Dave Escamilla formally of Crown The Empire.
As 2017 begins, big changes continue to happen with bands. As of today, Dave Escamilla and the remaining members of Crown The Empire have parted ways. Both parties posted statements and they could’nt be more different.
Escamilla has been the bands second vocalist since 2012 along with founding member Andy Leo. He had recorded “The Fallout”, “The Resistace: Rise of the Runaways” and “Retrograde” with the band. The band posted a lenghty statement about Escamilla and they mentioned some harsh words about Dave. “We’ve never heard or seen Dave make anything, artistically or musically in the 4 years he was in our band, so we’re just as excited to see what he does as you are. We’ve had enough time to lick our wounds and can truly say we wish him the best, but we don’t want any of our fans to think he was at the heart of what made Crown – Crown.” They definently have put it out there about Dave but never truly say what the reason is in detail.
Escamilla explains his side of the story in more detail. He explains his fall into drugs and alcohol, “What I didn’t understand was the lifestyle I was very susceptible to by being on the road and almost trying to live this “rockstar” lifestyle. I’m guilty. I fell into it. The drugs, the alcohol, the partying, all of it.” He also explains the recording process for “Retrograde”, “The members of the band are talented individuals, but we had extremely little creative input. There were days from the studio during the Retrograde process that we weren’t welcome into the studio to contribute to writing. When this happened, I felt like something was wrong. I understand when people have no experience writing songs, but I believe whole heartedly in the journey to understand your creative contribution. I wanted to sit in there and suck until I figured out how to get better. And I believe that’s how you get good at anything. It takes dedication and love to a craft. When you pay people to do that with your music, you have to “act” like you believe in it. It defeats the purpose of being a musician to begin with to me,” Finally, he says that he had not heard from any of the other members but would continue on with life and his music.
As of now, Andy Leo will take over all vocal duties and its now confirmed by Escamilla himself that he will work on new music. In Escamillas statement he says, “As for me, for now, I’m not making any big statement to build hype on anything. I’m simply going to create music and share it with you as I go until I discover myself as an artist better.” He also posted a picture on his twitter of a microphone and recording equipment. Andy Leo also posted a photo of him recording with the caption, “And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.” It seems both bands will be releasing new music in the future and well see how much the music changes from each camp.
