Craig Edward Mabbitt (born April 9, 1987 in Glendale, Arizona) is an American musician who is currently the lead vocalist for the band Escape the Fate and has been their vocalist for the majority of their career. He was formerly lead vocalist of the bands Blessthefall and The Word Alive. He has also formed a new side-project band, named The Dead Rabbitts along with Escape the Fate's bassist, TJ Bell. Craig Mabbitt possesses the vocal range of a Tenor, and is well known for his distinctively type of rock-based singing combined with screamed and growled vocal style.
Musical career
Blessthefall (2003–2008)
While with Blessthefall, Mabbitt released two self-released EPs and one full length album. Their first full album, His Last Walk, was released on April 10, 2007 on Science Records/Ferret Music. It produced four singles: "Higinia", "Guys Like You Make Us Look Bad", "A Message to the Unknown", and "Rise Up". "Rise Up" was released after he left the band, and he does not appear in the video.
Mabbitt performing live with Blessthefall at Warped Tour in 2007
While in the middle of their 2007 European Tour with Silverstein and The Vincent Black Shadow, Mabbitt left the band because his girlfriend was very sick and he felt he was missing out on his daughter's childhood. He soon after that was ready to come back to the band, but the band felt it would be better to move on without him. Mabbitt was informed of their decision via AIM by Blessthefall's guitarist, Eric Lambert. Mabbitt has since commented that leaving Blessthefall was one of the hardest decisions of his life. Mabbitt was replaced on September 25, 2008 by current vocalist Beau Bokan, the former vocalist for Take the Crown. Mabbitt has stated in numerous interviews that he was forced to sign over all of his rights to his Blessthefall recordings in order to join Escape the Fate and sign with Epitaph Records. Mabbitt is still friends with Blessthefall and with Bokan.
Mabbitt stated during the AP Podcast that Blessthefall asked him to come back to the band after they had failed to find a replacement singer, a day after he had just completed the Escape the Fate album, This War Is Ours. He declined their offer, but a week later they found Beau Bokan, the ex-lead singer of Take the Crown. Blessthefall has since recorded and released their second and third full length albums, Witness and Awakening with Bokan.
The Word Alive (2008)
Mabbitt founded the Arizona-based metalcore band The Word Alive in 2008. He and the group recorded songs for the The Word Alive EP which was never officially released and on November 26, 2008, it was decided that the band would go on to seek a new vocalist, telling fans that they have made the decision to replace Mabbitt due to complications with his other band Escape the Fate. The Word Alive was originally a side-project by Mabbitt while in Escape the Fate. The band grew away from this plan as they didn't have the desire to tour or have the band active only when Mabbitt was active of which availability grew more and more scarce toward his interests in Escape the Fate.
The day after Mabbitt was kicked-out, he posted a message to his fans via his official MySpace saying,
"Leaving the band was never my decision, they pretty much replaced me while I was on the road due to the fact that they wanted to tour and couldn't until I was available, I started that band with those guys and I'm very hurt at how they replaced me while I was touring..."
Mabbitt's position as lead vocals for The Word Alive was replaced by Tyler "Telle" Smith, formerly the bassist of Greeley Estates and singer/keyboardist of In Fear And Faith. Since then, The Word Alive has released an EP entitled Empire and two full album entitled Deceiver and Life Cycles, and have been touring around the United States. Similarly to his situation with Blessthefall, Mabbitt remained friends with The Word Alive.
Escape the Fate (2008–present)
After vocalist Ronnie Radke was sentenced to two years probation for battery charges, Escape the Fate went on a search for a new lead vocalist. Radke would later be sent to the High Desert State Prison for violating his probation. The band turned to Mabbitt, who was searching for a new band after leaving Blessthefall. Mabbitt had played with Escape the Fate on the Black on Black Tour, while with Blessthefall. After several trial shows he became the official new singer and they entered the studio to record their second full length album This War Is Ours. Mabbitt immediately wrote a second album for the band, This War Is Ours, which was released on October 21, 2008. It was the first Escape the Fate album featuring Craig Mabbitt as the vocalist.
Main article: This War is Ours
Bassist Max Green comments on the sound of the album:
People are going to be blown away and definitely surprised when they hear Craig's vocals mixed with Escape's diverse sound. This is the next generation of rock. [...] We've been through a lot of shit this last year, and we took all that anger, frustration and sadness and molded it into an album with huge rock choruses, in your face riffs and melodies, and drums that will give your parents a heart attack. This new album isn't going to be a hardcore metal album and it's not going to be a soft melodic album, we are who we are, we are Escape the Fate.
