It's 4 o' clock in the afternoon, and I'm in the dancers' dressing room at Crazy Girls, a strip club on the corner of La Brea and Sunset in Hollywood, waiting to meet Craig Mabbitt and Max Green from the post-hardcore band Escape The Fate. Their third album has just been released the previous day, and the boys are scheduled to perform a special mini-set for a select group of guests invited to a record release party hosted by their new label, Interscope, at the intimate venue later on in the evening.
Cracked mirrors and a '70s style red formica laminate counter run around three walls, the fourth being taken up mostly by a bank of sticker-adorned lockers. The carpet has seen better days, the lighting is harsh, and the room is otherwise sparsely furnished with a few cheap chairs and an exceptionally wobbly table. Ink jet printed signs are taped up in several places to remind the girls who usually occupy this space that the $25 house fee must be paid before they start their shift. In short, in the cold light of day, the circumstances are seedy rather than sexy - though that would change later on in the evening as the club came alive to the epic, hormone-charged sounds of Escape The Fate's grind-friendly release.
"C'mon, c'mon, shake you money maker," rages vocalist Mabbitt, delivering the band's ode to their hometown "Sin City." The lingerie clad girls on the business side of the dollar rail comply as the rest of the band, Max (bass), Monte Money (guitar) and Robert Ortiz (drums) rock the shit out of the new songs.
Formed in 2004, the band have paid their dues and clocked up the miles touring virtually non-stop. Having built up a loyal following under the radar thanks to their energetic and accomplished live performances, the band sold 350,000 units via their previous label, Epitaph, with their first two releases, Dying Is Your Latest Fashion (2006) and This War Is Ours (2008), combined. Now signed to a major label, Escape The Fate are poised to move up to the major leagues in the live arena too. Consequently tonight's event, which is lavish by today's post-Napster standards even for one of the majors, is a celebration not only of how far the band have come, but of how far they're expected to go.
As the crew set up the band's gear for the evening's live performance, Craig and Max join me at the comically unstable table in the room where the ladies of Crazy Girls normally undress for work to talk about the new album. However the ambience of our surroundings leads to a discussion of the excesses of life on the road, and one of the new tracks sparks an in-depth conversation on contingency plans for the impending zombie apocalypse.
Craig Mabbitt: So these are strippers' lockers huh? Worse than a men's restroom!
Andrea Larrabee: I have to say this is the first interview I've done in a strip club.
CM: Me too. It's a first for all of us.
AL: I must admit, I was kind of confused after I read the liner notes on your CD. I noticed the first person you thanked was God. I'm like, oh, and I'm going to meet him in a strip club.
CM: Yep. I grew up really, really, really religious...My dad's side of the family always made me go to church and stuff - until I started dating the pastor's daughter and they kicked me. I haven't been back to church since.
AL: They kicked you out because you were dating the pastor's daughter?
CM: Yeah, they kicked me and my whole family out. That was kind of a huge lie, so I haven't been back to church since...Today I still believe in God, but I just feel like if you're a good person you deserve to go to a good place. That's just how it should be. It's common sense...
AL: How do you reconcile your faith with the genre of music that you're in?
CM: After I got kicked out I was like, screw this. Who cares if you drink? Who cares if you party? It's not bad as long as you don't abuse it - just like anything else in the world. If you abuse anything, it's obviously a bad thing. But as long as you do it enjoyably, then it shouldn't be a bad thing.
AL: This is your first release for a major label, so there must have been pressure to kick everything up a gear. Was there a difference in approach for this record?
CM: This record was already written before we started talking about the major. We went in the studio before the major [deal] was finalized. Obviously you hear horror stories about bands going on majors and then they change a lot. Their sound is a little different, or they're sell-outs. But as soon as the label came back to us, they were like, "We love what you guys are doing and we just want to support that." It was pretty much at that point when we were like, "Show us the papers. Where do we sign?"
AL: Was Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, and Rob Zombie) already on board as a producer at that point?
CM: Yeah, we were in the studio with him already. Then the label stuff got finalized.
AL: This album is the full package - it has great songs and a great sound.
CM: Yeah, our guitarist is really big about it, and we all agree with him. He wants to take everybody in this different world. He was watching a lot of horror movies and Tim Burton movies and stuff like that...You've got to have something that sets the mood for the song, initially. So he did a lot of extra production behind it all in Garage Band. Just weird creepy sounds that made it on the record. It sets the tone and sets the mood for the whole thing. I think that's the thing that's missing in a lot of music, that underlying mood setter. You kind of get lost in it, and you get taken somewhere else.
AL: So "Zombie Dance" - we can blame your guitarist for that?
CM: Yeah. He sent me the demo, and he named it "Zombie Dance" on the demo. So when I was writing it lyrically, I was like I'm just going to make it "Zombie Dance" and take it to wherever it could go. That's the only song on the record that's still the name of the demo. I think that's kind of cool.
AL: Are you a believer in the zombie apocalypse?
CM: I wouldn't say it was rad if it did happen - like for real - but it'd be pretty cool. I'd kill some zombies.
AL: How would you kill them?
CM: I would deck out one of those balls that the motorcyclists drive in, the cages. I would deck the outside of it in barbed wire, knives, nails, whatever - anything that will tear somebody up. Then I would outline the inside of it with protective material to keep you safe, and then I would just run around. That's how I'd get to places.
