As promised, I snagged some time to talk with Escape the Fate‘s drummer, Robert Ortiz while they were in Pomona for the opening day of Warped Tour 2009. This guy oozes rock and roll and everything that comes with it. Check out the (highly censored) interview.

A lot of bands play at the same time during Warped. Why should people come see Escape the Fate ?
Cause we’re f**king insane, that’s why. We’re probably the best band. Period.

Definitely. I’ve been coming to Warped for years now and I can honestly say you’re one of the best bands I’ve seen.
I had a lot of fun today.

Speaking of fun, what’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at Warped?
I don’t know, man, f**king, I don’t know. There’s always like, kids in wheelchairs f**king crowd surfing, people getting their f**king heads split open, people dying”¦I don’t know, I’ve seen some crazy shit.

If someone were to write a book about Escape the Fate, what would the title be?
F**k man, I don’t know, it’d be real f**king long though. And it’d be about tragedy, hope and f**kin'”¦it’d just be f**king crazy. It’d be a comedy most of the time, though. I dunno, I got nothing. It’d be sick though.

What is the biggest misconception about you guys?
I don’t think there is one. It’s all fu**kin’ real. Everything. All true. The problem is, it’s not that there’s not misconceptions, you know, it’s just that people choose to emphasize certain aspects of us. Even though that’s how we really are, it’s not the only thing we are, know what I mean? There’s a deeper side to us that a lot of people won’t ever see.

If this were Woodstock, what band would Escape the Fate be?
F**kin’ Jimi Hendrix.

You guys are playing the Hurley stage this year. Do you think it’s because it’s inflatable and there’s nothing Craig can climb up and jump off of?
Um, probably, dude, probably. Gotta hold us back a little bit, keep us a little tame to calm down the lawsuits.

Anything else you wanna add?
F**king come watch us at Warped Tour!

Check out some of the pictures I got during Escape the Fate’s set in Ventura! (They’re camera phone pictures so I apologize for the quality.)