Escape Directors
If you’re a young band just coming out with your first album, and it gets played on the radio, you are walking on clouds. When you’re a young band and your song is preceded by Squeeze and followed by The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty, you’re walking on air. Such was the case for the band Escape Directors.
104.3 FM in NYC recently featured the song “Car Crash” from Escape Director’s first album Ladders. The radio debut came on the tail end of a recent July tour that had taken them through Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It offered a good charge to head into a group of local engagements that starts with the Loop Lounge in Passaic on July 16th, and is followed by several appearances in NYC through July & August.
Escape Directors have developed a sound that is very much mainstream, but still holds true to the most important elements of “alternative” and “indie”. Andrew Magrini of Oakland and Steve Carter, whose mother serves in Wyckoff on Julia’s Butterfly Foundation, are half the foursome playing alternative, or indie rock, locally and throughout the northeast. Steve does vocals, guitars, piano, and Andrew plays bass. The other two members are Colin Rieser on drums and vocals, and Nick Wilson performing piano, keyboards, guitar, vocals, and is the in-house over-all music industry geek.
The term “alternative music” has origins dating back to Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground in the 1960s, but since then the genre has come to encapsulate many different musical styles. It’s safe to say that one common thread is an authentic, honest sound. “Indie music” technically refers to the production of music on an independent label, but the term has evolved to reflect an esthetically independent voice or sound. Both terms are accurate with respect to Escape Directors and their new album entitled Ladders.
A music critic for Rock and Roll Report writes,”There is a boatload of talent in this band and the songs contain layers of acoustic and electric guitars, piano and keyboards, and stirring strings…With “Ladders”, these boys from New Jersey calling themselves the Escape Directors prove that they mean business, and make an impressive addition to modern pop rock.”
The 104.3 FM record spin was the first mainstream break for the band, but they have been successful working the alternative avenues now available to indie musicians worldwide. Escape Directors is making good use of Web 2.0 technology and video technology that can help sell a band. While some of the live videos are lacking studio quality sound, other video campaigns offer some great opportunities to watch them grow from the ground up. Their online productions, v-blogs, and other videos reflect the same feeling of independence and honesty as their music, and it makes you like them all the more.
The group identifies Coldplay and Damien Rice as two of several sounds that inspire, it’s obvious that Escape Directors have been influenced by a wide spectrum that carries over generations. One YouTube campaign included fan suggestions for a cover song with band members performing their own versions in an effort to come up with a winner. Videos below are of Nick Wilson performing a quartet version of Over The Rainbow – by himself, and Steve Carter doing a traditional duet of The Beatle’s I’ve Just Seen a Face.
The groups album Ladders is available on iTunes and Amazon.
Readers can learn more about the band by visiting their EscapeDirectors.com, their Facebook page, their Youtube channel, and their Myspace page…all of which offer music, videos, and other information on the band.
Some other upcoming gigs in the area where you can catch the Escape Directors: July 16th – The Loop Lounge Passaic, NJ; July 22nd – Fontana’s New York, NY; July 24 – Goodbye Blue Monday, Brooklyn, New York.
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