—Max Green,
Mabbitt and Escape The Fate live at Las Vegas in 2008
Starting on September 2, 2008, fans of Escape the Fate went to a special page on Buzznet to help unlock "the first track" off of This War Is Ours. Once the page had 50,000 viewers at the same time, the new song was then released to play and download for free. In order for a user's "page view" to be considered a contribution to the counter, the page had to remain open and active. Other sites could be used through different tabs or new windows, as long as the Buzznet page stayed open. Because this was a difficult task, fans were asked to "tell everyone [they] know to come to [the] page" in an attempt to reach 50,000 views as fast as possible. About 30 hours after the project started, the new song titled "The Flood" was unlocked and was also available for free download to anyone (whether they participated or not). "The Flood" has been released as downloadable content with the Warped Tour 01 Pack for the Rock Band games.
On October 1, 2008, the band released "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine II)" for download.
Copies of the album were made available to buy on their tour with Chiodos and Silverstein, even before the album's official release date.
The official video for "Something" was released to MTV on January 12, 2009.
The video for the album's third single "10 Miles Wide" was released June 9, 2009.
"This War Is Ours (The Guillotine II)" is the fourth single off the album. The video was shot in Santa Ana, Califorina on January 9, 2010. The video was released along with the deluxe edition of the album on April 27, 2010.
The album debuted at No. 35 on the Billboard 200, selling 13,000 copies in the first week.
In 2010, Epitaph Records announced they re-release of the This War Is Ours album in deluxe CD/DVD edition with a bonus disc with many different features not seen before. The CD included two new never before heard songs, later identified to be "Bad Blood" and "Behind the Mask", an acoustic version of "Harder Than You Know", and an unreleased remix of "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine II)" called "This War Is Mine", remixed by the Shawn Crahan. It also came with a DVD that featured the new music video to "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine II)", as well as "Something", "The Flood", and "10 Miles Wide", as well as a world tour documentary and a behind the music feature. It released April 27, 2010.
Main article: Escape the Fate (album)
Escape the Fate began writing a third record in early 2010, which eventually became the self-titled Escape the Fate, which was released in November 2010. For the album, the band left Epitaph and signed to major label Interscope and had the record produced by Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Hollywood Undead, Bullet for My Valentine). Max Green commented on the album, saying, "This record is the cure for the modern day music epidemic, We are wiping the slate clean and re-writing rock music as you know it.” The album spawned four singles: "Massacre", "Issues", "City of Sin", and "Gorgeous Nightmare".
The band had been working on the album since the release of This War is Ours in 2008. Being able to completely form the writing and recording process with the current lineup for the first time, the band felt that the album would be a great representation for the band. This is due to the fact that when Mabbitt first joined the band, he felt very rushed to write a record and fit into an already established band. In addition, the debut on a major label also led to the band choosing to self-title the album. Lyrically, the album is heavier and darker than previous efforts, according to Mabbitt. In an interview, he explained the choice of direction for the album in that they were, "figuring out what we enjoy playing live, what we enjoy listening to on our record." Mabbitt feels that the past two albums have been working up to Escape the Fate and that this direction will continue with future releases. For writing, Craig Mabbitt expressed that he believes it is more important to focus on what the band enjoys doing rather than copying other bands for success. "[We] definitely could have been like, ‘Oh, let's throw another minute-long solo, let's do a chugga-chug here, let's scream over this, and let's sound like every other band and put the same song on the record ten times so that we have a one song, ten different track album.'... we just like to be very diverse..." On working with producer Don Gilmore, the band said that he helped them "find themselves" and continue to push different parts of the song until they formed a record they were satisfied with. Mabbitt also praised Gilmore for his ability to perfect the album without affecting their music. Commenting on the album, Mabbitt feels that "This record has the heaviest song the band has ever written, it has the softest ballad the band has ever written, it has the craziest solo Monte has ever written. The whole record just has everything in it."
