The Getaway Plan release today Requiem their first release in four years – following their debut Other Voices, Other Rooms – the first album since the band announced that their hiatus had ended in November 2010. Clint Ellis from The Getaway Plan sat down with Tone Deaf to talk about their new album, the Big Day Out and lots more…
TD: So it’s been four years since Other Voices, Other Rooms. How did it feel to be back in the studio?
CE: It felt awesome, yeah it felt really good. I have sort of done a lot of other things between Other Voices, Other Rooms and the new album Requiem. So it just kind of felt homely in a way to be back in the studio and to have the album produced by David Botrill it felt really, really good.
TD: How was it working with such a successful producer?
CE: It was insane! It really was. We were like, “We want a child’s choir,” and he was like, “Yep, I can do that for you,” and he organised it for us. He just had so many connections around Toronto so it just made the whole thing so much easier. It was really good.
TD: What can fans expect from the Requiem?
CE: Well, there are some bigger sounds for sure. The fans wanted us to play some heavier music, so I guess it is pretty heavy. You know more in a gig way, we will get more going on in front. I guess a lot of songs really build up and so there is really good sounds. It’s a lot more epic and big.
TD: What song is your personal favourite?
CE: My personal favourite would be a song called Heart Stone, which is one that features the children’s choir. It’s one that’s progressive, it just keeps building and building and by the end it just explodes and it’s one of the greatest. I think people will love it.
TD: When you leaked the song Phantoms on the internet did you expect such a positive reaction?
CE: I kind of chose that song because I guess it’s not too much, you know too different from our older stuff. So we kind of wanted to ease our fans into the newer stuff. We thought that would be a good choice.
TD: Where did you get your inspiration from while recording the new CD?
CE: I’m not too sure. I can really only explain for myself, we were all doing different things having had time off. Matt was with Young Heretics, Aaron off drumming with bands like Deez Nuts. But I guess it all came from doing all these other projects. You know, before I was doing Amity I was in four other bands, so I guess there’s all those different song writing projects that we had contributed to this one. It’s just from all the different bands we were playing in and all the different bands we were listening to, so yeah it’s pretty huge.
TD: Next year you guys are playing the Big Day Out for the second time, how do you react when given such exciting opportunities?
CE: When we found out we would be able to do that again I was over the moon. We were already playing that before the record thing. So it’s great to know that Big Day Out had thought of us and supported us and have considered us to be one of the top Australian bands. I was just so stoked to hear that. Definitely worth celebrating that!
TD: Do you prefer to play your own personal shows or being a part of festivals?
CE: I guess it doesn’t matter, I like playing festivals because there’s usually a bunch of friends on tour with you, from all the other bands in a party environment. I really enjoy the shows and the performing time when it’s personal because as the headliners we have creative control to deal with the stage and it’s just a night there to celebrate with us. So I really enjoy those moments.
TD: While the band was on a break, what did you miss the most about being part of The Getaway Plan? Even when you were doing other stuff?
CE: I guess I really missed the friendship, you know the hardest thing about the break up was, that once we did split there was a bit of a break from us hanging out we just kind of did our own thing and we just went our separate way.
We really took some time off from each other; it was like a relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend your life changes. I really missed hanging out with them and partying. I mean, it was good to party with other people and tour with Amity but I really missed that close bond that we all had. We’re back together now, so I can’t complain.
TD: When you originally formed the band did you expect such an exciting journey from it?
CE: I don’t know, we didn’t really think to much ahead of it; all we wanted to do was just record a whole album – that was our main attraction. We just wanted to write music together and then when we found out we were going to record with David Botrill that’s when it was like whoa!
It got really exciting and when we got back and found out we were playing Big Day Out and were touring again, it’s just all starting up again. I don’t think I quite expected it to happen so quickly but you know, I’ve embraced it and I’m really enjoying it.
TD: Do you have any horror stories from being on tour?
CE: Not so much, most of our tours have been uneventful. Most of the stuff we see is just with other bands, like one of them filling up the van with diesel rather then unleaded and having to deal with that. That kind of stuff I see as horror stories, because it’s just a logistical stuff up. Having to sleep on airport floors, I see as horror stories. Nothing really crazy ever happens. So far, at least.
TD: What has been one of your favourite moments since forming the band, right from the start?
CE: I reckon definitely recording with David Botrill, that was one of the greatest experiences I think that I have ever been apart of in my life. It was pretty life changing and the whole time we spent in Canada together. Even though there are a lot of other things pending, that was definitely it.
TD: What are your future plans for The Getaway Plan?
CE: We just want to tour and play as many shows as we can around Australia. We’re sort of trying to get on as many festivals and in between that we just want to do shows whether it’s a tour or a one off show here or there. We want to really re-establish ourselves in the music industry in Australia and from that we’re really keen to head over to the U.K and even America, whichever country we’re offered an opportunity to tour. So at the moment I can say that we just want to tour Australia as much as we can.
TD: A lot of bands lately have been getting guest vocals from other bands, do you guys have an plans on to collaborate with other artists?
CE: Not too sure, we’ve never been that type of band. There’s that type of people on our label but I guess we are kind of selfish. Although we have been talking about finding someone to help to remix a song or find some sort of other way to make one of our songs into a different genre. That’s not really a big thing with us, as far as any collaboration goes we would rather have other musicians play with us. We have Kevin [Orr] the old guitarist from Behind Crimson Eyes playing with us live, that’s pretty much as far as it goes at the moment.
TD: Besides playing the Big Day Out what else are you excited for over summer?
CE: I am just really excited to have an Australian summer if anything! Last time I was in London for summer, so I missed out. I am really excited to just to be home and do normal things, like hang out, soak up the sun. I’ve been in cold countries like Canada and The U.K. But besides that we have a few shows like Pyramid on New Year’s Eve, but yeah just hanging out with friends and celebrating the new record.
– Marissa Hanson
Requiem is out today on Warner and a tour has been announced to support the release.
The band are also stoked to be on the Big Day Out tour for 2012.
Full lineup and ticketing deet are here.
Check out The Getaway Plan’s Requiem tour dates and enter to win a copy of the album here!