AL: That is actually one of the best zombie escape plans I've heard. I'm impressed.
CM: Yeah, you know those balls - right? You're just like a little hamster. Nothing is touching you. It's not like anybody can break in. You've got the latch door that locks from the inside. It's not like anybody is going to get in. It's a steel ball that you can literally move. People can climb on top of it...
AL: You might need more than a latch to keep them out though.
CM: A little more than a latch, but I'd figure it out.
[Max Green walks into the room]
AL: Max, do you have a zombie escape plan?
Max Green: A zombie escape plan?
AL: Yeah.
MG: Kill, kill, kill...I'd go to one of those big ass Super Wal-mart or Sam's Club places because they've got guns and food, and a pharmacy - most important.
CM: And lots of employees, that would be zombies.
MG: Well, if the zombie apocalypse happened, they probably wouldn't be hanging out there.
CM: How are you going to get there?
MG: Hijack your car. Whoa, getting too deep, don't fuck with me on this right now.
AL: But you've got to have a plan.
MG: All right. I'm going to hijack a big ass fucking truck, all right. Because most zombies, they probably won't be driving around. They'll probably be doing their zombie thing. [I'd] jump in a car, cruise into Wal-Mart...I don't know man - what would you do?
CM: I already said. I'd get one of those steel balls that the motorcycles drive inside of.
MG: How are you going to deck one out though?
CM: I'd deck out the outside of it with barbed wire and stuff.
MG: How are you going to have time to do that, zombies are going after you?
CM: I'd run inside the ball.
MG: How are you going to do that if zombies are coming after you?
CM: I'd hijack either a semi-truck or a tank from an Air Force base.
AL: You know what? I think you need to have your barbed wire ball built as a stage prop. Then you'd always have it with you on the road so no matter where or when the zombie apocalypse happened, you'd be prepared.
CM: What do you think they're attracted to? The smell of flesh? Is that what zombies are attracted to? Because you could also cover yourself in skunk - spray yourself with skunk maybe. That would turn them off from the smell of your flesh. Because in zombie movies you don't see zombies walking around eating animals.
AL: No. They're picky. Human flesh is their filet mignon.
CM: So whatever attracts them to it? As long as you could cover up that smell in some way, shape or form, like with a skunk, maybe some tomato juice.
MG: Yeah, probably that.
CM: Mud.
MG: That'd be the only thing I could think of.
CM: What if you dressed up like a zombie and started walking like them?
MG: No, they'd smell you.
AL: Yeah. They'd smell you.
CM: So you've got to find out what dead flesh smells like. Deck yourself out in dead flesh, paint yourself up, do the makeup and then if you find yourself in a bad situation, just do the zombie thing. [demonstrates the zombie walk]
AL: It looks like you've been practicing doing the zombie thing.
CM: [laughs]
AL: So when you're on the road are you watching horror movies on the bus?
CM: My dad showed me a lot of horror movies when I was a kid so I actually don't watch scary movies anymore. I'll watch funny scary movies like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead, but the last scary one I saw was the first Hostel in the theaters.
AL: My favorite all time line in a movie - "If you love me, you'll let me eat your brains - is from Return of the Living Dead.
CM: Nice. Nice. My favorite line in a movie, I actually used it in one of our songs. It's from Watchmen. It's not a zombie movie. [Rorschach] says, "None of you seem to understand, I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me." He's locked in prison and all the guys try to fight him...it was a badass line.
AL: Which song is that in?
CM: It's not on the new album, it's like a deluxe song.
MG: Yeah, off our last record.
CM: I changed it up a little bit. Our lyric is, "You just don't get it do you?" But same thing.
AL: How does the songwriting process work?
CM: Our guitarist does a lot of the music shit on Garage Band. Then, when he's decently happy with the way it sounds, then he'll show it to me. I'll sit down with it, I'll get in the mood with the song, and I'll think of the melody and then write the lyrics.
AL: Which lyrics on the new record are you most proud of?
CM: I'm proud of the whole album. I can't pick a favorite song..."Massacre" is a good one. I'm a really avid drinker, but for a while there I was drinking for the wrong reasons, so I was a real angry drunk. It was causing a lot of problems. So that song is about my drunken, crazy, angry antics and just being upset with myself.
There's a bonus track on the deluxe [edition] called "Liars and Monsters" - that I really like. "The Final Blow" is just about finding yourself and accepting who you are, and overcoming the world almost. "World Around Me," the ballad, I really like that a lot lyrically.
AL: I'm glad that you put the ballad on there. People don't have the balls to put ballads on heavy records anymore.
CM: We had a ballad on the last record but it turned out a little more boy band-ish then we were expecting. This time around, I think we did it right.
AL: You just finished a huge US tour. How did that go?
CM: It was really wild.
AL: Any highlights?
CM: I can't remember.
AL: You were too busy working on being a happy drunk.
CM: And I actually was the whole tour.
AL: Is that right Max? Was he a happy drunk the whole tour?
MG: Yeah. The entire tour. We had a party bus that Craig decked out with a fog machine, strobe lights and a [sound] system in it with speakers...
CM: It was like a traveling Dive Bar.
AL: Who's the bartender and what are you drinking?