For inspiration, Craig Mabbitt said that he drew experiences from many things, stating, "I wanted to write about every emotion that you can get from life, everything that kind of happens, every kind of story I've heard that really upset me." The track "Lost in Darkness" tells the story about one of Mabbitt's friends who was dragged out of her home and raped at gunpoint. Mabbitt stated that, "[She] was screaming for help and nobody helped her at all. Everybody just turned the other cheek. That was something that really struck me, and I see that happening a lot, just people not wanting to lend a helping hand to people when somebody is hurting... That's definitely where I went with that song." The second track, "Massacre", is about Mabbitt's past addictions and the things he did to overcome them. The ballad track "World Around Me" takes a broader view and was written about life in general. "[World Around Me is] about relationships with my ex and my child, everything accumulated into one song." The closing track, "The Aftermath (G3)", is the third song under the title of "The Guillotine" for Escape the Fate. The original Guillotine was sung by Ronnie Radke for Dying Is Your Latest Fashion and was about the video game series Halo. When Mabbitt joined, a song entitled "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine Part II)" was included on This War Is Ours and was also about Halo. However, the second Guillotine was written as well to relate to real-life soldiers in battle. For the self titled album, Mabbitt wrote a third Guillotine track but did not want to base it off of Halo again. Instead, he wrote a more personal track about his father who was in the military when Mabbitt was a child. "[The] chorus, ‘Now I'm coming home,' is an ode to my Dad and an ode to all the soldiers out there who are fighting a war for us and waiting to come home to their families." As a whole, Mabbitt feels that, "every track has a completely different underlying story to it."
Vocally, Mabbitt experimented for the self-titled album. On both tracks "Lost in Darkness" and "Liars and Monsters", a track that appears on the Deluxe Edition of the album, he sang at the lowest pitch he has done yet for a track. On the track "Zombie Dance", Mabbitt described the recording process and that he recorded five layers of vocal harmony for the final mix in addition to little sound effects. He explained it was difficult to achieve the high harmonies and right pitches right for all of the tracks. Another difficulty he experienced while recording was boosting the endings of songs for an epic feels. Despite this, Craig stated he enjoyed experimenting and that he "can't wait to keep on going back into the studio and experimenting on a ton of different things."
Rather than have eleven tracks for the regular version of the album, the band wanted to include both "Liars and Monsters" and "The Final Blow" from the deluxe edition on the album. The decision to put them as bonus tracks were encouraged to keep the length and tracks on the album to a manageable size. Mabbitt jokingly stated that the band recorded so much material, almost two albums worth, that he "just want[ed] to record everything and just release a 20 track album." There were at least six or seven tracks recorded that did not make the cut for the album. Two ballads and about five heavier songs were cut because the band had to decide "Which one is the strongest one? Which one do we have most vocals to? What's going to fit in the diversity of the record?" This was to give the fans variety rather than having a straight, one-genre record. On this, Mabbitt commented, "We could have thrown those songs on there and not put "World Around Me" or "Gorgeous Nightmare" or "Zombie Dance" or "Issues" or anything like that. It would have been more like a straightforward record. That's not what we like to do. We like to have a lot of that diversity in our sound." Another track, entitled "Dream" was fully recorded and mixed for the final cut of the album. Before finalizing, however, Monte Money decided to rerecord the guitar part with a lower tune to change the sound of the song. After rerecording, the band agreed they liked the original version better but the deadline for the record did not allow them to finish the song in time so they are going to keep it for a later release.
In an interview during Warped Tour 2009, bassist Max Green stated that the album will feature a song co-written by Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe, who approached Escape the Fate to collaborate on some songs, but later was revealed that they decided against putting the song on the album and saving for a future release. Max Green also confirmed through Formspring that there will be a song co-written by guitarist John 5 of Rob Zombie, later seen to be "Liars And Monsters".
On April 23, vocalist Craig Mabbitt stated via Twitter, "off to vegas today to finish out last minute badass demos with monte, then off to bamboozle, then studio time", giving the notion that the band will begin recording their studio album directly after The Bamboozle, and release it mid/late Summer 2010. Soon after, Mabbitt stated through his Twitter account that the band had a few more songs to record, and that the new album will be coming sooner than expected. He has also hinted towards there being a "Guillotine III: The Aftermath" track on the album, which was later confirmed as true.
During early recording, Max Green was questioned on Formspring about the band possibly changing record labels. Max responded by saying that he will reveal all of that at a later time. This would make the record the first to be released without Epitaph Records. On July 26, Escape The Fate confirmed that the new record will be released through major record label, DGC/Interscope Records. Craig Mabbitt stated that the band had no issues with Epitaph but the appeal to bring their music to a wider audience led to their signing with Interscope. The band was initially worried about switching but were pleased that neither the new label or the new producer wanted to change or control the band. "Interscope was hopping on board with us, instead of us hopping on board with Interscope." In the same press release, they have listed Don Gilmore as the album's producer, who has worked with bands such as Linkin Park, Bullet For My Valentine, and Hollywood Undead. A November 2 release date was also confirmed. Speaking about the album, Max Green commented, "This record is the cure for the modern day music epidemic, We are wiping the slate clean and re-writing rock music as you know it.”
