Contemporary disco orchestra Escort started with producers Dan Balis and Eugene Cho before growing into a 17-piece band. Hailing from Brooklyn, the group—which has been described as one not to miss live—brings its tour to Chicago this week.
Lead singer Adeline Michele discussed life on the road, among other things, in this recent interview.
Windy City Media Group: Hi, Adeline. Are you touring now?
Adeline Michele: I'm at home in Brooklyn. We are going to D.C. on Thursday on Saturday so I get to stay home and do East Coast shows right now.
WCT: That must be nice.
AM: It is not bad at all. I love traveling, too, but it is not the same.
WCT: Have you been to Chicago before?
AM: We just went to Chicago two weeks ago, actually. It was a private party for NBC. We are coming back for our real show. We can't wait because the Metro has a great reputation and we are very excited to play there.
WCT: With a live show, do you bring the whole band with you?
AM: It depends. For Chicago it will pretty much be the whole band. There will be 10 to 12 pieces because it is a longer show. We wanted to bring it all the way. When we have been doing this East Coast tour we have been playing with a five piece band. It is easier to travel around because we are not able to travel with 17 people all over the world!
WCT: Two producers started Escort, correct?
AM: Yes, it was Dan and Eugene. Eugene is the keyboard player and Dan is one of the guitar players. They are best friends and went to college together with some of the other band members. They had a band back in the day in high school and college.
When Dan and Eugene were deejaying in college they were playing disco records; then they moved to New York. They decided to create the music that they were playing when they saw their reactions. They called their musician friends because they wanted to have a live aspect on their record but they wanted to make it more organic. They wrote the songs and were looking for a singer. We had a friend in common and they introduced me, things worked out right away.
WCT: Are you from Brooklyn?
AM: No, not at all; I am from Paris. I was born and raised in France. I was on TV as a child. I was singing when I was 5 years old. Right after high school I decided to move to New York. I wanted to make it bigger than just Europe. I wanted to see where I could take it.
WCT: So you moved to New York to make it big?
AM: To become a star! I grew up loving soul music and I wanted to learn from the root. I wanted to investigate and get better. I wanted to try things in a big scale, I guess.
WCT: How long have you been with Escort?
AM: Four years now. The first show we did was about four years ago.
WCT: I heard there are so many band members that you can't even practice all together.
AM: We really practice only when we have shows; for instance, we had a rehearsal last night. Pretty much everyone was there except for the string players. We usually still rehearse if people can't make it. If I am not there or the rhythm section can't make it, then we can't do without them.
WCT: The latest CD is Escort Remixed. How did you connect with the remix artists on that project?
AM: Eugene and Dan are DJs [and] they have their DJ fans, so they have a crew of them. We have an Escort DJ thing that we promote once in a while. We are played by a lot of DJs, so the remix thing came off naturally. It was something that was meant to happen because of the music we do.
AM: Huge gay following! I love it!
Dance the night away at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. with Escort on Friday, Nov. 9. Visit www.metrochicago.com for tickets and information today.