CM: I made the drinks. Our rider has vodka, Red Bull...
MG: And Jger sometimes.
CM: Yeah, and Jger sometimes, so that's usually the drink of choice. I made a drink one night that was actually pretty delicious. I can't remember what kind of beer it was, but somebody was like, "Here Craig, have some of this beer." And they poured it in my chalice that I had my vodka/Red Bull in. I was drinking it and it was like a really sweet tasting beer. It was really good.
AL: That should be so wrong, but I could actually see how it works.
CM: Yeah. But I can't remember what beer it was. I'm sure it has to be the right kind of beer. I think it was Bud Light maybe. So it was Bud Light with a little bit of vodka/Red Bull taste in it. The beer taste was a lot more prominent, but it added just a little sweetness to it.
AL: So it amped up the alcohol content and gave the beer a buzz.
CM: Exactly. I think I'm going to try that again.
MG: I don't really like mixed drinks that much. I usually just drink out of the bottle, straight up. Or maybe chase it with a Red Bull or something.
AL: Are you a vodka man?
MG: Yeah, I do like vodka, straight up.
CM: I was a whisky man for a while, [but I] got sick one night. Can't do it anymore. I can still do Jger. I've got to have it chilled to perfection - ice cold Jger. I've got to have the Red Bull, and I can literally take a sip of the Red Bull, [and] chug the bottle like nobody's business.
MG: Chug! We used to kill a bottle every day before we'd go on stage when we were in Australia.
CM: We'd split a whole bottle.
MG: It's weird. When I drink liquor and shit, I'll be stuck on one thing for a while, and then I can't drink it anymore. Then I'll move to the next one. Like I used to love whiskey and now I switched to vodka. Actually recently I've been getting back into whiskey.
CM: I started drinking whiskey a little bit lately too actually.
MG: I'm over the Jger. We drank Jger for so many tours straight.
CM: Then I got sponsored by Jger. On the Warped Tour they gave me a Jger machine, so it was Jger-ific dude.
AL: What's the key to being a happy drunk
CM: Obviously your mind goes a blank sometimes when you're drinking, and the drink takes over and makes you loose and that's why you start having a good time. But if you're drinking for a bad reason - like I'm fucking pissed off right now and I just want to drink to forget about how pissed off I am - that's going to be your mindset and you're going to be a fucking douche bag when you're drunk...You can't drink for the wrong reasons.
Then it takes a lot of self-control too. On tour I'll drink sometimes until I black out, because I'm on the RV. I'm in a safe place and I know I'm going to be chill. But when I'm off the tour, I've got to have a little more self-control. I'll have like two shots and two cocktails and then I'll switch to beer.
MG: Craig calls that time traveling, when he gets wasted before a flight.
AL: You black out and wake up in another time zone and you don't know how long has passed.
CM: Yep. Pass out before a flight, pass out before the 9 hour drive. I'm like, "See you guys tomorrow." I'll start drinking, black out drunk, pass out, and then I'll wake up and we're there. Last night was fun right? Let's do it again. Everybody else is like, "I couldn't sleep last night. Watched a movie, read a book." Nope, I time travel.
AL: I see you both have a variety of ink. Do the various designs reflect where you've been?
MG: Oh yeah.
CM: Yeah, both of us. I'm saving this arm to do like a legit sleeve - something that fits altogether.
MG: This is my random sleeve, and this one's going to be dedicated to something.
AL: So you've both got a random arm and a dedicated arm.
CM: Yeah. This is the random arm that has things that mean stuff to me. Like St. Michael, that's my religion, just an angel killing my demons. That's a zombie heart, but it's beating out of my sleeve, if you will - 'cause I wear my heart on my sleeve. I've been through a lot of shit, so it's like a dead heart. Then I just added the cityscape and the flames and the sunset to go with the angel piece. Then that's "speak no, see no, hear no evil." Right there, it's a door hinge [on Craig's inside elbow] just to connect the sleeve together. I was going to get a cross but I got the fleur de lis...Everybody gets crosses so I wanted to get something different. That's a book my mom used to read me all the time, a Stinky Cheese Man.
AL: I was wondering what that was. I was thinking, is that a lump of cheese on your arm?
CM: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - it's a book my mom read me all the time.
AL: Max, what have you got going on?
MG: Right after I turned 18, I got these two stars with fire and water. They're against each other but it's all about balance. It's from this book I was reading. I got this coy fish because I'm really into Japanese stuff, oriental artwork. I did some Japanese in high school. I liked what it stood for. This one is a skull with some weird smoky flames and some beads. That was just completely random. There was this girl who's like a big fan of the band in Vegas that just wanted to buy me a tattoo. So we went down to a tattoo shop and I just picked that out from my guy. This one right here, a rose with a skull in it with a banner that says "Epitaph '07" - that was our first record label.
AL: You've got to really love your record label to get it tattooed on you.
MG: Epitaph used to hold the Epitaph Tour, and we did it in '07. Then this one right here is just a piece I got on the road. Instead of skull and cross bones, I got a skull and cross basses because I'm a bass guitarist. But it turned out not exactly like I wanted it to. It's got goofy big old cartoon teeth and the bass is bleeding. Then I got this crazy rad zombie geisha girl head. She's got a gold tooth right there...That's a voodoo doll. It was supposed to actually be me, because I was falling apart at the seams and stuff. He's dropped a bottle of pills and he's got a bottle of booze in the other hand...I put needles in there so people would know it was a voodoo doll, so they wouldn't think it was a teddy bear or something. And then I put my band's name - Escape the Fate - behind it.
