STACK Jul #129

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Dark Horses by The Getaway Plan is released July 3,
distributed via MGM. They tour nationally from Sept 3 until
Nov 28. More at
length record: they’ve already broken up once,
are without a label, and have two new band
members after original rhythm section Dave
Anderson and Aaron Barnett left their respective
creases – both had been part of 2011’s
reformation.
“The mistake we made was jumping in
exactly where we left off: we didn’t really
consider that there had been a year and a half
where he hadn’t been in a room together, and
that people may have changed,“ says Ellis. “We
didn’t address where everybody was at. As we
got further and further on, we realised how far
we’d grown apart in that time.“
The pair have been replaced with siblings
Dan and Mike Maio, drummer and bassist
respectively. “The communication between
those two ... they have some telepathic sibling
shit going on,” says Wright. “We just cannot
understand it; they put us to shame in the jam
room. Having those new elements has opened
up our ability to experiment.”
As for the new music, it seems The
Getaway Plan – unlikely as it may have been,
given the circumstances – have really found
their feet on album three. Still extremely fond
of making a blistering racket, the new album
has some genuine jawdroppers that will
surprise pretty much everyone – longtime fans
and newbies alike.
Dreamer/Parallels showcases the softer,
more downbeat side of Wright’s voice and again
has drawn comparisons to the late Jeff Buckley.
The track features an instrumental interlude that
was apparently a happy accident.
“That’s all improvised live,”
says Wright. “We were playing
Dreamer for the first time as a band,
I accidentally played a jazz chord and
everyone went with it. Eight months
later, it’s on the record.“
There are other moments on Dark
Horses that stretch the definition
of ‘epic’ somewhat. The band
describe Bird Effigy as “a collage
of ideas thrown together … to take
the listener on a journey", whereas
the closing track Exodus builds to
a mighty, riff-mangling, ear-shredding, lighter-
waving crescendo and then simply ceases. An
homage to The Beatles' I Want You: She’s So
Heavy that closes side one of Abbey Road, is a
track Wright describes as "a big influence". Ellis
concurs, “there was nowhere else to go with
it, it’s so stupidly epic, 16 guitars, there was
nothing else to do but pull the plug”.
As for the future, things in camp Getaway
Plan are complex, but potentially pretty
interesting; they are clearly now masters of their
own destiny and have delivered a record that
their fanbase should love, while also raising a
few eyebrows elsewhere. They're a band that
have been buffeted by change and lived to tell
the tale. They fully credit the internet – and
specifically being able to use MySpace back in
2008 – as way of first sharing their music. As for
the future of the industry they find themselves
in, they’re resigned to yet more change, and
hope to ride it all out.
“It’s scary! It’s really scary. It seems like it’s
heading towards busting entirely," says Wright
of the future of the music industry. “Hopefully
we will prevail! Who knows what’s going to
happen? We don’t hate the way the industry is
now – everyone’s listening to music, everyone
seems to have earbuds in, so I assume that
they’re listening to music!”
L ost in the Woods is a song
based on Young Turks by
Rod Stewart, a “half cover”
according to the band. Inside of
just recording it and hoping no
one would notice similarities, the
band did the honourable thing
and applied for permission to use
elements of the song. But it was
knocked back at the last minute.
“Stewart heard the song and liked
it, but there was another cover
version coming out or something
and they didn’t want to interfere
with that. We even wrote him
a personal letter! He was cool
though,” says Wright. The band
say they may try and use the song
in some future project, but for now,
if you want to hear it, you’ll have
to get to a gig.
097
MUSIC
T he cover of Dark Horses is
compelling to say the least.
An eerie, shadowy picture of a
young woman. It’s simple, but it’s
hard to look away once you see
it. It found it’s way to the album
cover by chance. “ It was a picture
I stumbled across online,“ says
Wright. “I couldn’t leave it: when
I first saw it, I thought it was a
bit ‘horror movie, a bit eerie’ ,
but we just kept coming back to
that image.” The band eventually
tracked the photographer down
online, discovering she was a
woman from Germany named Karina
Spectre. She was considering
giving photography away when
the band got in touch. “She was
stoked! She offered to do it for free,"
continues Wright. “She was over
the moon, she had another series
of photos that were very similar
to that one; they will be scattered
throughout the whole campaign.”
COVER FEATURE
The Getaway Plan’s recent gigs have seen them playing a few new songs from
Dark Horses, including one oddment of sorts that nearly made the cut, but didn’t.