The Getaway Plan

Enjoying some home time before heading out on their comeback tour,THE GETAWAY PLAN’s drummerAARON BARNETT talks to RACHEL BARNES about the band’s hiatus and how new album Requiem shows the way forward.

The Getaway Plan have been together since high school, walking a rocky path before they shot to fame after the release of their first studio album Other Voices Other Rooms in 2008. Though it might have seemed that the boys had left the tough times behind them, success doesn’t always equal happiness. The sudden change came as a shock to the young band, who never thought that they would grow so big in such a tough industry.

“A lot of my favourite bands haven’t been able to breach past that small indie sort of level,” Barnett says. “With us it sort of just crept up and smacked us in the face really quickly and we were playing big shows and massive festivals like the Big Day Out, that we grew up going to, alongside some of our favourite artists.”

The very festival that they were most excited to play was actually the one that brought them to their knees. Barnett says the band just simply wasn’t running as smoothly as it should and their friendship was taking a backseat to the music. Everything was happening too fast for a band who were simply too young and unsure of how to handle the spotlight. They just weren’t ready. One unanimous and unpopular decision later and the band was on an indefinite break.

Looking back on it now Barnett says it was a blessing in disguise, even though at the time it was the worst thing in the world. Taking on side projects during the hiatus, the break helped each member progress further as musicians, people and, as it turns out, friends. Late last year the band was asked to play a show for the not-for-profit movement To Write Love On Her Arms, and despite being comfortable with the notion that they were not getting back together, the boys had been starting to reconnect for a few months and agreed to the show.

“We sort of came off stage and there was no talk at all about getting the band back together and I think one of us just said ‘we’re back’,” Barnett recalls.

After talking about working on a new record, the band were in a studio in Canada almost before they even realised it. Before they knew it, Requiem had been produced and The Getaway Plan were back and better than ever.

The newly released Requiem shows just how influential the hiatus has been on their music, with each member bringing different styles into the mix and adding new highlights to their already popular sound.

“I’d like to say this record is saying goodbye to the old stuff and saying hello to the new band as we are now. It kind of shows you what we can do and what path we might be taking in the future,” Barnett says.

There is so much hype around the band at the moment that each member is not only eager to hit the touring stage, but also to front up for another Big Day Out.

“We’ve done it before, we know it’s an amazing festival, its incredible and now we’re back, we’re ready … We get to get back on Big Day Out as one of the semi-main acts on there. We can’t wait, it’s gonna be incredible.”

THE GETAWAY PLAN play The Hi-Fi on Wednesday Nov 23, supported by Break Even and Gatherer. They’ll also be at the Big Day Out, Gold Coast Parklands, on Sunday Jan 22, 2012. REQUIEM is out now through Warner. www.thegetawayplan.com