AL: What have you got in mind for your dedicated sleeves?
CM: I think I'm going to do this one all black, 'cause that looks really cool sometimes. I think I'm going to make this all portraits of family members and close friends and stuff. So I can just take everybody with me all the time.
AL: And you?
MG: This time I'm going to do a bunch of rad, evil shit or whatever. It's going to be mostly black and white. There's going to be some color, but I don't want a lot, so where there is color, it stands out a lot. Then on this arm I've got "No Home But The Road" around my wrist because we tour all the time. I've got ILTP, which means "I like to party." And I've got a bear claw on my hand. Because my grandpa, he raised me - he's basically like my dad. He was Indian, and he had a bear claw on his hand. After he passed, I got the same guy that did his to do mine.
AL: So the record was released yesterday, what's in the immediate future for you guys? Have you got another tour in the works?
CM: Well we're going to Europe first with Bullet [For My Valentine]. We're doing support for them over there. After we come back from that, beginning of next year I believe, we're doing our headlining tour. It's going to be awesome!
AL: Are you noticing things change for you when you play?
CM: Yeah. I've been noticing at shows recently an older demographic of people coming up and saying hi to us, and that they love our band. That's really awesome. I definitely want to start playing for an older crowd. That'd be nice.
MG: There's like a crossover. Because all the young fans are still coming, but now it's like we're playing bigger rooms and there's a lot more diverse crowds coming to the shows. It's awesome.
CM: We're a lot busier for sure, dude. So much busier. I don't have to do anything.
AL: Well I hope you have time for SuicideGirls, 'cause if you check your email you'll see I set you up with a membership.
CM: I already got my user name and started it up.
AL: Nice.
CM: I told [my publicist], have SuicideGirls give me like a girlfriend application to put out and people can fill it out and I can find a girlfriend. Because I need a girlfriend.
AL: What kind of girl are you looking for?
CM: Somebody cool.
AL: Define cool.
CM: Cute, artistic, unique, somebody that just enjoys life and just wants to have a good time with me. [Someone] that I could bring out on the road and share some drinks with, and just chill with...Like one of the boys almost, but she's also like banging at the same time.
MG: A girl that can be like a homie, be like a friend.
CM: Be like a homie, but at the same time she's this really cute, beautiful woman. I don't care too much about boobs or anything, but she's got to have a cute face and a nice little butt. Or a big butt. I don't care. Big butt, small butt, as long as it's nicely shaped - that's all I care about. I could care less about boobs. I don't care about race, whatever. [I just want her to be] cute, and artistic, and awesome.
AL: How are you in the girlfriend department? Do we need to go shopping on SuicideGirls for you too?
MG: I just got a girlfriend again, like not even a week ago.
AL: No membership for you right now then.
[laughs]
AL: Craig, what do you have to offer a SuicideGirl?
CM: I think the question would be: what do I not have to offer?
AL: What do you do to women? How do you break up with them?
CM: I've actually never broken up with a girl in my entire life.
AL: Really?
CM: Really. I've only had two serious girlfriends. There's always been people that I talk to here and there, but I've never decided to do the 'let's be serious and get together' thing because it just wasn't there for me. I didn't feel it.
The first girl I felt it with just cheated on me all the time, but I didn't care because I was in love with her. Eventually that ended and I met the new girl. We were together for a while, had a kid together. I was doing the band/touring thing, rumors started. She'd break up with me. I'd do something stupid, she'd do something stupid - whatever. [It's been] on and off for the past five years. We've grown apart now. Too much damage has been done. I just need to move on. I need to find someone new...I'm lonely. I want somebody to share my life with...You know what I'm saying? That's my girl. She can come, cuddle up, watch a movie, smoke a bowl, have some drinks, whatever dude.
MG: Yeah. Someone who can adapt and handle this lifestyle is so important.
CM: Someone who knows how to have a threesome with me and my girl and that's rock & roll - as Bret Michaels would say...Music and drinking is a huge part of my lifestyle but I'm a big family man when I'm home. Music and drinking...
MG: It's about 90%.
CM: No, that's what it is every time I'm on tour. When I'm not, I'm a family man, dude. I go into daddy mode.
MG: So when you're on tour it's 100%.
CM: When I'm on tour, it's 100%. When I'm off the tour, it's 15%.
AL: I have to ask, because you both mention family and then you both have your various symbols of evil tattooed on your bodies. Max, in your liner notes, you thank Charles Manson and your grandma. I get the grandma, but why are you thanking Charles Manson?
MG: I gotta thank Charles Manson for two reasons. One, I always like to throw random people in there. On one of our last albums, I thank like Danny Devito and Bill Murray, stuff like that. So I kind of thank Charles Manson just to throw him out there. But I was also reading this book called Helter Skelter. Like as crazy and as fucked up and as twisted as Charles Manson is, he's also like a man with a plan and he's like a genius. He just used his genius for like corrupt reasons. So, I don't know, I just thanked him. It just shows what a person in power with confidence can do I guess. If you use it for the right reasons, you can like accomplish anything.
