The Getaway Plan Interview

Having started out eight years ago, The Getaway Plan have been a continuously growing talent; since supporting big names such as Parkway Drive and My Chemical Romance along the way, as well as recording their debut Other Voices Other Rooms last year, they're on the right track to stardom.
We caught up with the guys from "Down Under" just before they hit the stage at London's, Underworld.

R13:So, you guys are from Melbourne, Australia; what do you have to tell us about the music scene over there?
CS:Erm...It's kind of dying, it's on its way out; were losing both our best venues over there due to lack of drinking laws.
MW:There's an increase in the cost to run venues and there's no underage venues anymore, it's really hard...and kind of sad but there are still a lot of good bands it's just a shame that there's not enough venues for them to play.
CS:It's not all negative it's still going fairly strong.
R13:Can you fill us in on how the band formed and how the name came about?
MW:The band formed through high school, we all met through high school and we met our drummer Aaron at a party after that, the name is nothing special honestly, we probably should have come up with something by now after 9 years being a band but...(laughs)
CS:We always get that "What's your Getaway Plan" but we seriously don't have any cool stories.
MW:It just sounded good at the time.

R13:Did you know beyond school that music was your answer for ambition or had you considered other options?
MW/CS:No, never considered anything else.
CS:When I was younger I always wanted to be a tennis player, but yeah... as soon as I picked up a guitar I dropped the racket I think and started making a racket.

R13:You started out small, performing local gigs around Melbourne; if you could go back and start out all over again, would you, and what would you do differently?
MW:Yeah
CS:It didn't start out as what we expected, we did a lot of hardcore tours with bands like Parkway Drive, so we kind of got thrown in to that and that was a bit rough, but in the end I think it worked out really well for us and we kind of gained a lot of credibility doing it that way, so...yeah it worked out really well.
R13:You got signed to Boomtown Records, in 2006; would you say that from this moment on, you realised this was more than just a hobby?
MW:Yeah, when we put out our first full length that's when things started getting really serious for us.
CS:When you start signing contracts and stuff, I think that's when you realise it's more than just a hobby.

R13:You supported My Chemical Romance in front of 11,000 fans and The Used back in 2007, they must have been quite proud moments for you as a band?
MW:I don't know...I think the proudest moment for us, is the success that we had playing our own tours back home after the release of our full-length and things started to take off.
CS: My Chemical Romance was pretty mind-blowing, like...it was an arena tour so we were playing to like 12,000 kids a night so it was all a lot to take in so I wouldn't say it was our proudest moment but definitely a highlight of our career though for sure.

R13:Which band do you look up to the most?
MW: We all look up to so many different artists but erm...personally I look up to Radiohead the most.
CS:Yeah...I'd have to say Tool or U2.

R13:Your debut Other Voices, Other Rooms was released in 2008 and received a lot of positive acclaim, was it what you had expected?
MW:You never know what to expect.
R13:Was it what you were hoping for when you put the record out?
CS:It was more than what we were hoping for, it really took us off guard, I mean that's pretty much why we broke up, just coz it took us such off guard and we were touring nonstop. It was awesome at the time, but it definitely had a negative effect on us at the same time.
MW:It took its toll after a while, yeah.

R13:To you guys, what's the most important factor when putting together a record?
MW:Just making it as real and as natural as possible, with our first record things were...I don't know, not saying unnatural, but it was a lot of work in the studio and editing and all that and with our most recent record we went for more a vibe on takes rather than perfection and trying to get everything to sound exactly as it should.
CS:I guess in a way we wanted to make it personal as well, sort of on the first record we were like "oh we want to sound like this band, we want to sound like this band" but then on the latest record we all kind of just took our time separately and thought about what we wanted to do with our instruments.
R13:So it kind of made it more unique in a way?
CS:Yeah, in a way we just wanted to put a unique stamp on it.

R13:You could say that you went on hiatus for a year in 2009, what sparked the decision to take a break?
MW:We were really young, things took off way too fast for us and it got the best of us.
CS:Yeah, we really neglected our personal lives, you know it sounds lame but missing out on birthday parties and all of this and after a while you feel like an arsehole. You know you come home and you've missed all your best friends parties and you're missing out on all these important dates that I guess normal people do a lot and so yeah it just took a toll and we needed that break to just to sort of have that time to do those things and we did that and now we've gone in to it a bit more smarter and were trying to balance it.

R13:So would you say that you're sound's a bit more mature now having had a break?
CS:Yeah definitely, for sure.

R13:You're currently on tour over here in the UK, how's it been so far; supporting Crown The Empire and Pierce The Veil?
CS:Incredible, the reception has been way way way better than what we thought, we thought just being an opening band and especially a line-up like this we don't really fit as well as other bands could so we were a bit like what's gonna happen but everybody's been super super nice and we've got to meet a lot of fans.
MW:Even Scotland was great so...seriously, it just keeps getting better and better, we're really excited.

R13:Is this your first appearance in the UK, what was your first impression?
MW/CS:Yeah, we love it!
CS:Beer's cheap, and there are so many pubs on every corner, so there's never a dull moment.

R13:When you're on the road, what's the one thing you couldn't live without?
MW:Each other, I don't know, sleep, a good bed every night.
CS:Then I suppose there's the cliché, iPod just to get away from everything, just chuck your headphones on and try and detach yourself a little bit.

R13:What would surprise people about The Getaway Plan; tell us an interesting fact.
CS: Erm...what would surprise people about us? Well I guess a lot of people think were cool rock stars, but really were pretty much just nerds, like we just sit at home and play Playstation and then we pick up our instruments and write a song here and there. We like to party and have a drink, but everyone's always thinking we're partying nonstop but it's not like that at all, we just...we own cats! (laughs)

R13:Cats!?
CS:Yeah, were not like cool rock star people who own big dogs.