INTERVIEW ABOUT WINNING THE WAR

Q. WHAT IS AN ESCAPE RING?

A. 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. 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.

Q. TELL US ABOUT THE SONG WINNING THE WAR

A. 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.

Q. HOW ABOUT THE MUSICAL ASPECT?

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.

Q. TELL US ABOUT THE PRODUCTION OF THE SONG

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.