When My Getaway came by the Billboard studios late last year to record an acoustic version of its track “Heart Attack,” the five-piece was also prepping for its BMI Artist of the Month showcase at New York’s Annex. Earlier in the year, the band had hit the road with the Vans Warped tour, its second stint with the roving punk/rock festival. The group scored the honors the year before by tallying the most votes at Ernie Ball’s online battle of the bands contest.
The videos posted on My Getaway’s MySpace site are full of dick jokes, physical torture, a spoof on “Permanent Ink,” semi-nudity and hijinks at Burger King. They’re laugh-out-loud hilarious, fit for just about any other 18- to 21-year-old’s social networking repertoire, if only the band’s outstanding pop-punk tracks weren’t so distracting.
The songs—and the interpersonal rapport—are bred from a six-year friendship among singer John Russo, bassist Wade Graham, drummer Alex Dumas and guitarists Josh Cobb and John Brian. “We’re like brothers. We had a house together for a year and spent every day just practicing and recording,” Dumas says.
Growing up in central Florida and honing its craft in Jacksonville, this young act has steadily built a loving, mostly underage fan base around its home state. The band recently set off from Florida to California in one long shot to open for Beat Union and Goldfinger. My Getaway has also supported acts like Brand New, Senses Fail and the Starting Line.
The group plans to hit the road for an East Coast tour this September, after making more headway on a new album. A lone prior EP was released in 2004.
“We’ve really grown a lot since then, so I can’t say it’s representative of what we are now,” Dumas says, but adds that the band is always posting new singles to MySpace as they come.
