{"id":16139,"date":"2013-04-06T12:40:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-06T01:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=16139"},"modified":"2013-04-06T12:41:35","modified_gmt":"2013-04-06T01:41:35","slug":"robert-ortiz-of-escape-the-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2013\/04\/robert-ortiz-of-escape-the-fate\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Ortiz of Escape The Fate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis album represents everything we need to do right now.\u00a0 This is our whole identity, this is it, there’s no turning back for us, it’s now or never, if this doesn’t work out for us then we had our chance…and we blew it, we have to, have to make this album work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Escape The Fate, well there\u2019s a band that\u2019s sure had a torrid and turbulent history spanning less than 10 years and only three studio albums.\u00a0 But let\u2019s not dwell on the past, the band is \u2018Ungrateful\u2019 and their fourth studio album due out on Eleven Seven Music, May 14th<\/sup> has already got the fans talking, courtesy of the intense video for the title track and first single.<\/p>\n

Dialling in from the heart of Las Vegas, we recently chatted with drummer Robert Ortiz about second chances, fourth chances and ninth lives, and a whole lot about what you can expect from the new album Ungrateful!<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey Robert, thanks for chatting today, so the new album Ungrateful is on it’s way out in around 6 weeks \u2013 May 14th<\/sup> to be precise, this sure has been quite a few years in the making hasn\u2019t it!
\n<\/strong>You know, we’ve been to hell in these past few years, and a year ago I didn’t know if I’d be playing music to be quite honest with you.\u00a0 We’ve gone through so much crap, all the things that could go wrong in a band and all the second chances…\u00a0 We went through all of that before we even hit our mid-20’s. \u00a0All that stuff that a band goes through after about 15 or 20 fuckin’ years and we went through all that whilst we were still kids.<\/p>\n

So I guess without dwelling too much on the past \u2013 you\u2019ve basically changed everything haven\u2019t you, ultimately now ending up on Eleven Seven Music who are releasing the new album\u2026
\n<\/strong>Well what happened, is we are on our ninth life now…\u00a0 At the end of our eight life, we were done, we were ready to hang up the towel and everything just went wrong.\u00a0 We just had to start all over basically.\u00a0 Our label Interscope were cutting ties with all things rock, and just focus on their pop music or whatever the new focus was to be and that’s just the nature of the business and the state that the world is in now, specifically rock music. \u00a0We needed a fresh life, so we reached out to Eleven Seven who knew what we were about, they got our vision and knew that we were a cool band with credibility.\u00a0 We come from that scene and we want to take it to the masses, that’s our whole thing and they felt really strongly about that and had our backs, so we wanted to run with them you know.<\/p>\n

Doing all this press, it must be making you guys pretty anxious given the albums still about 6 weeks away from release!\u00a0 What\u2019s the feelings within the band right now?
\n<\/strong>Dude, if you want to say anxious, holy crap, I call my manager up every day, I’m freaking out.\u00a0 There’s nothing worse for a musician than sitting around at home.\u00a0 Sure you might bitch about wanting to be out on the road, it gets tiring, you get sick of your band mates, you get tired of that whole environment and you want to wake up and take a shit in your own bathroom and all that gets draining and everything wears on you after a while.\u00a0 But when you’re home for more than a few hours by yourself, you start freaking out and doubting yourself and wondering what’s going on.\u00a0 This album represents everything we need to do right now.\u00a0 This is our whole identity, this is it, there’s no turning back for us, it’s now or never, if this doesn’t work out for us then we had our chance…and we blew it, we have to, have to make this album work. \u00a0Right now I’m so anxious to have this album out, I want to be sharing it with the world and show them what we are made of and all the things from the past are behind us now.\u00a0 We’re still growing, we’re still learning, but all the main things that were dragging us down are now gone.\u00a0 That’s the story we want to share everyone, you can do it, if you just keep trying.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ungrateful as an album title – is that pretty much capturing all those learning\u2019s and realisations for you over the last few years?
\n<\/strong>Well initially we had a whole different concept all together and we ran with it initially, but then me and Montey talked and we were like, let’s just call the album Ungrateful<\/em>.\u00a0 It represents everything about us, who we’ve been, right when they handed us the key to the city, then we just dropped it into the gutter.\u00a0 That’s kind of the feeling we’ve had, we were assholes and we didn’t appreciate everything that was being giving to us.\u00a0 We hated each other, we took everything for granted when we should have been working on our craft and perfecting our instruments.\u00a0 Certain members of the band were finding themselves addicted to certain substances and that all just showed we didn’t give a fuck.\u00a0 I didn’t care, I went through a massive depression, as did Montey, we went through severe depression and anxiety and all that stuff and a lot of our fans can relate to that kind of stuff. \u00a0We didn’t want anything to do with the band.\u00a0 What that album cover represents – we were kings, we had everything going for us and we just fucked it up and we\u2019re abandoned now, and the ravens are flying away with this thing, that’s how that all went…<\/p>\n

Ungrateful the song and video, that’s a pretty intense impact and statement to come back with\u2026
\n<\/strong>Well to be quite frank with you, as I don’t want to hide any of our feelings…\u00a0 But anytime you type our name into anything, a song we post, a picture we post, a tour date we post, a video we post, basically anything that we post…anything we put up is going to have some excited posts, but then just as quickly there’s the whole “they were better with the old singer, I miss this, I miss that”… Then you’ll have the new fans going “no, I like this better, they were worse with the old singer”…\u00a0 That’s all fine, it’s part of our history and I’m happy for them to debate, the music is all there for them to share.\u00a0 But this time around, whilst there are still a few of those comments, the discussion has turned more to the content of that Ungrateful<\/em> video.\u00a0 We wanted to be bold, we wanted to pull no punches.\u00a0 It was scary for us making a video like that which had a positive message behind it and true meaning, that’s never really been anything we’re about.\u00a0 It’s normally been about titties and we are drinking and on a plane and we\u2019re fucked up and oh, now we are on a stage, lets get fucked up here… You know, that was just our whole vibe, everything had to be a party. \u00a0But that song and video Ungrateful<\/em> is just so representative of everything that was ripping us down, the people that hated on us, that’s what that song is mostly about.\u00a0 People try and bring you down and ultimately we connected that with the message of bullying and what it does to people, the victims, and how everyone, even the bullies themselves, are victims and that’s what the cycle is about.\u00a0 The fans are responding to it, they’re certainly talking about it, the pictures at the end are controversial, and we know that.\u00a0 Believe me, we went back and forth several times about whether we wanted to include them, believe me it wasn’t an easy decision. \u00a0Those are people’s lives, they’re real situations and specifically Amanda Todd, everyone’s familiar with her story, where she basically put herself into a predicament at a very, very young age and she had to deal with that as a teenager when she wasn’t equipped to handle that kind of torture and punishment and escape all that bullying and stuff, so that’s where we included her and wanted people to know that we are fucking serious, we mean it. \u00a0The fans have responded and are debating it and I love that they’re caring more about that, than the rumours they hear about us.<\/p>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t