Forming while the members all attended Sandringham College in the southern beachside suburbs of Melbourne, The Getaway Plan rose quickly from a band inspired by the dynamic Melbourne alt-rock scene around them, to a source of inspiration for bands even younger than them.
It’s not hard to see why, seemingly nothing can kill the band. They have a Keith Richards-like immortality, having weathered a two-year breakup, member departures, various personal obstacles, and almost five years without a record release, which recently culminated in their third LP, Dark Horses, out 3rd July.
One thing has remained constant throughout that time, the music. To get the skinny on just how The Getaway Plan make their particular brand of Melbourne alternative rock, we caught up with guitarist Clint Ellis to find out the guitar gear The Getaway Plan couldn’t live without.
Back To Basics
If I had to tour in a small car and could only bring two or three pieces of equipment with me, at the moment it’d have to be my Framus AK74 and Axe FX. Those are indispensable in my current touring rig. I’d just need to borrow a few leads and I’d be set!
Evolution
I’ve always been using the same guitars, but the biggest evolution would be my amp setup. I’m using an Axe FX with a power amp instead of the Hughes and Kettner Triamp. I’ve been using the H&K my whole touring life and it was hard to part ways, but the Axe FX interests me, and I wanna see how far I can take it. Other then that, I’ve de-evolved from a wireless back to a lead.
Hitting The Studio
Well, I was using the Axe in the studio first, so all the sounds were created when we were recording our latest record, Dark Horses. I wanted to see how it’d go live, and so far I’m loving it.
I have all the sounds from the studio in my live rig. There’s some tweaking here and there, but there’s little effort involved when it comes to being in and out of a studio.
Back In The Day
My first guitar was a Tiesco Strat copy that one of my dad’s friends let me use, but my first guitar that I owned was a Sammick Strat copy. My first amp was a Fender Frontman combo.
I gigged with that combo for ages! I had absolutely no understanding of gear at that point. I thought amp heads had speakers in them and the cab was just for more power.
Gear vs Song
For me, the gear I’m using is a big influence on the song. I find it makes it easier if I have all the tools at my disposal and a bunch of different sounds to mess with. I’m sure I could write with whatever I had, but I’m big on experimenting with sounds and letting them influence the final parts.
Saving Yourself
I think there is probably an overemphasis on gear with younger players, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. When I was starting out, I had a real hard time trying to keep up with other guitarists who were all about shredding and sweep picking.
I just couldn’t keep up and was questioning whether I’d ever be “good”. Collecting gear and experimenting with sounds was my saviour, I spent so much time messing with delays, reverbs, and loops and that’s when I started to develop my own sound and everything I played and wrote became so much more gratifying.
Getting Weird
Seymour Duncan gave me an overdrive pedal called the Twin Tube Mayhem. It was really heavy and had real tubes inside to give it that warmth. It served a purpose at the time, but the weight of the thing was too much in comparison to similar pedals. It was always the pedal people would ask me about when they saw my board though.
I don’t have anything that’s too obscure, although I do have a Kaoss pad. I actually used it on a tour once to manipulate Matts vocals in an extended bridge we did. Those things are great! Oh, I also have a Bogner Shiva that sounds amazing, I’m surprised I don’t see those amps at shows, the tone is crazy good.
Ol’ Reliable
The oldest piece of gear in my rig is my Hughes and Kettner cab. It was the first cab I ever bought and I still use it live whenever I’m able. It has greenbacks in it, and the sound you get for big lead tones is huge. Absolutely love it!
The Board
At the moment, my pedal board is just the MFC-101 which controls the Axe FX, than I have an expression pedal, tuner, and a noise suppressor. I plan on getting the Whammy back in there sometime soon, but nothing too obscure. All the crazy stuff is happening inside the axe, so this keeps my pedal board pretty chill.
Solving Problems
The noise suppressor is a consistent problem solver for sure. It’s good just to have in case something is misbehaving or acting weird. You never know if the power at a venue is dodgy and that can add noise to your your signal, so having something to keep noise down is a good option and avoids any squeaks or hums during your set.
The Getaway Plan’s highly anticipated third studio album, ‘Dark Horse’, is out Friday, 3rd July.
Upcoming Tour Dates
Thursday September 3 – Small Ballroom, Newcastle
Friday September 4 – Baker Street, Gosford
Saturday September 5 – Studio Six, Sutherland
Thursday September 10 – Wollonong Uni, Wollongong
Friday September 11 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Saturday September 12 – Transit Bar, Canberra
Friday September 18 – The Gapview Hotel, Alice Springs
Saturday September 19 – Railway Club, Darwin
Wednesday September 23 – Dalrymple Hotel, Townsville
Thursday September 24 – Magnums, Airline Beach
Friday September 25 – Villa Noosa, Noosaville
Saturday September 26 – Parkwood Tavern, Gold Coast
Thursday October 1 – Racehorse Hotel, Ipswich
Saturday October 3 – Spotted Cow, Toowoomba
Saturday October 17 – Riverview Hotel, Tarwin Lower
Thursday October 29 – Werribee Plaza Hotel, Werribee
Friday October 30 – Chelsea Heights Hotel, Chelsea Heights
Saturday October 31 – Workers Club, Geelong
Friday November 6 – Club 54, Launceston
Friday November 13 – Hallam Hotel, Hallam
Saturday November 14 – Commercial Hotel, South Morang
Tickets and info at www.thegetawayplan.com