AL: So are you a man with a plan? And what would that plan be?
MG: Dude. Have you ever heard called a band called Escape the Fate?
Cracked mirrors and a '70s style red formica laminate counter run around three walls, the fourth being taken up mostly by a bank of sticker-adorned lockers. The carpet has seen better days, the lighting is harsh, and the room is otherwise sparsely furnished with a few cheap chairs and an exceptionally wobbly table. Ink jet printed signs are taped up in several places to remind the girls who usually occupy this space that the $25 house fee must be paid before they start their shift. In short, in the cold light of day, the circumstances are seedy rather than sexy - though that would change later on in the evening as the club came alive to the epic, hormone-charged sounds of Escape The Fate's grind-friendly release.
"C'mon, c'mon, shake you money maker," rages vocalist Mabbitt, delivering the band's ode to their hometown "Sin City." The lingerie clad girls on the business side of the dollar rail comply as the rest of the band, Max (bass), Monte Money (guitar) and Robert Ortiz (drums) rock the shit out of the new songs.
Formed in 2004, the band have paid their dues and clocked up the miles touring virtually non-stop. Having built up a loyal following under the radar thanks to their energetic and accomplished live performances, the band sold 350,000 units via their previous label, Epitaph, with their first two releases, Dying Is Your Latest Fashion (2006) and This War Is Ours (2008), combined. Now signed to a major label, Escape The Fate are poised to move up to the major leagues in the live arena too. Consequently tonight's event, which is lavish by today's post-Napster standards even for one of the majors, is a celebration not only of how far the band have come, but of how far they're expected to go.
As the crew set up the band's gear for the evening's live performance, Craig and Max join me at the comically unstable table in the room where the ladies of Crazy Girls normally undress for work to talk about the new album. However the ambience of our surroundings leads to a discussion of the excesses of life on the road, and one of the new tracks sparks an in-depth conversation on contingency plans for the impending zombie apocalypse.
Craig Mabbitt: So these are strippers' lockers huh? Worse than a men's restroom!
Andrea Larrabee: I have to say this is the first interview I've done in a strip club.
CM: Me too. It's a first for all of us.
AL: I must admit, I was kind of confused after I read the liner notes on your CD. I noticed the first person you thanked was God. I'm like, oh, and I'm going to meet him in a strip club.
CM: Yep. I grew up really, really, really religious...My dad's side of the family always made me go to church and stuff - until I started dating the pastor's daughter and they kicked me. I haven't been back to church since.
AL: They kicked you out because you were dating the pastor's daughter?
CM: Yeah, they kicked me and my whole family out. That was kind of a huge lie, so I haven't been back to church since...Today I still believe in God, but I just feel like if you're a good person you deserve to go to a good place. That's just how it should be. It's common sense...
AL: How do you reconcile your faith with the genre of music that you're in?
CM: After I got kicked out I was like, screw this. Who cares if you drink? Who cares if you party? It's not bad as long as you don't abuse it - just like anything else in the world. If you abuse anything, it's obviously a bad thing. But as long as you do it enjoyably, then it shouldn't be a bad thing.
AL: This is your first release for a major label, so there must have been pressure to kick everything up a gear. Was there a difference in approach for this record?
CM: This record was already written before we started talking about the major. We went in the studio before the major [deal] was finalized. Obviously you hear horror stories about bands going on majors and then they change a lot. Their sound is a little different, or they're sell-outs. But as soon as the label came back to us, they were like, "We love what you guys are doing and we just want to support that." It was pretty much at that point when we were like, "Show us the papers. Where do we sign?"
AL: Was Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, and Rob Zombie) already on board as a producer at that point?
CM: Yeah, we were in the studio with him already. Then the label stuff got finalized.
AL: This album is the full package - it has great songs and a great sound.
CM: Yeah, our guitarist is really big about it, and we all agree with him. He wants to take everybody in this different world. He was watching a lot of horror movies and Tim Burton movies and stuff like that...You've got to have something that sets the mood for the song, initially. So he did a lot of extra production behind it all in Garage Band. Just weird creepy sounds that made it on the record. It sets the tone and sets the mood for the whole thing. I think that's the thing that's missing in a lot of music, that underlying mood setter. You kind of get lost in it, and you get taken somewhere else.
AL: So "Zombie Dance" - we can blame your guitarist for that?
CM: Yeah. He sent me the demo, and he named it "Zombie Dance" on the demo. So when I was writing it lyrically, I was like I'm just going to make it "Zombie Dance" and take it to wherever it could go. That's the only song on the record that's still the name of the demo. I think that's kind of cool.
AL: Are you a believer in the zombie apocalypse?
CM: I wouldn't say it was rad if it did happen - like for real - but it'd be pretty cool. I'd kill some zombies.
AL: How would you kill them?
CM: I would deck out one of those balls that the motorcyclists drive in, the cages. I would deck the outside of it in barbed wire, knives, nails, whatever - anything that will tear somebody up. Then I would outline the inside of it with protective material to keep you safe, and then I would just run around. That's how I'd get to places.
AL: That is actually one of the best zombie escape plans I've heard. I'm impressed.
