Australia’s most talked about up and coming rock band The Getaway Plan are finally hitting the UK alternative music scene. The Getaway Plan have been taking Australia by storm, with sold out national tours and creating a chart topping album. It’s finally the UK’s chance to see what all the fuss is about.
The band has been on full-force UK invasion, with the launch of their album ‘Requiem’ last November and their first UK tour supporting Pierce The Veil shortly after. Now The Getaway Plan has just announced they will be the opening support act for Anberlin’s forthcoming 2013 UK tour.
The group recently spoke to Already Heard about the success of their latest album launch, how their first UK tour went and what they have planned for the future.
Already Heard: Hey guys, how did the UK tour go?
The Getaway Plan: The tour was incredible. Every show sold out and Pierce The Veil were incredible guys. New fans and new friends make us happy!
AH: Do you have any funny touring stories?
TGP: Tour is pretty much non-stop laughing. Matt got robbed at knife point, that’s not really funny though, sorry.
AH: Why did you want to break into the UK market?
TGP: We’ve been touring Australia for the past eight years so we were eager to branch out a bit, and the UK seemed like the next logical step. A lot of our favourite artists are from the UK and we felt our style suits there more as opposed to the US.
AH: Has your album been as successful as you had hoped in the UK?
TGP: The response we’ve had on our Facebook and Twitter accounts has been amazing!
AH: The album was released to the UK an entire year after being released in Australia, any reason for this?
TGP: Initially it just didn’t come up, but then Warner UK mentioned they were keen to get it out in the UK. We were going to release it closer to Sonisphere but that got cancelled, so then we moved it to the Pierce The Veil tour.
AH: Why do you love the UK?
TGP: I love how there’s so many venues. There’s always so many tours happening around each other, it is a very healthy music scene.
AH: Did you enjoy your time here in the UK? Were you welcomed by the new crowds?
TGP: The crowds were really lovely. We didn’t expect such a positive response at all, totally took us off guard.
AH: Did you get to try any traditional English food, if so what was your favourite?
TGP: We had plenty of beer. I guess that’s pretty traditional right? It felt like all we were eating was kebab shop meals. I guess we should have spent more time trying to experience the culture rather than trying to find the best pub.
AH: Do you believe you’ve gained new UK fans now?
TGP: Believe? I know! We see everything everyone writes about us on our social networking accounts. The response has been great!
AH: What inspired you for the album ‘Requiem’?
TGP: A lot of things, we were all doing different projects at the time of writing for it, so it became a combination of the different elements we were working with.
AH: Why did you decide to work with producer David Bottrill?
TGP: We have always wanted to. He’s the guy we would all talk about when drunk saying “Dude, imagine if David Bottrill produced our record?” and it turned out he was into our stuff. So our label somehow made it happen and we all got to have the best musical experience of our lives.
AH: How do the new songs differ from your older material?
TGP: I guess the most notable difference is that a lot of the songs are more beat driven. As in it’s not like a normal rock song where you have half time bits and your double time bits. We messed around with just building a lot on one sort of feel. Turning something that starts out quite bare and turning it into a full multi layered wall of sound with instruments ranging from a gospel choir to a Vans Era and Converse All Star stamping on floorboards.
AH: What’s the most bizarre thing to happen whilst you were performing on stage?
TGP: A few months ago we had a fan in a wheelchair crowd surfing, that was amazing!
AH: What’s the hardest thing about being part of a band?
TGP: Being away from home. You really are away for a long time and sometimes it can damage whatever relationships you have at home, whether it’s a girlfriend, brother, or best friend. But it really is the best job in the world; you just have to take the bad with the good.
AH: How do you feel as a band you’ve progressed?
TGP: Great! We are all really proud of our latest record ‘Requiem’. It was written under difficult and different circumstances but we are more than happy with how it turned out. I think in our progression we have lost a few fans but we have also made a lot of new ones.
AH: Why did you decide to reform the band in 2010?
TGP: To continue creating music, we reformed initially for just one show, but the idea of writing music again was exciting! So we decided to write another album.
AH: Do you believe your break up had been beneficial or do you regret it?
TGP: It was definitely beneficial. We all learned so much about ourselves in that in-between period and I doubt we would be as proud of this record if we hadn’t gone through with it.
AH: What bands do you compare yourself to?
TGP: We’re influence by bands like Tool, Radiohead, Coldplay, Silverchair and Alkaline Trio, I wouldn’t say we sound like any of them, but their influence plays a big part of our sound.
AH: What are your plans for the future?
TGP: To tour UK as much as possible! We’ve had a taste now, and we can’t get enough of it!!
‘Requiem’ by The Getaway Plan is out now on UNFD.
The Getaway Plan links: Official Website|Facebook|Twitter
Words by Chantelle Kelly (@ChantelleKelly3)
