' I mean, I was so used to it and it was weird. You have to take a step back when you're used to something for so fucking long, it's a little scary to get used to something new."
What resulted from their hard work and a year's worth of extreme life experience was This War, the most ambitious album created by the group to date. The disc is a ticking time bomb of punk-rock attitude meeting real-life angst, with tracks ranging from straight-up pop punk ("We Won't Back Down"), death metal ("The Flood," "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine Part II))" and the über-theatrical "It's Just Me," all mixed with a flair that would even make the harshest of critics smile.
In the end, luck and success on the second go-around will be admittedly harder for Escape The Fate. But for a band who nearly vanished eight months ago, life certainly has done everything it can to hedge their bets and improve their chances. If anything, it's the future that keeps them modest. "Being in this band has been a big challenge," Green surmises. "But we're not going anywhere."
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dont leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please craig i love you (ina friendly way)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ilove your music
They really are an amazing band and have had a hard career. Thank God for Craig. He's amazing live and i can't wait to see him again.:))
Craig Mabbit is amazing, if it wasnt for him there would be no escape the fate, people should realize that by now. Ronnie's not coming back and its for the better.
Thanks so much for writing this, there's tons of stuff on the internet and other people claiming stuff thats not true. So thanks for clearing this up. :)
As much as Ronnie was a great vocalist, he just...ugh- wrecked himself and almost wrecked Escape The Fate. So thank you, Craig, for saving ETF's own fate.
it's funny they called the song the flood a death metal song lolz its not even close to death metal. their new album is pop and shitty. they are popular becuz of RONNIE RADKE .....and (old)escape the fate will always be better than anything new that comes from escape the fate now ....ronnie radke is almost out of jail and when he does say good bye to escape the fate cuz everyone will forget who they are ...