CM: Yeah, you know those balls - right? You're just like a little hamster. Nothing is touching you. It's not like anybody can break in. You've got the latch door that locks from the inside. It's not like anybody is going to get in. It's a steel ball that you can literally move. People can climb on top of it...
AL: You might need more than a latch to keep them out though.
CM: A little more than a latch, but I'd figure it out.
[Max Green walks into the room]
AL: Max, do you have a zombie escape plan?
Max Green: A zombie escape plan?
AL: Yeah.
MG: Kill, kill, kill...I'd go to one of those big ass Super Wal-mart or Sam's Club places because they've got guns and food, and a pharmacy - most important.
CM: And lots of employees, that would be zombies.
MG: Well, if the zombie apocalypse happened, they probably wouldn't be hanging out there.
CM: How are you going to get there?
MG: Hijack your car. Whoa, getting too deep, don't fuck with me on this right now.
AL: But you've got to have a plan.
MG: All right. I'm going to hijack a big ass fucking truck, all right. Because most zombies, they probably won't be driving around. They'll probably be doing their zombie thing. [I'd] jump in a car, cruise into Wal-Mart...I don't know man - what would you do?
CM: I already said. I'd get one of those steel balls that the motorcycles drive inside of.
MG: How are you going to deck one out though?
CM: I'd deck out the outside of it with barbed wire and stuff.
MG: How are you going to have time to do that, zombies are going after you?
CM: I'd run inside the ball.
MG: How are you going to do that if zombies are coming after you?
CM: I'd hijack either a semi-truck or a tank from an Air Force base.
AL: You know what? I think you need to have your barbed wire ball built as a stage prop. Then you'd always have it with you on the road so no matter where or when the zombie apocalypse happened, you'd be prepared.
CM: What do you think they're attracted to? The smell of flesh? Is that what zombies are attracted to? Because you could also cover yourself in skunk - spray yourself with skunk maybe. That would turn them off from the smell of your flesh. Because in zombie movies you don't see zombies walking around eating animals.
AL: No. They're picky. Human flesh is their filet mignon.
CM: So whatever attracts them to it? As long as you could cover up that smell in some way, shape or form, like with a skunk, maybe some tomato juice.
MG: Yeah, probably that.
CM: Mud.
MG: That'd be the only thing I could think of.
CM: What if you dressed up like a zombie and started walking like them?
MG: No, they'd smell you.
AL: Yeah. They'd smell you.
CM: So you've got to find out what dead flesh smells like. Deck yourself out in dead flesh, paint yourself up, do the makeup and then if you find yourself in a bad situation, just do the zombie thing. [demonstrates the zombie walk]
AL: It looks like you've been practicing doing the zombie thing.
CM: [laughs]
AL: So when you're on the road are you watching horror movies on the bus?
CM: My dad showed me a lot of horror movies when I was a kid so I actually don't watch scary movies anymore. I'll watch funny scary movies like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead, but the last scary one I saw was the first Hostel in the theaters.
AL: My favorite all time line in a movie - "If you love me, you'll let me eat your brains - is from Return of the Living Dead.
CM: Nice. Nice. My favorite line in a movie, I actually used it in one of our songs. It's from Watchmen. It's not a zombie movie. [Rorschach] says, "None of you seem to understand, I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me." He's locked in prison and all the guys try to fight him...it was a badass line.
AL: Which song is that in?
CM: It's not on the new album, it's like a deluxe song.
MG: Yeah, off our last record.
CM: I changed it up a little bit. Our lyric is, "You just don't get it do you?" But same thing.
AL: How does the songwriting process work?
CM: Our guitarist does a lot of the music shit on Garage Band. Then, when he's decently happy with the way it sounds, then he'll show it to me. I'll sit down with it, I'll get in the mood with the song, and I'll think of the melody and then write the lyrics.
AL: Which lyrics on the new record are you most proud of?
CM: I'm proud of the whole album. I can't pick a favorite song..."Massacre" is a good one. I'm a really avid drinker, but for a while there I was drinking for the wrong reasons, so I was a real angry drunk. It was causing a lot of problems. So that song is about my drunken, crazy, angry antics and just being upset with myself.
There's a bonus track on the deluxe [edition] called "Liars and Monsters" - that I really like. "The Final Blow" is just about finding yourself and accepting who you are, and overcoming the world almost. "World Around Me," the ballad, I really like that a lot lyrically.
AL: I'm glad that you put the ballad on there. People don't have the balls to put ballads on heavy records anymore.
CM: We had a ballad on the last record but it turned out a little more boy band-ish then we were expecting. This time around, I think we did it right.
AL: You just finished a huge US tour. How did that go?
CM: It was really wild.
AL: Any highlights?
CM: I can't remember.
AL: You were too busy working on being a happy drunk.
CM: And I actually was the whole tour.
AL: Is that right Max? Was he a happy drunk the whole tour?
MG: Yeah. The entire tour. We had a party bus that Craig decked out with a fog machine, strobe lights and a [sound] system in it with speakers...
CM: It was like a traveling Dive Bar.
AL: Who's the bartender and what are you drinking?
CM: I made the drinks. Our rider has vodka, Red Bull...
MG: And Jger sometimes.
