PureVolume

The barnstorming opening track on Escape The Fate's hotly anticipated sophomore slab, This War Is Ours, sufficiently sums up the hard-partying and hard rocking Las Vegas band's attitude, authentically informed by real-life drama. The song is called "We Won't Back Down" and if ever there was a band who could make that claim, it's this one.

Renewed, reinvigorated and newly energized by a new lead singer and a take-no-prisoners approach to songwriting, Escape The Fate have recaptured the hunger that generated their early buzz and have taken tremendous steps toward becoming a band with longevity, like their heroes in Motley Crue or Guns N Roses, crafting a sophomore-slump defying album that is alternately their heaviest and their most melodic and full of power, passion and depth.

The two years that have passed since the controversial band released their Epitaph debut, Dying is Your Latest Fashion, was a trainwreck that threatened to destroy all of the impressive things the young outfit had accomplished.

Explains Max Green: "Our guitar player walked out in the middle of a tour, our singer went to rehab twice, then he went to jail, he got probation. Later we couldn't leave the United States, then we couldn't leave Nevada. Our singer became a drug addict, our bass player -- that's me -- became a drug addict. I got cleaned up, we kicked out our old singer, and a ray from heaven shined down on us with an amazing opportunity."

That amazing opportunity? The sudden availability of virtuoso singer Craig Mabbit, who had recently parted ways with Blessthefall. "I found myself looking for a project or to start something up. I was going to join a band by the name of A Skylight Drive," Mabbit recollects. "They gave me the number of somebody to get the recording of their new album so I could write to it. I wrote the wrong number down. Instead of calling the guy from the band, I called Escape The Fate's manager. I was like, 'Yo send me the tracks!' and he was like, 'What tracks?' We had a laugh."

Next thing he knew, Mabbit -- who had befriended Escape The Fate during Vans Warped Tour and a subsequent Escape The Fate / Blessthefall tour -- was on a plane to Las Vegas. "We discussed the idea [of my joining the band]. Both of our bands were on the rise and losing your frontman is a big deal. But we decided we play music for a reason, who cares what people think, let's make the kind of music we want to make the way we want to make it."

"[Playing music] is what Craig lives for, he's got that fire," Green beams. "He's an amazing vocalist and he goes nuts on stage. He just pumps up the volume on everything basically, he just makes everything better."

Adds Mabbit: "We thought our bands were done. We got so close to making it and breaking it, and then it all fell apart. We're all very grateful and excited that we had the opportunity again and that we got hooked up with each other."

That go-for-broke attitude caused Escape The Fate to rebuild their band around the best parts of the past together with some forward-leaning new elements. Becoming a four-piece caused all of the instrumentalists to step up their game, while Mabbit found himself outgrowing the "screamo" tag and embracing more of a full vocal range.

The band hit the studio with John Feldman (The Used, Atreyu, Good Charlotte) and made the kind of record Mabbit has been dreaming about since he was a kid looking up to his rock n' roll heroes. "Harder Than You Know," a bona fide larger-than-life spine-tingler of a ballad, is one of his favorites, while heavy breakdowns continue to inform tracks like "The Flood." "Something" is built for the radio while "10 Miles Wide" opens with a classic thrash metal attack and a shriek that would make Axl proud, backed by death-grunts and a rollicking beat that goes headfirst into an anthemic chorus sure to get fists pumping worldwide.

While they've attracted a number of fans from the Hot Topic crowd to worlds of Warped Tour and beyond, in their hearts, Escape The Fate is more of a tried and true rock n' roll band than any sort of sub-genre tag. If you want to call them anything, call them exactly that: rock music.

After a year of drama and speculation following their original singer's departure, Escape The Fate has emerged stronger than ever. With a brilliant new album and a fall tour with Chiodos and Silverstein on the calendar, the resilient quartet have proven that sometimes, fate is what you make of it.


