Your latest single, “Winning the War,” has an uplifting spirit. How did you create such a motivational track?
One of the things I struggle with in my life, and it is less and less as I work on it – is just fighting my own mind. Like convincing yourself you can do something and then the next day starting over again from square one and having to do it again. The mental exhaustion and waste of time that is. Like Groundhog Day. That is what this song is about. I feel like I am winning the war. Today. Today being the key thing, it kind of implies today, but maybe not tomorrow. I wrote the song to kind of remind me, and it has actually helped. I wanted to write something that anyone could put on and use to pump themselves up. So far people I have been playing it to have really responded.
With the music I love when you mix rock music with lush harmonies. That is what we are going for here. I am not comparing Escape Ring to these bands by any stretch of the imagination, but that is what I love when I hear the Beatles, the Beach Boys, REM – that clash between the grit of rock and the sweetness of harmonies. And that is an uplifting feeling that I think supports the message of Winning The War. That is what we are reaching for anyway.
Another thing I am excited about is the song was also mixed by two of my favourite mixers working today both based in LA. First we gave it to a cool guy TJ Routon who has worked with Taylor Swift and Niki Minaj. That mix was then built on with a new mix by Ariel Chobaz. Ariel has worked with Drake and Rhianna – but I love Nicki Minaj’s Superbass (which was just named in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) and Ariel Chobaz mixed that, so I then sent the mixes to him to add his magic and he built on that mix. I love what he did with this. He is an immense talent. We also wanted this song to be like classic rock – but wanted it to sonically sound like an old song that had just been remastered so it still has that clarity and punch and relates to people today sonically.
What drew you to music in the first place?
Ever since I was a kid, music has been my happy place. It is hard to be sad or worried or stressed for too long when you hear a great piece of music. I have tried to bring that feeling to the music we play in Escape Ring
What led to the formation of the band?
Escape Ring is other like minded musicians playing the songs I write.
How would you characterize the music of “ESCAPE RING” to someone who has never heard it before?
Escape Ring is a project that is all about the sound of a rock band with lush harmonies and fun melodies on top. It’s like Fleetwood Mac songs put through a 2021 sonic template. It is about escaping from the pressures of your day to day life or today’s newsfeed – and just escaping for a while.
What is the story behind your name “ESCAPE RING”?
Two reasons are behind the name. One is a good reason, the other a boring reason. The good reason is because we wanted something that would suggest that feeling of escaping into music. I imagined a Green Lantern type ring that gave you the power so you could just instantly escape from the ho-hum of everyday life and have some fun. Like when you put on a Haim record or a Beach Boys record – it’s a quick escape from life. The boring reason is we could get the dot com for it too. Ha!
Who is your main inspiration in the music industry?
Paul McCartney. Without question. He has been releasing amazing songs right from the early 60’s with the Beatles, but also his work in the 1970’s to the present day is unbelievable with so many great songs. Some little known to a lot of people. I love is sense of melody. The man is a complete genius.
You released a music video for “Winning the War” starring that wonderful dancer in London; was this how you originally envisioned the video for the single?
It was a lockdown thing. We were originally going to shoot something with the band but couldn’t get out at the time. So the idea was: let’s send the song around the world and get people all around the world to dance to it, then cut together a video with everyone dancing. We actually shot that video, and we have it ready to release, but we felt, this guy is so good and his interpretive dance, almost acting out the lyrics through dance is so good, it would be better if the video was him doing that in a single uninterrupted take. But now you mention it, we should put the other version out in the coming weeks.
Tell us more about your forthcoming album, “Anybody Can Do Anything.” And when will it be released?
We have two more singles coming out “You’re Number One” and “Rainbow” in the coming weeks / months. Then a couple more singles. Then we plan to drop the whole album following that.
Based on the title of your next album, “Anybody Can Do Anything,” do you aim to produce inspirational and motivational songs?
Yes, it is almost a concept album, songs that make you feel like you can get out there and knock down walls.
When you’re working on a new single, what do you enjoy the most?
Harmonies, coming up with melodies.
Finally, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to speak with us; kindly tell us more about your future plans.
Thanks for taking the time to interview us. Future plans are to try and reach a bigger and bigger audience with each single we release. These first two have really been to test the waters and see what kind of response we would get. So far, given it is a self release starting from scratch we have been getting a lot of good feedback and fan reaction. Also looking forward to playing the songs live in the coming months too.
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Viola Karmy
