Interview: Craig Mabbitt talks new Dead Rabbitts album, touring with Falling In Reverse

Craig Mabbitt just can’t quit heavy music. Ever since leaving Blessthefall in 2007, the singer’s taste for the aggressive has manifested itself in one way or another—whether it be in his former side project, the Word Alive, the heavier-than-the-norm tracks he’s been able to sneak into Escape The Fate albums, or his new side project, the Dead Rabbitts, which also features members TJ Bell (bass), Alex Torres (guitar), Augustus Cryns (guitar) and Chris Julian (drums). Now, Mabbitt is ready to unleash his latest metallic bombardment in the form of a new Dead Rabbitts album. AP caught up with Mabbitt after Escape The Fate’s Bury The Hatchet Tour with Falling In Reverse to get the details on the new album, collaberations and how touring with his old rivals has been.

How was the Bury The Hatchet Tour?
It actually went pretty damn well, man, aside from some contractual shit—which is obviously just paperwork bullshit. We pretty much get to play a headlining setlist every night, and the inner workings of Escape The Fate personally are going really, really well. The band’s getting along and the energy onstage is amazing. I was on Falling In Reverse’s tour bus the other night and we were singing happy birthday to Jacky [Vincent, FIR guitarist], drinking Fireball, having some laughs and sharing old stories and talking about why did any of us ever hate each other. It’s really cool. It’s very therapeutic. I’m almost positive were going to end up doing a round two of this tour. I’m, like, 200 percent positive that we’re going to do it again, hit all the cities we didn’t in the U.S., and then take it across the globe.

I’m sure fans will be excited to hear that.
Yeah, that’s the most important thing. I know a lot of people have been saying shit about fans. I don’t know if you read that blog that Chris from Motionless In White wrote?

Yeah, we ran a news story about it.
Yeah, I thought that was fantastic. It’s kind of a bummer, because after I read it, every single night, a fan will be like, “You saved my life,” and I’m like, “Goddamnit.” [Laughs.] I can’t get that article you wrote [Ronnie Radke vs. Escape The Fate] out of my head. It’s actually really amazing, and it’s so true, and it’s so cool to see fans come to the show every night, because, obviously, both bands had a big feud with each other, and it didn’t stop there. After our two bands had that big feud, it started happening among other bands, as well. It’s cool to see kids come to the show and see us both go up on the stage and call a truce. I told the crowd the other night, “Life’s too short to live it full of hate.” It seems like everybody comes, and it’s just a positive vibe. That’s what I’ve always wanted our fans to leave the shows thinking.

So what’s going on with the Dead Rabbitts?
It’s been on the backburner for a little bit, even though a lot of things have been happening behind-the-scenes with the band, as far as recording and getting stuff prepared. It’s been all about this Bury The Hatchet Tour. We were on tour with Five Finger Death Punch, and I had to fly out, to do that AP interview with Ronnie and all that stuff. But during the time before the tour, we flew out to Florida and recorded six songs with Andrew Wade, who has done all of the A Day To Remember records, among other ones. I ended up finding out that he did the Word Alive’s first EP, and we were talking about that. He was like, “I had no idea you started that band!” So those songs turned out fucking awesome. I’ve literally been laying down in my bunk every night, putting on Beats and listening to those songs every night. I’m really, really excited for people to hear it.

I meet people every day, and they’re like, “I love Escape The Fate. I’m not knocking Escape The Fate at all, but, man, I wish you would do your heavier stuff again.” This stuff is what I was trying to do with the Word Alive, before the Word Alive decided they didn’t want to be on the backburner and be a side project. They wanted to go full force with it. I don’t blame them for it. Now they’re doing well, and they’re killing it, and I’m proud of them. But the Dead Rabbitts is what I was trying to do with them.

Since leaving Blessthefall, it seems like you’ve always had to have some sort of heavy music outlet.
Oh, yeah. I love it. I progressively still want to get heavier and heavier. It’s just what I need. Artist’s have to do something because they’ve got to get it out of them. I love the smaller venues, packed full of energy, and it’s just breakdowns the whole fucking time, and the walls are sweating—I love that shit, man. I’ve always wanted to do it since the moment I wasn’t in Blessthefall anymore and they didn’t want me back. Then they wanted me back, but I had already joined Escape The Fate and didn’t want to piss off everybody in ETF. At that point, that’s when I started the Word Alive, but they didn’t want to be a side project. At the end of the day, I finally did [Dead Rabbitts]. A label got on board—Tragic Hero. It was really tough to get a label to hop onboard, because throughout the past, a lot of artists in well-known bands have gotten their side projects signed. The labels would put time, attention and money into that project and then the project would go nowhere—the guys would just want to focus on their respective [main] bands.

