[Interview] Robert Ortiz (28.10.08)

Why They're About to Pop: Escape the Fate has been through the ringer. After the success of their first album, 2006's 'Dying is Your Latest Fashion,' the Las Vegas band began to look like the subject of an episode of 'Intervention.' Their guitarist Omar Espinoza exited, while both their singer and their bassist got hooked on drugs. After two stints in rehab, ETF's frontman Ronnie Radke was arrested for battery and eventually kicked out of the band, leaving the hardcore punkers in a serious predicament. However, fate just may have been on the boys' side as bassist Max Green cleaned up his act and former Blessthefall vocalist Craig Mabbitt was looking for a new gig. Mabbitt, a friend of ETF, was a natural fit to sing on 'This War is Ours,' and now the band is right back on track. Catch Escape the Fate live on their full U.S. tour with Chiodos and Silverstein now through November.

Four Questions With Drummer Robert Ortiz:

What inspired the songs on your record?

This record was about everything that we've all individually and collectively been through for the past few years. We kept it real -- it had to be. We've been through so much s--- it's ridiculous, and to not get it out would've killed us. This is my, Max and Monte's first time working with Craig. He came into something that had already fallen apart and was in the process of being put back together. Emotionally, it was really unstable because we had just watched all our dreams and everything we worked for vanish before or eyes. So this record deals a lot with coping with all our struggles, and mainly pushing forward past them.

What's your favorite song on the record?

Its hard to choose. Every song was an amazing experience to make, even if it was a horrible one. But it's like choosing between your children. They all come from within you, and you have to put your whole life into making sure they come out right. I like them all for different reasons. I can truly say that I'm a fan of this record.

If you could have any musician's career other than your own, whose would it be?

That's hard, but the one that comes to mind first is the Rolling Stones. To have that kind of longevity is insane. It doesn't happen. People were blown away at the fact that you had been doing it for so long ... twenty years ago. It's an amazing thing.

What did you think life as a musician would be like when you first started out and how does it compare to what it's really like for you now?

Well, right now life as a musician is right on schedule of how I planned it. I'm making money, but not at the top yet. I wanted to build it up. I wanted to have those die hard fans who look for your music and whose lives are changed when they hear you, so much so that they spend all their energy on making sure everyone around them hears it. [I want] the kind of fans who choose to listen to you, not be forced to listen to you because it's pumped in your face 24/7. I didn't want to jump into the limelight and be the flavor of the week. I'm in this for the long haul, even if it meant dealing with the lowest of lows people can have. But maybe I needed those struggles to build me into a man and prove to myself that making music is worth it, no matter how s----- it gets. Now everything is moving in the right direction: up.