January 23rd, 2015 
Brian Leak 
California’s The Great Escape is sure to be on the rise in 2015. With a strong debut under their belts, only beginning to make the rounds, the three-piece are poised to take the jam-rock world by storm, with the powerful vocal presence of Amie Miriello leading the charge. With Malte Hagemeister on guitar and Kristian Nord on drums, collectively laying the foundation, the band draws influences from Woodstock-era luminaries like Hendrix, Joplin, and Cream and fuses them with a modern twist that would appeal to fans of The Black Keys and The Dead Weather as well.
With their Ram Jam-ish single “All I Think About” just recently receiving an accompanying music video, The Great Escape are showing no signs of slowing down in the promotion of this album, with plenty of plans to continue on in 2015. We had the chance to talk to them all about it as Hagemeister and Nord provided insight into their musical roots and plenty more. Read through below and get the scoop from two thirds of The Great Escape, then check out their brand new video for “All I Think About.”
How did the three of you come together to form The Great Escape and how was the name decided upon?
Kristian: Malte and I had the vision for the band and have worked with Amie before writing songs for other artists. Since we’re big fans of her as a singer and songwriter we asked her to start writing songs with us and then everything went by itself. In the very first session we wrote and recorded “All I Think About.” For all of us creating and performing music is the best way to forget everything around you. For us, The Great Escape is to listen to yourself and do what you love to do. It’s the escape to your inner self, but in a very active way, following your dreams.
You three have a lot of soul in your music, which is nice to see in such a young band. So I’m curious about your influences. What music did you grow up around, what are you listening to now, and what artists do you think had the biggest hands in the sound you all developed?
Malte: Thanks! Our music obviously has its roots in the 60s and 70s. Hendrix, the Stones, The Beatles, Sly And The Family Stone are definitely big influences. But we listen to a lot of new music as well, like The Black Keys, The Heavy or pop artists like Adele. We love the rawness of the old stuff, but try to put it into a new context. And we love melodies and story telling, that’s the essence of a song.
You seem to have a strong love for California as well. How does The Golden State play into your music and personality as a band?
Kristian: None of us grew up in California but we all love the land, the lifestyle and the spirit. When I came here for the first time when I was 16 years old I knew with the first stinky breath at LAX that this is my home and where I want to live. It’s the land of letting loose, surfing, the ocean and the sun. And it’s the land of freedom and opportunity.
Malte: There’s something light in the air that you hardly have anywhere in the world. It has a strong history of people who were different and expressed it. People who had big dreams and went for it, LA has been a great inspiration.
Do you happen to remember anything specific about the very first time you all jammed together?
Malte: The whole record is a big jam starting the first day when we wrote “All I Think About.” Usually we wrote a song within three or four hours, then went upstairs in the studio to lay down a guitar track and the lead vocal.
Kristian: Those almost always stayed because they had the right feel and we jammed around them. There’s a certain kind of chemistry that takes over – in a way it’s very innocent; it’s just us having fun like when we were 15…
When beginning work on this album, was there anything in particular that you wanted to focus on or make sure came across clearly in your sound or lyrics? A mission statement of sorts I suppose.
Kristian: Not really. The music pretty much reflects the way we’re living. You can kind of hear the sunshine through. Positivism is definitely an important point…
Malte: Which doesn’t mean though that you can’t be sentimental or reflect on difficult things like on “I Just Can’t Help Myself.”
Kristian: But it’s funny, a lot of times happiness is a point of view, it’s the perspective on things. There are people who experienced such horrible or intense things but still are the happiest people in the world; it’s a decision.
Malte: Yes, it’s seeing the good or the bad aspects of things. We try to see the glass half full instead of half empty. Well, maybe even three quarters full.
You guys produced the album yourself — great job on that by the way — but you did have some impressive talents helping you out in other areas. What can you tell me about who you worked with and what that experience was like?
Kristian: Thank you! Yes, we were very lucky that some amazing people helped us on this record. Zac Rae (Lana del Rey, Santana, Alanis Morrisette) played his ass off with an unreal Moog solo on “Put It On Ice.” He’s a wizard on the B3 organ, too. Katja and Luis, the horn section of Rod Stewart, killed it on “It’s Getting Better” and “I Want It All.”
Malte: It was an honor to record Stanley Behrens (War, Canned Heat) on “The Secret Song,” or having the super, super low voice of Kevin Dorsey in my little studio – he used to be the vocal director and singer with Michael Jackson since the Bad album. All those musicians brought such a spirit and made the album 200% better. This is another thing we love about living in LA – the city is filled with insane talent!
It’s been almost three months since you released the album, so musically, what have you guys been working on since? Any new material already being developed?
Malte: There’s plenty of ideas but nothing recorded yet except on our phones – maybe the most important tool these days. But we will start recording new songs [at the] end of this month and want to have a new record out this summer. It definitely itches to get the new ideas “on tape” and start recording again. And playing gigs all around LA helped us in creating even more of a trademark sound and to express ourselves even better. We can’t wait to start with new material…
How’s the response been to the album and how have you guys been adjusting to the praise and radio play both here and overseas?
Malte: It’s amazing that the audience seems to love the songs as much as we do. We’re stoked. And there’s nothing better than going out and playing the songs live. Getting the direct response from the audience is amazing and you kind of understand, re-live and re-interpretate your own songs.
Kristian: You get something back. The energy exchange is something you can’t really describe. There’s a reason why Paul or Keith are still on the road; it sucks you in…
What did you guys do for New Years? Anything exciting?
Kristian: [Laughs] I was in the jungle of Nicaragua, lying in bed with a tropical fever — not nice — but we had one week of glorious surf before it hit me, so it’s all good.
Malte: I had quite the opposite: I DJ’d at my friend Richard Gibbs’ NYE party – he filled his amazing Woodshed recording studio in Malibu with friends and musicians. I made them dance with my huge mash-up collection; super fun way to start my new year. I got sick afterwards [laughs].
And now that we’re making our way into 2015, what does The Great Escape have in store for the remainder of the year? Any big plans?
Kristian: Yes! As we said, definitely a new album and hopefully some more shows as well. There are some plans regarding touring but nothing is confirmed yet. But we’ll let you know as soon as it’s clear.
Overall, what is your guys’ goal for this project? What do you hope to achieve as a band?
Malte: Uhhh, that’s hard to say. The band kind of is the goal itself. It’s a playground where we do exactly what we want. The process of creating the music is the goal itself, but of course we are very happy when people like it and we hear it on the radio or on TV.
Kristian: I guess the goal is to keep on doing what we’re doing and to see where the universe is taking us with it…
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