Having Escape The Fate, my own family problems and having a kid at home, I was like, “Man, I need a label to hop onboard. I don’t think I can get the ball rolling completely solo.” So it was a little difficult, because, obviously, a lot of labels are standoffish. But I got it cleared from Escape’s label; they were like, “Yeah, you can do whatever the fuck you want with that project.” Tragic Hero hopped on board, and as soon as they did, that’s when I flew out to Wade to record these songs.

So Eleven Seven, Escape The Fate’s label, didn’t want to do the project with you?
They had their interests, and they were like, “We’ll take a look at it.” But when they say things like that, it’s always going to be on the backburner for them. I figured the best course of action, since I want to take Dead Rabbitts seriously, is get a completely separate team working with the Dead Rabbits, where that band are their main focus. If it was all the same people, obviously Escape The Fate are going to be top priority for them at the end of the day.

Some of my buddies in Alesana used to be on Tragic Hero. It pretty much fell into place because I called Escape The Fate’s old manager. I said, “If you’re interested, why don’t you manage this project?” He said, “Cool. Well, I’m managing A Skylit Drive right now and they’re on Tragic Hero. Show me some songs.” So I did, and everybody loved them. To save myself from another Word Alive situation, I went ahead and signed the deal myself, so I completely control the band, and nobody can replace me if they feel like it.

Kind of similar to what Craig Owens did with Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows?
Yeah. It’s not because I don’t trust the guys; I love all the guys, especially Alex [Torres, guitarist]. Alex and I have a really, really long history together. He came and tried out for Blessthefall, and it came down to him or Eric [Lambert], who’s still in Blessthefall right now. Obviously, TJ [Bell, bassist] is in Dead Rabbitts as well, and we’re in Escape The Fate together. What happened with the Word Alive was they wanted to go full-force with it; they had a record deal, and I was in the middle of a tour with Escape The Fate. Epitaph was trying to promote This War Is Ours; they said they were interested in the Word Alive, but [wanted] wait it out. TWA got impatient, and I got home from that tour, and my girlfriend says, “Hey, go check out your band’s Myspace.” I go on the Word Alive’s Myspace page and it’s like: new photo, new singer announcement, signed to Fearless Records. And I’m like, “What?! Well, I guess it’s not my band anymore!”

I think you dumped some unreleased tracks from TWA that night.
Yeah. I was like, “Fuck this, man! It was my band. What are these guys doing?” [Laughs.] Obviously, everything’s water under the bridge. I get it; they wanted to go for it. There’s no hate anymore. I love those guys, and I actually really love all of their albums so far. I just feel like everything happens for a reason, and at the end of the day, everybody ends up where they’re suppose to be. That even goes back to the Bury The Hatchet tour. Me and the guys were talking about it. We were like, “Everything happens for a reason, because I don’t think Escape The Fate would’ve ever agreed to play rap songs.”

Did Andrew Wade produce the most recent Dead Rabbitts EP, Edge Of Reality?
No. Edge Of Reality was all done with Caleb Shomo. He produced all of that. I flew out to his house in Columbus. The full-length that’s coming out is pretty much all of the Wade songs I just did, and some songs from Edge Of Reality will be on the album as well. [Recording with Caleb] was an awesome experience. Escape The Fate did their first headliner with me as the singer, and Attack Attack! were opening that tour. Caleb was just this little 15-year-old kid playing the keyboards. When I went to his house, he was two records deep as the lead vocalist for Attack Attack!, already working on his Beartooth stuff and then showing me his CLASS stuff, which is his electro project. I’m really impressed with how much he’s grown as an artist. I’m so jealous of how talented that dude is—he was only 19. I’m just like, “You’re so fucking awesome, dude.”

How was it working with Andrew Wade?
It was awesome. He’s just a really down-to-earth, humble guy, and I love working with people like that. He didn’t change much, and he liked every song. Working with him was really easy.