The Getaway Plan have been a pretty integral name in the Australian punk scene over the past 10 years. Their empowering fusion of rock and punk with lyrics of hope, holding on and emotional hardship have spoken volumes with listeners spanning over three records. With the 10 year anniversary of their debut album “Other Voices, Other Rooms” fast approaching the band have decided to hit the road and play the record in it’s entirety as well as some fan favourites. I recently had a chat with lead vocalist Matthew Wright about the upcoming tour and reminisced over their lengthy career. Check it out;
TB: It has been 9 years since you released “Other Voices, Other Rooms”. Looking back at it now what do you think is the strongest and the weakest things about it.
MW: I think the weakest thing about it is that we maybe rushed the process a little bit and that it may be a bit short. I like short records but it just sort of feels like theres room for one more song on there maybe.
TB: Is there a B-side in particular you wish made the cut?
MW: Not necessarily. We had a bunch of b-sides around that record… actually there is one in particular called The Tempest that I really liked that I thought if we re-worked it could have fit the record well. But then again it’s like who knows maybe that one song would’ve changed everything for the worse.
TB: And what about the strongest thing about it?
MW: That is a difficult one without sounding egotistical *laughs*. I guess the fact that we were so young and so focused on our songwriting is a strong point for me. It feels pretty good to listen back to a record that is 9 years old and still feel proud about it.
TB: That album did major things for the band career wise, what is your most fond memory from that album era?
MW: I would just say the massive touring opportunities that we were given and the amount of fun that we had on the road. Being like in your early 20’s and having the opportunity to play on the Big Day Out tour where like 4 years earlier you were a punter there. It was pretty wild.
TB: You guys are about to embark on a massive tour of Australia where you play “Other Voice, Other Rooms” in full. Why did you decide that now was the perfect time to do that?
MW: Well it’s nearly been 10 years, we are kinda jumping the gun *laughs*. It’s been like 9.6 years, so we are almost there. But basically we did a festival at the start of the year where we played the record front to back and we just didn’t feel like it was a good idea to leave it too long between that and doing a tour of the same thing. So we kinda just met halfway between now and the actual 10 year anniversary.
TB: Is there any songs on the record that you have never played before or ones that have been a little while since you have played them?
MW: There are a few songs that we certainly have neglected but we have done a pretty good job of keeping those songs in our repertoire over the years and mixing it up. There are a couple of songs in there that we certainly don’t play enough which I’m looking forward to playing.
TB: How are you going remembering all the lyrics again?
MW: Yeah, I always struggle with that *laughs* but that’s just a part of being a front man which kinda sucks. I just sort of mumble my way through a lot of things and people don’t seem to notice. My tips are just to enjoy freaking out. Just do your best with coping with the freak out because I always find that you end up remembering the lyrics just as you’re about to deliver them.
TB: So what else can your fans expect from these shows?
MW: Well we are actually playing two sets. So we will be doing a mix set first where we will try and mix it up as best we can between all of our other releases. It’s sort of for us as much as it is for the fans. We really enjoy playing a lot of songs off our other records so we just want to give people the full experience. But after that we will be playing “Other Voices, Other Rooms” in full. We aren’t sure yet how we are going to run the set, if it will actually be front to back as the record is or if we will mix it up a bit. We are still kinda debating, but it will be a lot of fun.
TB: For that first set of fan favourites and singles, what is one song you have always loved performing and why?
MW: I have always really liked performing the song “Strings” because its the first song we wrote as a band so it’s pretty special to all of us. And I think these days it still has a place in our set because no matter what we play it still fits quite well and thats a pretty awesome thing.
TB: You have always focused on playing regional shows as well as playing the major capital cities. Why was this always something you guys strived to do?
MW: Just because when we were growing up we were given so many opportunities to see live music living in Melbourne and without those opportunities we wouldn’t be in a band. So it’s really important to us to give as many people the opportunity to see live music as we possibly can and to inspire as many people to get into it.
TB: Your last album “Dark Horse” was funded completely through a crowdfunding site called Pledge Music. How did you find the creative process compared to having a major record label behind you?
MW: It was way better in many ways because we had full control of everything from start to finish but in many ways it kinda stunted the creative process as well because of the work load that was involved. We anticipated it was going to be a big job for us to release a record by ourselves but we were very overwhelmed when it came to crunch time. And it did have some negative effects on the recording process but I think we did manage to get by rather unscathed. As far as doing it in the future, we have proven to ourselves that we can do it so the option is always there but we are not set in any way on how we will release music in the future. If we find a label that turns out to be what’s best for that record then we are not against that.
TB: Lyrically The Getaway Plan songs have always been quite dark and empowering and have seen you being truly honest. How did you feel about being so raw and honest about things like mental health?
MW: I have always tried to use my music as a means of hope for people. To know that people have been touched by anything I write or could use it for any positive means in their life is kinda like okay my job is done. The fact that people can connect with me more because of those things is great and it’s made it a lot easier to write in many ways.
TB: It’s been two years since you released Dark Horse, so when are we going to hear new music from The Getaway Plan and what is the new stuff sounding like at the moment?
MW: We won’t be playing any new songs on the tour, nothing is really ready yet. We are always writing no matter what is on the horizon for us so that will never stop but at this point we don’t have any plans as such but its usually pretty spontaneous for us anyway. We will sort of just write and write and write and then one day someone will raise the idea of making a record and generally before we know it we are in the studio. Hopefully it wont be TOO long. As far as the sound, I can’t really say anything at the moment. It’s a bit too mental, everything is just in skeleton form.
TB: Let’s play a little game of rapid fire questions where I am going to say a couple of sentences and you just say the first thing that comes to mind
MW: *Laughs* okay, sound good!
TB: My ultimate festival line up would be…
MW: Us and Fleetwood Mac. That’s it. Actually we don’t even need to play, we can just hang out.
TB: Most people think I….
MW: Am pretty lazy and they are probably right.
TB: If I could have any superpower it would be…
MW: I guess I would say invisibility just cause I am a bit of a creep. I am a bit of a people watcher *laughs*. I enjoy sitting on public transport with my glasses on and just people watching. People are really interesting.
TB: The most unexpected thing on our rider is…
MW: We are pretty straight down the line with our rider, its just alcohol and chips. That’s all we need really *laughs*.
TB:If we weren’t called The Getaway Plan we would be called…
MW: We had a few terrible names, one was Guns Of Memorial Park which is a song by a band called Spider, I’m very happy we didn’t go with that. Another one was The Infected because we really like The Used at the time and we just wanted to rip them off. But I think we made an alright choice with The Getaway Plan.
You can catch The Getaway Plan on tour this September across the country on their massive “nearly 10 year” anniversary tour of “Other Voices, Other Rooms.
Other Voices, Other Rooms Tour
Friday September 1 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth
Saturday September 9 – Corner Hotel, Melbourne
Sunday September 10 – Corner Hotel, Melbourne
Thursday September 14 – The Triffid, Brisbane
Friday September 15 – Metro Theatre, Sydney
Saturday September 16 – The Long Jetty Hotel, Central Coast
Sunday September 17 – The Basement, Canberra
Friday September 22 – The Gov, Adelaide
Tickets on sale now via www.thegetawayplan.com