Tony Cummings reports on two brothers and two sisters making waves in the US, THE YOUNG ESCAPE

The Young Escape

In August journalist and photographer Tom Biggs went to a concert in the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonburg to review a gig for Music Life Magazine. He stated at the beginning of his review that the venue was one of his "favourite places to shoot shows," and a couple of weeks previously he'd shot a Slayer concert there. "This was a completely different environment and crowd," he told readers of Music Life with considerable understatement. The concert Mr Biggs, who isn't a Christian, was reviewing was roots worship man Crowder along with support act The Young Escape. He was impressed by "Crower and his very talented band." But he was also impressed by the support act.

"The Young Escape burst onto the MAC stage with incredible energy. They are a quartet of siblings from Southern California, Ryan, McKenna, Kyrsten and Luke Johns. With an average age of 18 that youthful energy was on full display with all four members but especially with drummer Luke Johns who is a wild man behind his kit! McKenna (vocals), not to be out done by her brother, showed all that energy with the delivery of each lyric to every song TYE preformed. Her energy was contagious, so much so that at one point most of the crowd was on their feet bouncing up and down with her! Watch for The Young Escape, judging by what I saw tonight they have a bright future!"

The Young Escape are already well on their way. The siblings grew up watching artists like Audio Adrenaline, TobyMac and Hawk Nelson at various festivals and events. They began dreaming that one day they could express their love of Jesus in the same way of high energy music. Over the next year, having plumped for the name The Young Escape and a sound that incorporated a fusion of EDM/alt pop/rock and a snatch of hip-hop, they attracted attention wherever they played. Then in 2017 their huge potential was spotted and they were signed to Christian music giant Capitol Christian Music Group. The group's first single "Good Life", released in October 2017, proved to be a Christian radio hit, attaining the number one spot on the Billboard Hot AC chart in March 2018. Their next single was 2018's "Neverfade" released in both an original mix and a Loud Living Remix followed by the Cross Rhythms radio hit "Love Me Like You ftg Nobigdyl". Getting Dylan Phillips (Nobigdyl), the Tennessee-based rapper who since his emergence in 2015 has been guesting on releases by Derek Minor, Mogl, The Iceburg and Canon, has added another dynamic to the band's exciting sound. "Love Me Like You" is a bold declaration of faith. The lyric goes, "Even in the middle of the night/Even when my heart can't see the light/I could find a million reasons why it's true/Even when the oceans pull me out/I know that you're with me even now/You're the only love I've found that's true/Nobody's gonna love me like you."

The band described their recent tour with Crowder as "a dream come true." With an album expected in 2019 clearly there are more dreams to be fulfilled.