CM: Yeah, and Jger sometimes, so that's usually the drink of choice. I made a drink one night that was actually pretty delicious. I can't remember what kind of beer it was, but somebody was like, "Here Craig, have some of this beer." And they poured it in my chalice that I had my vodka/Red Bull in. I was drinking it and it was like a really sweet tasting beer. It was really good.
AL: That should be so wrong, but I could actually see how it works.
CM: Yeah. But I can't remember what beer it was. I'm sure it has to be the right kind of beer. I think it was Bud Light maybe. So it was Bud Light with a little bit of vodka/Red Bull taste in it. The beer taste was a lot more prominent, but it added just a little sweetness to it.
AL: So it amped up the alcohol content and gave the beer a buzz.
CM: Exactly. I think I'm going to try that again.
MG: I don't really like mixed drinks that much. I usually just drink out of the bottle, straight up. Or maybe chase it with a Red Bull or something.
AL: Are you a vodka man?
MG: Yeah, I do like vodka, straight up.
CM: I was a whisky man for a while, [but I] got sick one night. Can't do it anymore. I can still do Jger. I've got to have it chilled to perfection - ice cold Jger. I've got to have the Red Bull, and I can literally take a sip of the Red Bull, [and] chug the bottle like nobody's business.
MG: Chug! We used to kill a bottle every day before we'd go on stage when we were in Australia.
CM: We'd split a whole bottle.
MG: It's weird. When I drink liquor and shit, I'll be stuck on one thing for a while, and then I can't drink it anymore. Then I'll move to the next one. Like I used to love whiskey and now I switched to vodka. Actually recently I've been getting back into whiskey.
CM: I started drinking whiskey a little bit lately too actually.
MG: I'm over the Jger. We drank Jger for so many tours straight.
CM: Then I got sponsored by Jger. On the Warped Tour they gave me a Jger machine, so it was Jger-ific dude.
AL: What's the key to being a happy drunk
CM: Obviously your mind goes a blank sometimes when you're drinking, and the drink takes over and makes you loose and that's why you start having a good time. But if you're drinking for a bad reason - like I'm fucking pissed off right now and I just want to drink to forget about how pissed off I am - that's going to be your mindset and you're going to be a fucking douche bag when you're drunk...You can't drink for the wrong reasons.
Then it takes a lot of self-control too. On tour I'll drink sometimes until I black out, because I'm on the RV. I'm in a safe place and I know I'm going to be chill. But when I'm off the tour, I've got to have a little more self-control. I'll have like two shots and two cocktails and then I'll switch to beer.
MG: Craig calls that time traveling, when he gets wasted before a flight.
AL: You black out and wake up in another time zone and you don't know how long has passed.
CM: Yep. Pass out before a flight, pass out before the 9 hour drive. I'm like, "See you guys tomorrow." I'll start drinking, black out drunk, pass out, and then I'll wake up and we're there. Last night was fun right? Let's do it again. Everybody else is like, "I couldn't sleep last night. Watched a movie, read a book." Nope, I time travel.
AL: I see you both have a variety of ink. Do the various designs reflect where you've been?
MG: Oh yeah.
CM: Yeah, both of us. I'm saving this arm to do like a legit sleeve - something that fits altogether.
MG: This is my random sleeve, and this one's going to be dedicated to something.
AL: So you've both got a random arm and a dedicated arm.
CM: Yeah. This is the random arm that has things that mean stuff to me. Like St. Michael, that's my religion, just an angel killing my demons. That's a zombie heart, but it's beating out of my sleeve, if you will - 'cause I wear my heart on my sleeve. I've been through a lot of shit, so it's like a dead heart. Then I just added the cityscape and the flames and the sunset to go with the angel piece. Then that's "speak no, see no, hear no evil." Right there, it's a door hinge [on Craig's inside elbow] just to connect the sleeve together. I was going to get a cross but I got the fleur de lis...Everybody gets crosses so I wanted to get something different. That's a book my mom used to read me all the time, a Stinky Cheese Man.
AL: I was wondering what that was. I was thinking, is that a lump of cheese on your arm?
CM: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - it's a book my mom read me all the time.
AL: Max, what have you got going on?
MG: Right after I turned 18, I got these two stars with fire and water. They're against each other but it's all about balance. It's from this book I was reading. I got this coy fish because I'm really into Japanese stuff, oriental artwork. I did some Japanese in high school. I liked what it stood for. This one is a skull with some weird smoky flames and some beads. That was just completely random. There was this girl who's like a big fan of the band in Vegas that just wanted to buy me a tattoo. So we went down to a tattoo shop and I just picked that out from my guy. This one right here, a rose with a skull in it with a banner that says "Epitaph '07" - that was our first record label.
AL: You've got to really love your record label to get it tattooed on you.
MG: Epitaph used to hold the Epitaph Tour, and we did it in '07. Then this one right here is just a piece I got on the road. Instead of skull and cross bones, I got a skull and cross basses because I'm a bass guitarist. But it turned out not exactly like I wanted it to. It's got goofy big old cartoon teeth and the bass is bleeding. Then I got this crazy rad zombie geisha girl head. She's got a gold tooth right there...That's a voodoo doll. It was supposed to actually be me, because I was falling apart at the seams and stuff. He's dropped a bottle of pills and he's got a bottle of booze in the other hand...I put needles in there so people would know it was a voodoo doll, so they wouldn't think it was a teddy bear or something. And then I put my band's name - Escape the Fate - behind it.
