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The Getaway Plan

the-getaway-planThe Getaway Plan return to WA this week for shows on Thursday, September 12, at the Prince Of Wales, Bunbury; Friday, September 13, at Players Bar, Mandurah; Saturday, September 14, at the Rosemount Hotel and Sunday, September 15, YMCA HQ (all-ages, doors 1pm). DAVID SISO reports.

In 2009, Melbourne’s The Getaway Plan disbanded after releasing their breakthrough album, Other Voices, Other Rooms. To say fans were shocked by the announcement was an understatement.

It was a familiar story. The quartet – barely in their 20s at the time – were flat-out exhausted by how quickly they had struck the big time.

However, in 2010 The Getaway Plan reunited and later released their sophomore LP, Requiem, in 2011. The album was a notable progression from their earlier LP, trading in earlier influences like Underoath for more eclectic ones such as Radiohead.

“It kinda fell into place as it did,” drummer Aaron Barnett explains. “Once we got back together and did some tours and shows, we started writing. And in between the break-up and getting back together, we went off and did our own thing – obviously we grew up in between writing the last record as well.

“All those changes and influences came into place, but we never sat down and said we’re going to write the record a certain way. We just wrote and that’s what came out.”

While Barnett cites the expansion of musical tastes partly for The Getaway Plan’s new-found direction, he suggests the band’s personal development played a more vital role in redefining their sound.

“I think the whole growing up thing was responsible for that. It would’ve been about three or three-and-a-half years since we started writing the first album, so we grew up and matured a lot as musicians. We did start to listen to a lot more Muse, Radiohead and Coldplay, and that sort of thing comes into play without you even realising.

“We were pretty young when we did the first record and we were all into the emo-screamo crap. Growing up from that, we branched out a lot more… into the weird, rocky sort of stuff. Then again, you still do keep elements of what you used to listen to and used as your influences – it still comes across when you write.”

The Getaway Plan seemed to strike the right chords with that release, and with a new single, Lovesick, out now, are earning themselves new followers across the globe. In fact, the positive reception to The Getaway Plan in the UK has been so overwhelming that it’s led to two full-blown tours  (with Pierce The Veil and Anberlin) in England.  The band will head back there later this month.

Considering the warm response in the UK, it’s unsurprising to learn that The Getaway Plan have pinpointed the European nation as their base of expansion.

“In the UK they appreciate everything, and for us and our music, I think it slots in a lot better and people are already grabbing at it and we’re getting a lot of fans. Obviously we’re talking about going elsewhere as well, like Asia and America, and that will slowly come. But at the moment we’re just concentrating on building in the UK.”

 

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