The Getaway Plan Interview.

On the last night of their UK tour, we had the opportunity to speak to The Getaway Plan's vocalist and guitarist, Matthew Wright and guitarist, Clint Ellis.

R13: For people who don't know you, can you tell us a bit about The Getaway Plan?
CE: We're from Melbourne, Australia and have been together for about eight years. We released our first album in 2008, and our second album in 2011.

R13: How's the tour going so far and any particular highlights?
Both: Great!
CE: Every night has been amazing, Anberlin and The Xcerts have been super friendly and really nice to us. The fans have been great and really responsive; which is nice to see when you're the opening act and nobody knows who you are.
MW: Its been great getting to watch Anberlin every night, they play a great set. For me, the highlight has been Nottingham, that was a great show.
CE: Yeah, Nottingham was great, definitely our favourite place to play in the UK. We sold the most merchandise in the UK at that show, so Nottingham have become the merchandise record holders.

R13: How did you become involved with the tour?
CE: We have the same management as Anberlin, so they asked if we wanted to come over. We had a blast last time we were here and have been eager to get back so we couldn't really say no.
MW: Playing in the UK is an amazing opportunity that we never thought we'd have. To be here twice in a few months is nuts, great but nuts. We want to try and play here as much as possible.

R13: You were over here towards the end of last year, have you seen some familiar faces at the shows?
FT: Yeah, there has been a few people tell us they came to a show on the last tour and loved our music. We've also got kids bringing our old CDs or bits of merchandise for us to sign, which is really nice.
CE: It's great to see people having such a positive response to our music, especially when we're so far away from home.

R13: In Australia, you've had headlining tours, do you prefer to play headlining shows or support slots?
CE: There are pros and cons to both, we could tour Australia and pull in a crowd and it is great knowing that every one is there to see you, and you can get a lot of confidence from that. It takes all the nerves away; you know the crowd is going to respond because they are there for you. But, support shows are great too, there's less waiting around for starters.
MW: Support shows give us the opportunity to be able to do things we would have necessarily had the chance to, such as touring the UK twice in a short period of time.
It allows us to reach a wider audience and hopefully find some new fans; a small percentage of people know who we are on this tour so it's awesome for us to see people getting into it and then they'll come up to us afterwards and chat, telling us the love the show. Support slots make you more nervous because it is more of a challenge. No-one wants to go on stage and fall flat on their face.

R13: Your album was released in the UK almost a year after it was released in Australia, what was the reason for that?
CE: There was no reason for it and it wasn't intentional. Releasing Requiem in the UK wasn't something we thought we could do. Then management suggested the idea and we loved it.
MW: We had planned to release the album here in July to tie-in with our appearance at Sonisphere, but that got cancelled so we decided to postpone the release so that it coincided with the Pierce The Veil tour in November.

R13: Considering how long you've been touring with Requiem, are you sick of playing those songs?
CE: No way, we're all so proud of that album and still love playing the songs. I could do another tour with that album and still not be bored of it. In fact, I could play a yearlong tour in the UK with that album and love every day. I'd get home sick though... and miss my mum!

R13: Is the writing and recording process something you enjoy or does it seem like hard work?
MW: I really enjoy being locked away in the studio and creating music. With both our albums we've gone overseas to record, just so that we can truly submerge into that experience without distractions.
CE: We love it, it's exciting for us. We went to Florida to record our first album; Other Voices, Other Rooms and flew over to Canada to record Requiem.

R13: Any plans for a follow up album?
CE: We've been writing, and have a new song. We'll actually be playing a new song tonight. That song is so new it doesn't even have a title yet!

R13: I've heard you're featured on a Barbie album, is that true?
CE: Ha! That is true, no-one has ever asked us about that before.
R13: I had to just to be sure it wasn't a weird internet rumour.
CE: It is very true, we're not really sure how or why it happened, it is very strange. It's basically a summer hits album branded with Barbie to make it appeal to kids, our song wasn't on a Barbie show or movie but it was part of the reason we took a break for a while.
R13: Are you serious?
CE: Completely, it highlighted just how little control we had. Management were doing all these things without discussing it with us or even informing us after the event. We had had fans coming up to us at shows telling us things about our band or music that we had no idea about; it was just ridiculous!
R13: That's insane, so what was the reason for getting back together?
MW: We had planned to play a one-off charity show called Revival which had been organised in conjunction with To Write Love On Her Arms, we planned a couple of practice sessions and as soon as we started playing we were all smiling and winking at each other; pretty much saying "Lets do this again!".
CE: The rehearsal made us all realise how much we had missed playing together. At that point we hadn't played together in about 18 months but it just clicked, it was like we hadn't taken a break at all. So, we planned a couple of other shows and started making plans to record a second album.
R13: Did you change management companies?
CE: No, we are still with the same company but it is completely different from before. We are kept informed and they've done some great things for us, we are very happy where we are at the moment.

R13: Melbourne has a strong music scene, are there any bands that you think our readers should check out?
CE: Our friends; The Gathering, they are great. I can't say enough good things about them.
MW: Definitely, The Gathering. We all love their music and they're different to other people around at the moment.
R13: My recommendation is Jackson Firebird, although, they're actually from Mildura.
CE: Mildura isn't far away, I'd count them as a Melbourne band in terms of talking about an area's music scene. I'll definitely check them out.

R13: What can we expect to see from you over the next 12 months?
MW: A lot more touring, hopefully a festival or two over here. Writing and recording.
R13: What festivals are you hoping for or have you had any bites?
CE: We've had some interest, but nothing has been confirmed yet so watch this space!

R13: Good luck with that and thanks for your time.