The Escape Engine

The Escape Engine were a band from New Jersey, active from their formation in 2002 until 2006. They were a post-hardcore\emo pop outfit, purveyors of the mainstream-oriented branch of post-hardcore that was popular at the time. What differentiates them from many of their peers are the rougher edges of their music, maintaining a little more hardcore influence than is usual, as well as the surprising amount of midwest emo that they carry over from the 90s— 'The Curse (The Gift and…)' is one or two layers of production removed from being an almost pure midwest emo song.

This is less surprising when you consider the band's background. Some of The Escape Engine's members were part of an emo pop outfit called Two Weeks From Tomorrow, which formed in the late 90s and was active until shortly before The Escape Engine's formation in 2002. I've made a partial discography for this band available as well, which is missing only the band's 2000 LP\Demo If That's The Kind Of Person You Are, which shares a lot of tracks with the band's unreleased second album, Gloria Lane.

The Escape Engine's first release was their LP Celebrity Role Model, put out in 2003. The band recorded an unreleased track called 'The Dance of Abandon' in 2004, and a second album, When You Dance With The Devil, in 2005 which went unreleased as multiple lineup changes eventually led to the band calling it quits. The unreleased LP drops the midwest emo in favor more straightforward post-hardcore.

The Escape Engine Discography

Two Weeks From Tomorrow Partial Discography

Late Night Desperate

 Prior to becoming emo notables Jena Berlin, several of that band's members were in Late Night Desperate, started in 2001 and active until 2003. Sonically, the band has a lot in common with its descendant, though there are some major differences. Both draw from post-hardcore (and in Jena Berlin's case, emocore) and both retain the melodic instincts of emo pop, but Late Night Desperate has far more midwest emo in its makeup. This is especially true for the 2002 material, which makes up the bulk of their output. Their 2003 demo showcases a new singer and finds them starting to sound more like the band they were about to become.

The band had three releases in 2002: A three-song demo, a compilation track, and their only album release, the Pictures Not So Perfect EP. In 2003, they recorded a demo that my information says went unreleased. In a bit of an oddity, one of the tracks from that demo found its way onto a split 7" with I Dreamed of Pompeii in 2006, well after Late Night Desperate had become Jena Berlin. I don't know for sure that it's the same version of the song, but considering the band had been inactive for three years at that point, I kind of doubt they rerecorded it.

Late Night Desperate Discography

Fiction

 Fiction were a New Jersey emo pop outfit, formed in 2000 and at least partially comprised of members from Wholesale. The band appears to have been a short-lived project; their website was created in 2000 and went offline in 2004, but was never updated during that time. With their only release coming out the same year of their formation, I'm not sure the band lived to see 2001. In terms of sound, the obvious comparison here are bands like The Get Up Kids and Saves The Day. This is late-90s emo pop punk, complete with bouncy choruses and a keyboard that alternates between warbling and plinking.

The band's one and only release is 2000's Five Seconds Of Silence.

Five Seconds Of Silence

Ribbon Fix

Burning bright for a brief period between 1996 and 1998, Ribbon Fix were a second wave emo band who straddled the sonic line between emo pop and midwest emo, similar to bands like Friends Unseen or Rainer Maria. The band shared members with other legendary emo bands like Shroomunion, The Shivering, and Amber Inn, and bassist\vocalist Andi Camp continues to fly the emo flag today in projects Temper & Hold and The Holdout.

The band's first release was a collection of material written prior to the departure of Brian Gathy, released in 1997. However, it is not a compilation, instead being the band's first EP. Later that same year the band would release their first LP, some Saturday this has been, complete with some awesome custom packaging. The band's second album, released in 1998, is called camp fire dares the sun and while its packaging is not quite as elaborate as the first's, it's still above and beyond the typical. Later in 1998, the band would put out its final release, straight, no chaser, which for whatever reason is a cover EP of drinking songs. The band has only one compilation track that I know of, on the legendary Atmosphere Only Gets You So Far.

Digital and physical copies of Ribbon Fix's releases are available through Grafton Records

Compilation Track