DISCOVER | ESCAPING TODAY – Norfolk, United Kingdom.

22nd January 2024 0 By Laura Jane

Today on DISCOVER, I’m joined by ESCAPING TODAY. ESCAPING TODAY are a four piece Rock/Pop-Rock band from Norfolk, UK. Current members of ESCAPING TODAY are Joe (guitar & lead vocals), Ryan (vocals & lead guitar), Leon -(drums) and Steve (vocals and bass). Today we discuss upcoming plans for 2024, zombie apocalypses and how to become a side hustling champ with just your name.

Good evening and thank you for spending some time with me today! Escaping Today – where did it all start – could you tell me where it began and how you guys met?

Steve: We got together towards the end of 2017 – Leon and I were in a previous band together, and stayed in contact. I messaged him asking if he wanted to put something new together and we put an advert online looking for members, Ryan responded and joined us for a rehearsal, shortly before Joe replied and we’ve gone from there! As soon as we were all in the same rehearsal room, I think we all knew we were onto something rather special!

That’s great to hear! And it’s smacking knowing that the fit worked well from early days! How did you come up with the name “Escaping Today” – is there any back story to this?

Joe: Originally we had a name that was taken from Steve’s previous band, HeadRush. We kept that for a few years but during lockdown we wanted to rebrand a little as there was many other bands with the same name. We went on a very, very long process of searching for not only a cool new name but one that wasn’t taken! Not easy.

Steve: I always kept the name HeadRush as I thought it really sounded good. Unfortunately, so did lots of other bands, as we found out! We certainly weren’t the only band using that name.

Leon: And also a skate boarding company which resulted in some odd Facebook messages requesting skateboarding merch!

Ryan: Music has always been an escape for a lot of people including us, and I really like the idea of leaning into that, our music can be a way for people to escape their problems for a short time whilst they listen to our music

That’s a really smart idea behind the name love it, it’s funny to hear about the skateboarding merch requests also! Fancy sharing a request you had?

Joe: This was one who thought we were the guitar pedal board company. (Image above)

Steve: I do recall someone thinking we were a different band using that name and wanting us to play their wedding, in New Zealand..

Leon: I was hoping we had our first New Zealand fan but we are still yet to break that market!

Joe & Steve: One day!

That’s amazing. It seems you guys could have had some solid side hustles on the go there! From guitar pedal suppliers, skateboard merch and wedding entertainment. Could you tell me about escaping today’s sound. How would you summarize your bands sound to someone who was not familiar with your music?

Joe: What I like is that it’s a sound that really reflect the tastes of the band, rather than us setting out to sound a certain way. We all bring our own inspirations. Mine is the softer rock side of things with a lot of the Britpop era, singer/songwriter stuff and indie rock bands.

Steve: I think a great thing about our sound is that we have so many different influences.

Leon: I do think our sound is pretty unique, we like heavy stuff yet our music has plenty of melody.

Talking about influences, what would your top 3 person musical influences be?

Steve: My top 3 musical influences would be Steve Harris from Maiden, Mike Dirnt from Green Day and probably Jim Lea from Slade. Quite diverse!

Joe: Kelly Jones (Stereophonics), James Walsh (Starsailor) and Matt Bellamy (Muse)

Ryan: Foo Fighters – Dave Grohl, My Chemical Romance – Ray Toro and Frank Turner.

Leon: Drummers would be Dave Grohl, Jimmy Chamberlin and Matt Cameron

Steve: Honesty expected to you say Ringo, Leon!

Leon: I do love Ringo of course.

It seems like a lot of varying influences there, it’s great to see. I think you can learn and apply a lot from different aspects of music! What is the creative process when it comes to both music and song writing – is it usually a joint process or is there someone who takes the reins?

Leon: I usually sit there and do what I’m told! No in all seriousness, Joe or Ryan will usually have an idea of what they want the drums to do in a song they have aritten. Sometimes this will be in the form of a demo or a rehearsal jam and I will get comfortable with the song and then try to expand my drumming to fit the song as best as I can.

Steve: We seem to be able to gel on new songs quite quickly – usually Joe or Ryan will come in with a new riff or Joe has been beavering away writing lots of new songs for us and we get productive in rehearsals!