Starting July 24, 2010, they set off on tour for South and Central America, but later forfeited their spot due to Max Green admitting to rehab.
In May Escape the Fate jumped on the second half of the Raid The Nation tour headlined by Papa Roach with the absence of Max Green on bass. With no statement by the band on his replacement, it was later recogegnized by many as TJ Bell, who was at the time the current rhythm guitarist for the band Motionless In White. In later interviews with the band after Green's departure, it was clear his absence from the tour was due to his addiction with drugs. Bell would go on to fill in for Green on many subsequent tours before replacing Green permanently in 2012.
On August 19, 2011, the band announced via Facebook that Monte Money would be taking a break from touring but will still be in the band. Kevin Thrasher, who has worked with the band in the past, substituted for Monte. It was also announced that Max Green returned to the band after taking a break through the first half of 2011 to recover from his addiction with drugs through rehab. “I’m feeling great and am glad to be back with my band. Escape The Fate is my life. This is where I belong.”, Max Green said. After they played a couple of shows on the 2011 Uproar Festival, Max, again, left the band and Zakk Sandler, from Black Tide (who was also playing Uproar), filled in for him. TJ Bell, currently bassist of Get Scared once again filled in for bassist Max Green in early 2012 on the band's UK tour with Funeral for a Friend, who had previously filled in for Green on their tour with Papa Roach.
Main article: Ungrateful
In mid-December, the band re-entered the studio to work on the production of their fourth album. The album will be produced by John Feldmann and is scheduled for release some time in 2012.
Escape the Fate plans on recording the fourth album all through February 2012. Mabbitt commented that since they are recording with John Feldmann again, who they worked with on their second album,This War Is Ours, the style of the upcoming album will be similar to This War Is Ours but will also have elements of their self-titled album added in. He also announced a tour, later revealed to be the This World is Ours Tour in South America with metalcore band Attack Attack! as well as supporting acts The Word Alive and Mest. The tour would later be continued in the United States and Canada. He revealed on February 7 that Escape the Fate is working with Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump. It was later revealed that they made the song "Painting" together, which will be on the upcoming Escape the Fate album and ultimately on the album was titled "Picture Perfect".
On March 4, 2012, Max Green stated on his Twitter account that he is no longer playing in Escape the Fate. He did not give any specific reasons for his departure, but summarized that it was mainly due to personal and musical differences. He later announced that although he is no longer part of Escape the Fate, he is still continuing making music. Mabbitt hinted in an interview with Alternative Press that Max Green's departure was due to drugs. Despite the sudden departure, Green and Escape the Fate remained on good terms, to the point where Green even attended a recent show by the band in Los Angeles. Green joined the band The Natural Born Killers and released their first song "Last Day".
The band announced that their South American tour with Attack Attack! will be delayed until June because of Attack Attack! member Andrew Wetzel being diagnosed with pneumonia.
In the aforementioned interview with Alternative Press, the band officially announced that touring members TJ Bell and Michael Money will join the band as official members. Mabbitt commented that Michael Money would have already been an official member, but certain members of the band (who are now former members) refused to let him in. “When the band became a four-piece we still wanted rhythm so he was never officially given a spot in the band [because] some other members that aren't in the band anymore didn't want him to be,” he continues. “It got to the point where we were on a tour and he was playing behind the stage, then we got to Warped Tour and he was restricted to this little box and I'm sure it had some effect on Monte as well, [his brother] being in a band but not being an official part of it, so to see them happy and see that camaraderie, it's nice. We'll be stronger moving forward,” Mabbitt said. Along with this, the band also revealed a possible September 2012 release date for their fourth studio album, and the band will be playing a new track from the upcoming album on the This World Is Ours tour, later to be revealed to be titled, "Live Fast, Die Beautiful".
Robert Ortiz announced in an interview that the band is in the process of switching record labels, explaining that Interscope had too much creative control over the band and the band was unhappy with it. On December 17, 2012, the band released a short clip of an upcoming track titled "Ungrateful", along with the official statement regarding joining Eleven Seven Music. Mabbitt commented on joining the label, saying, "We are excited to be working with Allen and all the people at Eleven Seven Music and having Monster partner with us in 2013! We are stoked to get shit rolling again and we are thankful for all our fans that have stuck with us during this down time. We hope everyone is ready to go hard with us in 2013." Eleven Seven Music EVP Joe McFadden added, "We are extremely excited to have signed ESCAPE THE FATE. We've been watching them for some time now and we look forward to working with them as they define the future of rock and roll."
