Escapists // Interview & Headline Tour Starting Next Week

Between festivals, support slots and an EP release, Escapists have had a busy year so far and before the year is out they have a headline tour to complete. No slowing down for Christmas then lads?

So, before their tour begins on Tuesday, we sat down with front-man Simon Glancy to chat about touring, influences and songs about aliens.

Your headline tour starts next week- are you looking forward to it?

Yeah, we’re all really excited to go out and play some of our own shows and see what people out there think of it. It should be good fun I think.

Do you prefer being out on the road to recording or are both equally important and enjoyable?

Yeah, it’s a hard question. We love being on the road and I love playing shows, but I love creating as well. Going on tour is quite a nice break if you’re recording for a long period of time; it’s the other aspect of what it is to be a band.

"Burial" the EP

What can people expect from your live show?

A lot of people will have only heard the recording, but the live show is a lot more visceral and loud. It’s more intense, we don’t tend to leave anything on the stage, we’re dead afterwards; we give it everything we can. It is the core of what our music is.

You’ve taken quite a DIY approach to the band and gained recognition and fans without a major label. Is it rewarding doing it that way even though at times it may be harder?

On the creativity side, yeah, it’s amazing; we mix and record our own stuff and that is awesome. I love being able to create something entirely that we want. Ultimately, having a deal would maybe get it out to a few more people which would be satisfying, but we’re a bit scared of what would come with the shackles. If we can make music and put it out, hopefully the fan-base will come with that.

You recorded a heap of songs; how did you decide whish songs went on the “Burial” EP? Did you find it easy being critical of your own stuff to narrow it down?

It was really, really hard, [laughing] we love all our songs. We didn’t necessarily cut the songs from what was an album to an EP and now that we’re a year and half older maybe the songs aren’t quite in the right place. When we got management on board at the end of last year we really wanted to hone down what we were a bit more and get the message across more succinctly.

How would you sum up the “Burial” EP?

It’s an exploration of pretty morbid themes and pretty uplifting music. We’ve got a song that’s quite stalker-ish on there and a song about aliens; everything you need.

You cite bands that you like as “Arcade Fire” and“TV On The Radio”-  are they your influences?

Yeah, “Arcade Fire” are a big influence, and bands like “The National”; US and Canadian bands that are more broody. I find a mystique to them which is interesting and I always want to convey this in our music. I think in the UK a lot of bands get hyped very early and what there is behind the PR package is not really that interesting. We don’t have that hype, but I think our songs have interesting concepts behind them.

You guys have had a busy year; what’s been the career highlight?

Reading Festival was pretty epic. Oli and I were in the States and we flew in to Heathrow and drove straight from the airport to Reading, so that was pretty rock n roll. But we were so scared that our flight was going to get delayed and we’d miss it and our agents would kill us. But everything was amazing. We’ve just done a tour with a US band called “Imagine Dragons” and that was incredible. Their fanbase is all super keen and turn up early and by eight the room is full. So as a support band you get to play to a full house so that was pretty incredible. You realise that, oh yeah there’s an audience for this and that you’re not just kind of fooling yourself into thinking you’re a worthwhile band.

And finally, what’s next for you guys?

I think we’re going to record a new EP over Christmas and release that maybe in March next year. So yeah, just record some more songs and play as much as we can. Hopefully come back to Leeds; we’ve been a few times and it’d be good to come play Live At Leeds festival again, that was fun. We just want to go around England and Europe as much as we can and, hopefully, the States.  
http://www.escapistsmusic.com/