Since forming in early 2009 and those first tentative side project jam sessions, Escape Avenue have grown from a quartet to a quintet and are currently powering their way through the local and extended Birmingham/Midlands music scene. Festivals, pubs/clubs, the O2 academy and HMV institute set ups, Escape have played, are booked to play and will, if asked, play them all. As long as there is an audience and enough room to get a 5 piece set up then prepare to be entertained Escape Avenue deliver their own brand of alternative grunge/rock and are definitely not a bunch of part time wannabe’s who produce cloned song after cloned song. This band is the real deal and the proof, as always, is in the pudding, In this case that pudding is the they music they create and perform and the attention to detail they apply to that music. Founding members, Bassist John (Sabbath) Robinson, Lead singer Tim Wadley and Lead guitarist Richard Howell all played the music field before joining up to form Escape Avenue. Richard plied his guitar, song witting and composition skills in rock, country and western and acoustic duo line ups, even performing one of his songs with singer Emma Anderson on the Sky TV public access music TV channel. This earned Richard a regular spot reviewing other performing bands. John honed his bass skills whilst doing the rounds with the Rockets classic rock covers band. Tim, after starting off life playing drums for rock and metal bands, decided the front of stage suited best and not only fronted up the college band Fei-Long with Richard on lead Guitar, he also performed his own material on the Birmingham Acoustic circuit as a solo performer. The band as a quintet was born at the start of 2010 when Sam Purcell put aside his lead guitar role with local band Chicken Filth and agreed to bring his keyboard talents into the mix to enhance the Escape Avenue sound. Very soon after, the line up was set in stone when then the immensely talented Connor McLaughlin was persuaded to join the line up as replacement for the original drummer who had to quit as a result of work commitments. Connor, despite still being at college, is acknowledged by the rest of the band as the best drummer any of them have ever played with. The start of November 2010, seen Escape Avenue in the studio and the 6 track ‘First Things First’ EP was created. The eclectic mix came as no surprise to the growing fan base as creating and putting together catchy songs like ‘Down by the River’ with the off the wall and in your face ‘Unanswered’, the powerful riff based ‘Fool’ with the power ballad ‘Hummingbird’ is what the whole Escape Avenue experience is all about. In simple terms, Escape Avenue, are striving to deliver the sonic recreation of euphoria. EP release to itunes is planned in early 2011. Every band makes claims re their music and themselves being different. In reality the statements made are meaningless words. The Escape Avenue challenge is to listen to them, watch the live set and then judge for yourself.