The band headlined a free show in Hollywood, California on January 6, 2013 to continue promoting the album. Supporting acts included Eyes Set to Kill, As Thick as Thieves, and ex-Attack Attack vocalist Caleb Shomo. During the show, the band performed four new songs from the upcoming album, including "Ungrateful", "Until We Die", "You're Insane", and "Live Fast, Die Beautiful". The show was attended by over 1,000 people. The concert will be available on DVD on the deluxe version of the upcoming album.
The first single, as well as Title track, off the upcoming fourth album, "Ungrateful" was released on February 12. The song was made available for free during the first 24 hours of the release on the Alternative Press website, as a thank you to the fans. They have also shot a video for "Ungrateful", on March 7 a music video for "Ungrateful" was released, the video is about bullying and the circle of violence/vicious circle, the video ends with the simple message, “Violence is a vicious cycle that has taken many lives…”. That’s followed with the photos of six actual teens that committed suicide as a result of violence and bullying, one being Amanda Todd but she deserved what she got. The clip concludes with the statement, “End the cycle now”.
To further promote the album, the band will partake in several music festivals in 2013, including Rock on the Range, Rocklahoma, and others.
On March 18, the next single, "You're Insane" was also made available for those who pre-ordered the album, and on April 1 the music video was released as well.
Dead Rabbitts (2012–present)
In late December, Mabbitt announced an upcoming side project, along with a new Escape the Fate album. He revealed that a single would be released in February 2012, and the album will be produced by Caleb Shomo of Attack Attack! and will be a reminiscent of his music from Blessthefall and The Word Alive. Mabbitt is set to release his debut solo album April 9, stating "what better day to release your album than on your birthday?" On Facebook, Mabbitt announced that if his official Facebook page got to 50,000 likes, he would release a new song. On his Twitter, he revealed that he is working on a song titled "Are You Still On Drugs", which may be related to a song titled "Are You On Drugs" that he wrote back when he was in The Word Alive.
When the page got to about 49,500 likes, he revealed the title and lyrics for the upcoming song, titled "Edge of Reality". "Edge of Reality" was released the moment the page reached 50,000 likes.
Mabbitt posted a status update on his Facebook page informing that if the page got up to 75,000 likes, he would release another new song for his fans from his upcoming solo album. He also revealed a part of the lyrics of the upcoming song. Along with this announcement, he revealed an upcoming video for "Edge of Reality". On March 30, he announced the name of the upcoming EP titled Edge of Reality under the band name The Dead Rabbitts. On April 9, the EP or full-length wasn't released on Mabbitt's birthday as expected, so instead, he released a new song on YouTube titled, "World of Disaster" along with the final version of "Edge of Reality" on YouTube, and the "Edge of Reality – Single" on iTunes as well.
The Dead Rabbitts plan on doing a tour for a few selected dates and cities. Craig also announced that he plans on releasing the "Edge of Reality EP" once 100% is met on the scale for the pledge, so fans can pledge now, which means pre-ordering the EP, for just digital download or also with the physical copy as well.
Craig has announced that he plans on releasing the Edge of Reality EP on October 19, 2012. Craig has streamed a new track only for the people who pledged, it's entitled "Nuthin But a Reject". Another new track was released online by Craig entitled "Make Me Believe It" featuring Caleb Shomo of Attack Attack! On October 3, the goal was met for the pledge and for this Craig has released another track entitled "Sleep The Night Away" online.
Originally posted in Wikipedia. I wan to share this to all the fans of Craig Mabbit. Happy Birthday sir.
Mabbitt performing live with Blessthefall at Warped Tour in 2007
Escape the Fate began writing a third record in early 2010, which eventually became the self-titled Escape the Fate, which was released in November 2010. For the album, the band left Epitaph and signed to major label Interscope and had the record produced by Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Hollywood Undead, Bullet for My Valentine). Max Green commented on the album, saying, "This record is the cure for the modern day music epidemic, We are wiping the slate clean and re-writing rock music as you know it.” The album spawned four singles: "Massacre", "Issues", "City of Sin", and "Gorgeous Nightmare".