AL: What have you got in mind for your dedicated sleeves?
CM: I think I'm going to do this one all black, 'cause that looks really cool sometimes. I think I'm going to make this all portraits of family members and close friends and stuff. So I can just take everybody with me all the time.
AL: And you?
MG: This time I'm going to do a bunch of rad, evil shit or whatever. It's going to be mostly black and white. There's going to be some color, but I don't want a lot, so where there is color, it stands out a lot. Then on this arm I've got "No Home But The Road" around my wrist because we tour all the time. I've got ILTP, which means "I like to party." And I've got a bear claw on my hand. Because my grandpa, he raised me - he's basically like my dad. He was Indian, and he had a bear claw on his hand. After he passed, I got the same guy that did his to do mine.
AL: So the record was released yesterday, what's in the immediate future for you guys? Have you got another tour in the works?
CM: Well we're going to Europe first with Bullet [For My Valentine]. We're doing support for them over there. After we come back from that, beginning of next year I believe, we're doing our headlining tour. It's going to be awesome!
AL: Are you noticing things change for you when you play?
CM: Yeah. I've been noticing at shows recently an older demographic of people coming up and saying hi to us, and that they love our band. That's really awesome. I definitely want to start playing for an older crowd. That'd be nice.
MG: There's like a crossover. Because all the young fans are still coming, but now it's like we're playing bigger rooms and there's a lot more diverse crowds coming to the shows. It's awesome.
CM: We're a lot busier for sure, dude. So much busier. I don't have to do anything.
AL: Well I hope you have time for SuicideGirls, 'cause if you check your email you'll see I set you up with a membership.
CM: I already got my user name and started it up.
AL: Nice.
CM: I told [my publicist], have SuicideGirls give me like a girlfriend application to put out and people can fill it out and I can find a girlfriend. Because I need a girlfriend.
AL: What kind of girl are you looking for?
CM: Somebody cool.
AL: Define cool.
CM: Cute, artistic, unique, somebody that just enjoys life and just wants to have a good time with me. [Someone] that I could bring out on the road and share some drinks with, and just chill with...Like one of the boys almost, but she's also like banging at the same time.
MG: A girl that can be like a homie, be like a friend.
CM: Be like a homie, but at the same time she's this really cute, beautiful woman. I don't care too much about boobs or anything, but she's got to have a cute face and a nice little butt. Or a big butt. I don't care. Big butt, small butt, as long as it's nicely shaped - that's all I care about. I could care less about boobs. I don't care about race, whatever. [I just want her to be] cute, and artistic, and awesome.
AL: How are you in the girlfriend department? Do we need to go shopping on SuicideGirls for you too?
MG: I just got a girlfriend again, like not even a week ago.
AL: No membership for you right now then.
[laughs]
AL: Craig, what do you have to offer a SuicideGirl?
CM: I think the question would be: what do I not have to offer?
AL: What do you do to women? How do you break up with them?
CM: I've actually never broken up with a girl in my entire life.
AL: Really?
CM: Really. I've only had two serious girlfriends. There's always been people that I talk to here and there, but I've never decided to do the 'let's be serious and get together' thing because it just wasn't there for me. I didn't feel it.
The first girl I felt it with just cheated on me all the time, but I didn't care because I was in love with her. Eventually that ended and I met the new girl. We were together for a while, had a kid together. I was doing the band/touring thing, rumors started. She'd break up with me. I'd do something stupid, she'd do something stupid - whatever. [It's been] on and off for the past five years. We've grown apart now. Too much damage has been done. I just need to move on. I need to find someone new...I'm lonely. I want somebody to share my life with...You know what I'm saying? That's my girl. She can come, cuddle up, watch a movie, smoke a bowl, have some drinks, whatever dude.
MG: Yeah. Someone who can adapt and handle this lifestyle is so important.
CM: Someone who knows how to have a threesome with me and my girl and that's rock & roll - as Bret Michaels would say...Music and drinking is a huge part of my lifestyle but I'm a big family man when I'm home. Music and drinking...
MG: It's about 90%.
CM: No, that's what it is every time I'm on tour. When I'm not, I'm a family man, dude. I go into daddy mode.
MG: So when you're on tour it's 100%.
CM: When I'm on tour, it's 100%. When I'm off the tour, it's 15%.
AL: I have to ask, because you both mention family and then you both have your various symbols of evil tattooed on your bodies. Max, in your liner notes, you thank Charles Manson and your grandma. I get the grandma, but why are you thanking Charles Manson?
MG: I gotta thank Charles Manson for two reasons. One, I always like to throw random people in there. On one of our last albums, I thank like Danny Devito and Bill Murray, stuff like that. So I kind of thank Charles Manson just to throw him out there. But I was also reading this book called Helter Skelter. Like as crazy and as fucked up and as twisted as Charles Manson is, he's also like a man with a plan and he's like a genius. He just used his genius for like corrupt reasons. So, I don't know, I just thanked him. It just shows what a person in power with confidence can do I guess. If you use it for the right reasons, you can like accomplish anything.
AL: So are you a man with a plan? And what would that plan be?
MG: Dude. Have you ever heard called a band called Escape the Fate?