The Getaway Plan

Maturation night be defined as "the process of growing naturally" and it's a process that can often take an entire lifetime. Fortunately, this is not the case for Melbourne-based quartet The Getaway Plan.

Their debut album 'Other Voices, Other Rooms' clearly demonstrates how much maturity the boys have gained within their very short existence, showcasing possibly the best alternative rock album this country may have seen within more recent times. In doing so, the four-piece have proven that maturity doesn't come with age, but with hard work.

"As for the recording process of 'Other Voices, Other Rooms', it really went smooth without any major issues," vocalist Matthew Wright explains. "Actually it couldn't have really gone any better. The writing was actually fine too - I mean we did lose a member [Benny Chong] which put some additional strain on us, but it also let us adventure more with making instruments sound bigger and other elements. But it was a really long process."

Recorded with producer James Paul Wisner (Underoath, Dashboard Confessional) in Florida over a three-month period, the album showcases Wisner's ability to promote and perfect the strengths of each band he works with. Upon one listen, the record sounds appropriately large and heavy in required parts as well as soft and dormant in others, showing not only Wisner's ability to produce almost any kind of music, but also The Getaway Plan's amazing ability to write both heavy and soft rock songs.

"James was really amazing and pushed us with the record and we are really happy with the final product, which is the main thing. It's a shame though - Florida really is a horrible place, and American's aren't the best people either. I mean, they are really selfish people, like some of them don't even know where Australia is and we actually got asked once: 'what language do you guys speak there?' They are just so self-involved. I would never like to live there, but then again seeing Vans Warped Tour was incredible."

Success is literally knocking at the four-piece's door step. The LP in it's first week debuted at number fourteen on the ARIA charts, and the film clips for the lead single Streetlight and follow up Where The City Meets The Sea have been in heavy rotation on every music television program.

"It's seriously amazing that we got to number fourteen on the ARIA charts, I completely lost it when that happened. I started running around screaming and spraying beer on everyone, just being a loud idiot," Wright laughs.

"But the response to the record has been unbelievable as well, kids are just lapping it up. We actually didn't expect people to love it straight away; it's an album that when we recorded it we thought it would have to sort of grow on people, but people really loved it once it was released, it's all still kind of hard to absorb."

In celebration of the album's release, the band's plan is to tour it non-stop for quite some time. With a headline tour already underway, the band is more than used to the life on the road that has seen them supporting some of the biggest bands in the world including Taking Back Sunday, The Used (both at the bands' request), and more recently My Chemical Romance and their personal favourites Circa Survive.

"The My Chemical Romance tour was just absolutely crazy. It was so weird going from shows with 200, maybe 300 kids - say with the Boomtown Showdown tour - to, like, arenas with 10,000 people. It was so daunting, like you don't want to say it but you get so nervous before. It was so incredible seeing Circa Survive play almost every night; they were just really nice guys and a remarkable band."

Wright continues, "The album tour runs basically through all of March, and it's going to be really awesome. We will finally be able to play our new songs with full production, like getting keys out and so much more. We have never done that before, and it means a lot more responsibility for me so I'm kind of nervous, I'll be playing guitar, obviously fronting and playing keys. But I can't wait. I hope everybody buys the record."

Will Oakeshott

The Getaway Plan play at Fowler's Live on Sun 16 Mar.

'Other Rooms, Other Voices' is out now on Boomtown.