Escape the Fate interview with Robert Ortiz – Warped Tour 2015
“I’m sorry if I fall asleep on you but I had a great, great time at the APMAs last night, so yeah, I’m hungover.” … The first words out of the gate from Escape the Fate drummer Robert Ortiz before the interview even started. The night before the July 23 Warped tour stop at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, up the road in Cleveland was a wild night at the Alternative Press Music Awards. (And, what a night it was!)
Ortiz summarized, “It was like one of the best nights ever, Dude.”
As for the notion that Cleveland can’t put on a “winning” event, Robert had this to say:
“I think they went out and put on an event and did it right. It was awesome. I think maybe people are scarred by Cleveland’s track record of having winning events such as the NBA Finals, such as the week 10 game between the Browns and the Bengals (the debut of Jonny Manziel). “
“It’s been great, Man. I think every day has been a blessing for us. We took so much time over the last few years…well, first of all, the band has always been in turmoil and disarray with things just going wrong, so there’s that side of it. Then, there’s the other side of trying to see what other rock bands we could mesh with and find some different fans outside of what we normally would associate ourselves with. Cuz the fans come to Warped Tour. To come back to it after doing all that and still be embraced and still have giant crowds every single day, it’s amazing, there’s nothing like it, particularly for a band that has been doing it as long as we have. You get worried. You get self-conscious. We’ve become the old guys. Even though I’m younger than some of the ‘young’ bands, we’re right in the thick of it and fans love us, and it’s great. And seeing some of our friends’ bands get bigger, and headline certain stages, it’s awesome. We’re having a real good time out here. I would call it a success.”
With all of the hard work of putting on a show, meet & greets, press, etc… Does Ortiz get to enjoy any of his time on Warped Tour?
“…The only time I really take off to enjoy it is when I’m fucking hating everything and hating my band members and getting in a fight with my lead singer. Then I’m like, ‘I’m going to go watch a movie today.’ Fuck being around them. You know what I mean? It has its ups and downs.”
Robert says Escape the Fate has just recorded their best album ever. He’s excited to release it…once his label and management let them:
“We are currently fighting our manager and our label because we’re done with the album. We’re happy with it, they’re happy with it. We’re excited. This is the best album that the band has ever done. And I have proof because of my fans that have been with me since I was a local band passing out those flyers. There are these Canadian fans of mine…our very first fans, and I finally said, ‘you know what? I’m going to play you the new stuff.’ And they said ‘this is the best album you’ve ever done.’ And that makes me excited, but we have to put the finishing touches…the packaging, the artwork, it’s just all the tedious things and we’re over it, we’re done with it. We’re done with the album in our head and they want all of this other stuff to be done and it’s annoying. But, that being said, we’re getting it done, we’re at the finish line, and now we’re ready to release this thing on the world in the next couple of months.”
