Escape The Fate are a band that have been through quite a lot of the years persevering through line up changes and various setbacks. All the while delivering solid albums to a ever growing fan base. We caught up with the bands vocalist Craig Mabbitt to talk about their newest album Hate Me and upcoming Australian tour.

SCENEzine
Firstly congrats on your newest album Hate Me it was one of the standouts of last year. Heading towards a year later are you stoked with how it turned out?

Craig Mabbitt
Yeah I’m definitely happy with what we’ve done with the record. I’m ready to get back out there and start touring off it again. It’s crazy to think we are getting to the point where we are going to start writing again .

SCENEzine
Have you had a chance to play most of the songs live?

Craig Mabbitt
Yeah there’s still a lot more we are planning on playing live. We might start playing some of them in Australia. We’ve been wanting to get the fans more and more involved we will probably do a facebook post and ask people on our different social media outlets what they want to hear the most.

SCENEzine
You released an awesome video for “Alive” was that a fun experience to make?

Craig Mabbitt
It actually was really fun. The head director was really easy to work with he just wanted to follow my direction for the video. The guys all showed and were pretty impressed. I’m really interested in doing more videos in the future. Glad you liked it I really dig it too.

SCENEzine
Is there a story behind the Hate Me album artwork?

Craig Mabbitt
Yeah the artwork is actually a take on the wheel of fortune tarot card. It’s pretty much the wheel of life. It depicts it as a woman on a death wheel with knives being thrown at her. The hidden meaning behind that is life can throw you a bunch of curve balls but it just how you make it out. A lot of the songs actually go in that direction like “Alive” or “Remember Every Scar” and “Hate Me”. All of those are kind of like hit me with your best shot and I’ll come out on top anyways. So that’s what I wanted to depict in the artwork in a fun cool way that felt like in the realm of Escape The Fate which I feel like we achieved.

There’s little hidden things in there like on the cover there’s these four astrology symbols. That’s the four guys in the band’s astrology signs. You get tarot cards inside so if you go on google and search birth tarot card you can get see the tarot cards that represent your whole life. So luckily each one of us have two different ones so they are the tarot cards that come with the album. It all kind of fell together which when you have a really cool idea and it ends up falling together so easy it just makes perfect sense then you know you made the right choice. In my opinion it was probably the best artwork and easiest to put together so far out of all of the albums.

SCENEzine
With “Remember Every Scar” it seemed to resonate really well with the fans. When you were writing that did you have an idea you were going to touch so many peoples lives?

Craig Mabbitt
When you are on your fifth album as a band you always have an idea where you want it to touch people and you don’t want to let your fans down because you have had those prior releases that have meant so much to them. With that one I was just writing like I used to write. It’s awesome to see people react to that song in such a positive way.

SCENEzine
Escape The Fate have had some lineup changes and setbacks over the years. Is it hard to stay motivated sometimes?

Craig Mabbitt
In the end what keeps you going is having the same goal in mind. That’s why this band has gone through so many changes. You can say your into the band, you can have a big say in the band and get matching tattoos together but all that stuff is superficial. What really matters is the goal that you have and the passion that you have inside. Robert is the polar opposite of me but the reason why me and Robert stuck in the band together for so long is we have the same passion for the group and the same goals in life. We might be different people I’m covered in tattoos and he has one that he regrets, none of that stuff matters it’s about the passion for the music.

SCENEzine
In your previous bands and with Escape The Fate in the mid to late 2000’s you were tagged with being a poster child for the emo scene. Do you think that was actually a better time for music as people were using the genre to discover new bands?

Craig Mabbitt
I think so, that whole movement was very weird. People still say hey your a poster boy for this emo stuff that was going on ten years ago. Which is weird to me and kind of sucks to this day because you can’t really be an emo man (laughs). So the older I get the more that those fans that liked me when I was sixteen years expect me to still look like I am sixteen years old (laughs). Pete Wentz was a huge poster boy for that. There’s a way to do it right and a way that just comes off as really creepy. Nobody is going to call Alice Cooper emo but he knows what he’s doing and he looks cool doing it.

You would never say Alice Cooper or Ozzy Osbourne are emo. But if I was 45 years old and still trying to bat my bangs out of my eyes it would come off as a little weird. But the time did bring a lot of bands into the forefront. A lot of people discovered a lot of bands that still have a career today and are still out there touring and killing it. I remember when Pete Wentz was the big emo guy that was plastered all over Alternative Press. He definitely just is a great musician and it got me into Fall Out Boy which is not really my style of music they are a little more pop punk and I’m into heavier stuff. Another prime example is Panic At The Disco people considered them super emo back in the day and they were from Vegas. That guy has stuck it out and he is one fly ass mother fucker these days if you ask me. I’ve been listening to Panic’s new album a lot he is killing it.

SCENEzine
The exciting news for Australians is you’ll soon be back down touring. Do you have a favourite memory for a previous tour down here?

Craig Mabbitt
Every time I’ve been to Australia It’s been a favourite memory of mine. Anytime we’ve done Soundwave it was always a good time. You can’t ever say I had a better time last time because it’s always a good time. Not one time has been better than the last. Australia always has a special place in my heart as far as fond memories go because my very first time touring with Escape The Fate ever was in Australia. That was my first tour I ever did with the band and I had to do it in a cast so there’s a lot of stuff going into that tour that is very memorable for me.

A lot of good times also on the last Soundwave when your checking into the airport the entire flight is full of bands that have to perform that evening. It sucks that Soundwave is not around anymore but I am excited to have the opportunity to come play some shows in Australia.

SCENEzine
Is there anything you’d like to do in Australia besides play shows?

Craig Mabbitt
I’d like to have a couple of days off in Australia to enjoy it. Everyday is a fly day so your rushing to go check out the beach if it calls for it. A good solid 48 hours off around and enjoy the sites would be killer.

SCENEzine
Do you think it’s cool that Escape The Fate have been able to remain fresh current and not become a nostalgia act?

Craig Mabbitt
Yeah I think it is pretty cool. When you get to the nostalgia band point if your not a real nostalgia band it’s not going to last very long. Like everybody can say Metallica and Iron Maiden are nostalgia bands but they are Metallica and Iron Maiden you know what I mean. You can’t be a nostalgia band from 2006 and think your career is going to last very long. It’s really awesome and humbling to still be considered nostalgic but also to be considered fresh and new all at the same time. I would kill to hear that if someone told me that when I was first starting out.

SCENEzine
Is there a song that you make sure has to be on the set list that you love playing live these days?

Craig Mabbitt
That song for us lately has been “This War Is Ours”. We almost took it out at one festival show recently and Robert freaked out. So that’s one song that will always be in our set list. There’s obviously “Situations” which was the first big song that got fans. People knew the band and like that song. What made “Situations” an even bigger song is “This War Is Ours” and the album its from.

When I joined the band and did that record everything was ending but it just blew up from there. Plus the background story of the old singers in jail and he’s coming out with a new band. All of that just fuelled the fire even more and made it even more of an interesting story. It made the old songs even more popular and the new songs more popular. The old singer became more popular and the band became more popular. They say any press is good press and there was almost a VH1 behind the music story to our band that not any band at the time was having.

SCENEzine
Can you leave us a last message for your Aussie fans?

Craig Mabbitt
Thank you so much for listening to our music. We can’t wait to get back down there and have a really good time with you guys.

(Interview by Christian Ross)