Interview With 'The Escape Plan'
Firstly, introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the band and how you came to be?
We are The Escape Plan. We are a four piece Riff Rock band from the Midlands currently gigging the Midlands and promoting our forthcoming debut acoustic EP. We have been in different bands before but around June 2017 we finally got the right line up and chemistry and started The Escape Plan. We have Jack Nelson on drums, Louis Morgan on bass and vocals, Steve Walker on guitar and vocals and myself (Mike Carpenter) on lead vocals and guitar.
What were you all up too prior to the band, was this always the chosen path or did you have other dreams and aspirations?
Music is a great passion for all of us and if one day the opportunity presents itself for us to do music as a career then we will grab it both hands. Aside from being in The Escape Plan Jack is currently in university studying mental health nursing, Louis is a freelance sound engineer, Steve has his own business building and repairing guitars and I work in the care industry looking after vulnerable children.
Tell us about your forthcoming EP and why our readers should check it out.
For our debut release we decided to do an acoustic EP as a way to get some content out to fans quicker. The 5 track EP is very stripped back and chilled although it has powerful vocal harmonies and a multitude of instruments used such as violin, cello and piano and I believe no matter what your preferred genre of music everyone will appreciate this EP.
Who would you say is the bands main song writer or is it a group effort and where do you draw your inspiration lyrically and musically from?
The main songwriter is myself however we all contribute creativity to writing songs. We all have such different influences in our music and that shines through when I bring an idea to the practice room. We all add our own individual bits and turn good songs into great songs.
As a band what do you believe is your greatest achievement to date and why?
I think releasing our debut E.P will be our greatest achievement to date but that won't be happening for another couple of weeks yet. Aside from that just playing shows and seeing people in the audience singing along to our lyrics feels amazing.
Have you ever come face to face with someone within the music scene who has left you awestruck and why?
I'm personally not really one for going to gigs. I enjoy seeing my favourite bands live but more often than not find myself thinking that I'd rather be playing a show myself rather than watching someone else. I feel awestruck every time I look at my band mates on stage. It is a true pleasure to be playing with them.
What do you enjoy most about touring?
Getting to meet and talk to other bands is great. The local unsigned scene has changed alot over the years. Backin the day alot of bands, including the ones I was in had a bit of “Fuck you" attitude towards other bands and it seemed to be more competition than community. These days bands seem so much more accepting of other genres of music. We have arrived at certain venues thinking “Man we’re not gonna go down well here" and then been totally shocked by how welcoming fans and other bands have been. We've played shows with everything from acoustic acts to Heavy Metal bands and got on amazingly with all of them. We seem to be in a time when everyone wants work with everyone else and its great.
If we were to head out to one of your live shows what can ourselves and others expect?
Our shows are fast paced and energetic. We kick you in balls from the start and the hits keep coming.
If you had one artist/band that you could go on tour with tomorrow who would it be and why?
Us as a band could probably never agree on an answer to this question. Jack would probably want to tour with Trivium, Louis with maybe someone like Billy Talent, Steve with Extreme and I would probably throw a spanner in the works by suggesting Jason Derulo or Fall Out Boy. As I said before, we all have such different influences musically but I believe that is what gives us an original sound.
You can spend an hour with a musical icon living or dead, who would you pick, why and what would you speak about?
I'm personally a big Hip-Hop fan. I would love to sit down with Dr Dre and talk to him about being one of the most influential people in Hip-Hop ever.
What is next for yourselves?
Our acoustic EP drops very soon and aside from gigging as much as possible to promote that we will begin recording our next EP which will be a full band EP. It will be another 5 tracks and we aim to release this one in the summer.
And finally and most importantly is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?
“No shit lady, do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza" absolutely a Christmas movie!
Website - www.theescapeplanofficial.com
