What is real? That’s what you’ll find yourself asking as you dive into the world of Bored Ape Yacht Club brothers ESCAPΞPLAN. With their breakout single, “Jungle” with Rich The Kid, the duo, comprised of brothers ETHan (#4321) and zeETH (#309) are effortlessly blurring the line between the digital and physical worlds in a way that hasn’t been done before.
ESCAPΞPLAN played their first live show late last year at The Grand, further cementing their space in the digital realm and IRL with a one of a kind performance. With their quickly rising single, “Jungle” out now, and big plans for the future (they just signed with WME and are hoping to create some more exciting collaborations soon) you’re going to want to keep an eye on ESCAPΞPLAN. There’s no telling what they’ll do next, but whatever it is, it promises to be groundbreaking.
Prelude Press: You just launched ESCAPΞPLAN this year with the release of your debut single, “Jungle”. Can you give us a little bit of background on this unique project? How did ESCAPΞPLAN originate?
ETHan [ESCAPΞPLAN]: my brother zeETH and I are originally from the mountains of Sethan Village in India and we used to trek down to the local internet cafe to keep ourselves entertained. That’s where we were first exposed to electronic music, fell in love with it, and used YouTube videos to teach ourselves how to produce. The Big Night Talent team discovered us on OpenSea and we had a great conversation about our goals and aspirations as music producers. With our production skills and their knowledge of how to navigate the industry, we felt that it was a perfect fit, and here we are.
Similar to artists like Gorillaz, Daft Punk, Marshmello and others who came before you, ESCAPΞPLAN continues to blur the lines between the physical and digital world in a way that hasn’t been done before. What inspired you to take the NFT world one step further and incorporate it into this musical project?
ETHan: we are who we are, whether the world understands us or not. Just a couple of BAYC brothers who are chasing their dreams in the music industry. A key advantage is that we live simultaneously in both the metaverse and IRL, so we can do some pretty cool stuff in blending those lines unlike any artist that’s come before us.
Can you tell us a little bit about “Jungle” – what inspired the track?
ETHan: although zeETH and I are from the snow covered mountains of India, our ancestors hail from the jungle and you can find many of our distant relatives there today. New York, where Rich The Kid is from, is also known as an urban Jungle so it felt like the perfect combination and cross section of our worlds. We kept that significance in mind when writing the lyrics to Jungle, and the rhythmic production came naturally when building out the rest of the track.
The video dives a little deeper into ESCAPΞPLAN’s origins as well. Could we expect to see more videos in the future that continue the story?
ETHan: we felt that it was fitting to include a shot of us visiting that same internet cafe we originally started our musical journey from. No matter how many concerts or festivals we play, we’ll always remember the countless hours and sleepless nights spent there. Each music video moving forward will play into the accompanying track’s theme and include our unique spin on storytelling. There’s so much more about us that we’d love to share with our fans, so we’ve got a lot of ideas on how to include that when shooting our future videos.
“There’s so much more about us that we’d love to share with our fans…” – ESCAPΞPLAN
You collaborated with Rich The Kid for “Jungle” and have already announced an upcoming collaboration with Dillon Francis as well! When can fans expect to hear more new music?
ETHan: we’ve been hard at work in the studio for some time now, but unfortunately can’t share many details on our next official release. Just know that it’ll be a banger! We have the tracks with Dillon in the works as well as a few other artists we know our fans will be hyped for. Until those are announced, there’ll be plenty of ESCAPEPLAN edits and banana mashups going up on our SoundCloud and Audius pages in the coming month – keep an eye out!
Are there any other artists that you’d like to work with in the future?
ETHan: all of our fellow BAYC + MAYC brothers and sisters of course! Justin Bieber, Post Malone, Martin Garrix, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Timmy Trumpet, the list goes on.
You made your live debut as ESCAPΞPLAN last year and recently performed at Big Night Live in Boston – do you have any other live shows coming up?
ETHan: we recently signed with WME and they’ve got a bunch in the works! No more announced shows that we can share yet, but we’re beyond excited to go on tour in the near future and bring the ESCAPΞPLAN experience worldwide.
You’ve also given fans a chance to get involved and be part of the ESCAPΞPLAN story by offering NFT giveaways and more. Could we expect to see more of this in the future?
ETHan: zeETH and I are passionate about NFTs for obvious reasons… so being able to combine them with our music and offer fans an opportunity to own part of our first record was something we were keen on from the start. We plan on rolling out more collections based on our future records, but we need to take each one on a case by case basis and make sure it’s the best route for both us and the fans. Strong communities are arguably the most important element of a successful NFT project, and building the strongest one possible surrounding ESCAPΞPLAN is the priority.
What can fans expect next from ESCAPΞPLAN?
ETHan: expect the unexpected! We’ve got tons in the works to level up our live show, new tunes with amazing artists, trips to some of the world’s premiere music events, and more!
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
ETHan: I think that about sums it up from my end, am I missing anything zeETH?
zeETH: don’t be an idiot, go stream Jungle w/ Rich The Kid.
ETHan: that’s not very nice… but yeah make sure to go stream Jungle!
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