Ryan: It would normally be myself or Joe that comes in to practice with an idea, that can sometimes be a melody, a structure an intro or whatever and then we play it out as a band each working out how we want to add our own individual ‘flair’ until we are happy with how it ends up

Seems like synchronization comes naturally! I have listened to your EP (We Are Just) Entertainers – I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was good vibes, which of your song would you say was your favorite to record so far?

Steve: Thank you! We were very proud of that EP, picking out a favorite to record is really tricky, but for me personally I would have to say either Entertainers or 66 Million to One, they’re great fun to play live so recording them was excellent!

Leon: Entertainers was a fun one to record definitely.

Ryan: For me it would definitely be 66 Million To One, that song holds a special place in our hearts and features as the closer for all of our shows, and it was a great experience getting that recorded.

Steve: Any show where we done finish with that song just feels strange!

Ryan: But there might be a newly recorded song on the horizon that may be my new favorite..

Joe: 66 Mill was one of my favs too because of how heavily it’s featured in our sets. And layering up the harmonies was great fun! But yes, new single has been recorded and that was an absolutely amazing experience with producer Tom Joy

It seems like some solid favorites there. Talking about shows, do you have any memorable favorite shows you have played throughout the duration of being a band?

Steve: The Beccles Battle of the Bands final back in the summer was absolutely amazing!

Leon: Yeah it was! Was a real highlight for us to get 1st place and go down so well with a large audience.

Joe: Agreed!

Ryan: That’s an agree from me as well.

Steve: Yeah we’ve met some amazing bands over the years. Supporting a youth homelessness charity in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral. In terms of location that’s been my favorite.

Sounds like the battle of the bands was a hit! we’re almost at the end of the interview now so, just a few more for you guys – noticed previously you guys teased about new songs. This is exciting news. Could you tell me a bit about your new music- do you have any release dates planned for this?

Joe: We’ve not formally agreed on a date yet but we have a new single planned to be released early on in the new year. With plans in place to record again shortly after.

Steve: A lot of hard work has gone into it, and I think we’re all very pleased with it!

Exciting times!! What are your plans for this year that you’d like people to know about?

Steve: We have the new single coming out early next year, and there are plenty more songs we want to get recorded as well, so hopefully we won’t be short of new material in 2024! We recently had a gig in Saffron Walden too, the furthest we have been from our homeland, and it’ll be good to get more gigs away from Norfolk and East Anglia too.

Joe: Expect more music – recorded and performed. We’ve got quite a lot of new songs in the pipeline that haven’t been unleashed on the stage yet, so we’re really excited about that. I imagine we will couple the release of Too Eager, the new single, with a release show in Norwich to have a good ol’ celebration.

Ryan: I think our priority for the early part of 2024 is releasing our new single ‘Too Eager’ as well as recording and releasing some more material, and then working on some new songs to play all across the UK.

Joe: Yep, we’ve actually had contact from a promoter in London so hopefully we’ll be down there in 2024. Working on new merch also is definitely up there in our plans.

Sounds like a lot of plans for 2024, I’m excited for you guys! So we’re at the end it the interview now and I like to end things on a fun, light hearted question. My closing question to you guys is ; if we were in a zombie apocalypse, as a band, do you think you’d make it out alive. Who would survive, who would be first to go – what would be your survival plan!

Steve: Haha, that’s awesome. I reckon we’d be ok! I’ve played enough Zombie games to try hiding out in an abandoned mall! I’d set up camp in there!

Leon: I’d fancy my chances. I’m a big Walking Dead fan so I’d like to think that might stand me in good stead!

Ryan: I’ve been preparing my whole life for this question: I’m a massive zombie guy, if we’re talking classic shamblers then I think we’d all be golden, easy survive. But if we’re facing runners then I would definitely be the first one to go, cardio is not my best friend.

Joe: Well we wouldn’t be Escaping Today if we couldn’t escape a zombie apocalypse.

Leon: We’d rename to ‘Escaping The Undead’, deck out a lorry with speakers and play music whilst churning through the hoards.

Seems you guys have actually thought about this in the past, love it Thank you for your time this evening and we’re looking for to see what you guys smash out this year!