The Getaway Plan

Thu 15th Dec, 2011 in Features

The Getaway Plan left many a devastated fan in the wake of their final tour and the announcement they were calling it quits at what some called the peak of their career in 2009. After a one off gig for the charity To Write Love On Her Arms sold out within minutes last year, the band was left with a nostalgic positivity and the taste of inevitability in their mouths.

Without any formality, they started on a trek to get back together – timers appeared on the band’s website and fans watched in anticipation as each timer released new snippets of information – a photo of the band rehearsing, a short sample of a song – until the band released a statement that they were officially reforming.

With this came the release of their second album Requiem, their best work to date, along with a bunch of dates for a national tour. The band has picked up and excelled from where they left off, causing fans to rejoice and throw their Getaway Plan Finale paraphernalia to the trash. Drummer Aaron Barnett explained to FL how the band regrouped and recorded their new album.

You guys decided to split-up at what seemed like the peak of your success. What were the causes behind this?
Basically one person made the call at the time, so it was a bit of a shock. Pretty much in a year we went from being a small local band to playing sold out, thousand capacity shows and massive festivals and what not, which at the time was great, but at the same time we were never home. We were constantly on the road and with all that success comes a lot of media attention and I think that we were so young at the time it sort of all just built up and became a bit too much. For us, it took away from the real reason we played music and things started to turn bad with relationships in the band without us really consciously knowing. So, someone made a call after Big Day Out and not everyone agreed at the time obviously, but in saying that, now we realise why and it was actually a blessing in disguise.

After the split, you played drums for Deez Nuts. How did the experience differ from being part of The Getaway Plan?
It was great! After the break I had a few months off to think about my life and what I was going to do. We sort of grew up with J.J and all those guys [from the Dezz Nuts] so when I got the call up I was pretty rapt. We did a 40 date UK/Europe tour. It was a paid job as well, so pretty much doing what I love to do and travelling the world. Clint was doing Amity [Affliction] as well, and after Deez Nuts I did an Amity tour with the support band Hopeless who are my best friends too. It turned out to be a good break for me in the long run.

How do you think the time spent on different projects has affected the band as a reunited whole?
I think we appreciate us four and the band a lot more, because obviously we all went off to different things and did what we love doing, but nothing is as good as your band and what you actually have when you’re a part of those four guys onstage. When we came back and were officially back together – writing and playing shows – we had that same feeling back, but it was better. We appreciate it a lot more now.

How did the decision to get back together come about?
Towards the end of the break-up hiatus, we just started hanging out as friends. There was no talk of getting back together, whatsoever; I guess we just missed each other. Then the To Write Love On Her Arms charity gig came about and it was kind of floating in the air for a little while and then we just thought, “fuck it, why not do it”. It ended up selling out in some ridiculous amount of time. We kind of felt something after that first show and it was pretty clear that something was still there and that we weren’t finished yet. Even after that though, there was no real talk.

We never really sat down and said, “we’re going to get back together”, it kind of just gradually happened. A few months after that show there was talk of a tour and more shows coming up and an album, blah, blah, blah… In the end we kind of just got to the point where we thought, “fuck this, we’re not going to come back once a year and do a tour to make money, if we’re going to do this we’re going to write a record and come back properly”. Next minute, we were writing and off to Canada and now we’re here!

Was there anything stopping you from getting back together, or at least made you feel a bit hesitant?
Not really… At first it was probably a bit eerie, because it had been so long since we’d been in a room for that long together and doing what we normally did. There’s always something in the back of your head going “is someone going to leave or be unhappy?”. Clint was still in Amity [Afflication] at the time and overseas so we weren’t sure how we were going to make it work, but we kind of just let time take its toll and see what happened. Once we started writing and stuff was flowing the way it should be, there was no doubt in our minds that we were back and it was better than ever.

So a bit like getting back with an ex?
Yeah [laughs], I’ve never really got back with an ex, but kind of similar I imagine! It is kind of like a relationship, but with five, six other people.