Escape The Fate On Tour:


Jan 21 2009 8:00P Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth
Jan 22 2009 8:00P Upstairs at The Academy Oxford
Jan 23 2009 8:00P Anson Rooms Bristol
Jan 24 2009 8:00P Club Academy - SOLD OUT Manchester
Jan 25 2009 8:00P Garage - CHANGE OF VENUE Glasgow
Jan 26 2009 8:00P Cockpit Leeds
Jan 27 2009 8:00P Academy 2 - CHANGE OF VENUE Birmingham
Jan 28 2009 8:00P Islington Academy London
Feb 5 2009 8:00P Glasshouse Pomona, California
Feb 6 2009 8:00P Marquee Phoenix, Arizona
Feb 7 2009 8:00P Sunshine Albuquerque, New Mexico
Feb 8 2009 8:00P Chic's Billards El Paso, Texas
Feb 10 2009 8:00P Granada Theater Dallas, Texas
Feb 11 2009 8:00P White Rabbit San Antonio, Texas
Feb 12 2009 8:00P Meridian Houston, Texas
Feb 13 2009 8:00P High Ground Metairie, Louisiana
Feb 15 2009 8:00P Culture Room Lauderdale, Florida
Feb 16 2009 8:00P Firestone Orlando, Florida
Feb 17 2009 8:00P Masquerade Atlanta, Georgia
Feb 18 2009 8:00P Amo's Southend Charlotte, North Carolina
Feb 19 2009 8:00P Recher Theater Townson, Maryland
Feb 20 2009 8:00P First Unitarian Church Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 21 2009 8:00P Irving Plaza New York, New York
Feb 22 2009 8:00P Middle East Boston, Massachusetts
Feb 24 2009 8:00P Town Ballroom Buffalo, New York
Feb 25 2009 8:00P Opera House Toronto, Ontario
Feb 27 2009 8:00P Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio
Feb 28 2009 8:00P Crofoot Pontiac, Michigan
Mar 1 2009 8:00P House of Blues Chicago, Illinois
Mar 2 2009 8:00P Rave II Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mar 4 2009 8:00P Station 4 Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 6 2009 8:00P Cervantes Denver, Colorado
Mar 7 2009 8:00P Murray Theatre Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 8 2009 8:00P ICON Idaho Falls, Idaho
Mar 9 2009 8:00P Knitting Factory Boise, Idaho
Mar 10 2009 8:00P El Corazon Seattle, Washington
Mar 11 2009 8:00P Hawthorne Theater Portland, Oregon
Mar 12 2009 8:00P Boardwalk Orangevale, California
Mar 14 2009 8:00P Slims San Francisco, California
Mar 15 2009 8:00P Dome Bakersfield, California
Mar 17 2009 8:00P House of Blues San Diego, California
Mar 18 2009 8:00P House of Blues Los Angeles, California
Jun 26 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Pomona, California
Jun 27 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR San Francisco, California
Jun 28 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Ventura, California
Jun 30 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Phoenix, Arizona
Jul 1 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Las Cruces, New Mexico
Jul 2 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR San Antonio, Texas
Jul 3 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Houston, Texas
Jul 5 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Dallas, Texas
Jul 7 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Indianapolis, Indiana
Jul 8 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jul 9 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Cleveland, Ohio
Jul 10 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Toronto, Ontario
Jul 11 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Montreal, Quebec
Jul 12 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Hartford, Connecticut
Jul 14 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Washington DC, Washington DC
Jul 15 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Buffalo, New York
Jul 16 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Scranton, Pennsylvania
Jul 17 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Camden, New Jersey
Jul 18 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Uniondale, New York
Jul 19 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Oceanport, New Jersey
Jul 21 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Boston, Massachusetts
Jul 22 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Virginia Beach, Virginia
Jul 23 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Charlotte, North Carolina
Jul 24 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Orlando, Florida
Jul 25 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Miami, Florida
Jul 26 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Tampa, Florida
Jul 28 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Atlanta, Georgia
Jul 29 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Cincinnati, Ohio
Jul 29 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Jul 31 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Detroit, Michigan
Aug 1 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Chicago, Illinois
Aug 2 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Minneapolis, Minnesota
Aug 3 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR St. Louis, Missouri
Aug 4 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Kansas City, Missouri
Aug 7 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Boise, Idaho
Aug 8 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Salt Lake City, Utah
Aug 9 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Denver, Colorado
Aug 12 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Calgary, Alberta
Aug 14 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Vancouver, British Columbia
Aug 15 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Seattle, Washington
Aug 16 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Portland, Oregon
Aug 19 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Fresno, California
Aug 20 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR San Francisco, California
Aug 21 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Sacramento, California
Aug 22 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR San Diego, California
Aug 23 2009 12:00P WARPED TOUR Los Angeles, California

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