Mission In Motion have dropped their debut album Somewhere Safe and are about to hit the road touring with Senses Fail and then backing up straight after with Scary Kids Scaring Kids. Brett Islaub took time out preparing for the tour to tell us about the album, touring and being mistaken for a woman.
MF: The first single New Skin is out and the album is due soon; what can fans expect from the record?
BI: The album is actually out as of last week, which is great because we worked on it for a year and a half so it’s cool to finally be able to show people. I think anyone who has heard our band prior to this release can expect a bit more diversity on this record. We still sound like us but we have tried a lot of different things that we haven’t ever tried. The influences just came from everywhere on this record so I think the songs have definitely gotten a big progression from previous releases/songs because of those reasons.
MF: You’re about to hit the road with Senses Fail and then Scary Kids Scaring Kids; how did those support slots come about?
BI: Our manager and booking agent had submitted us for both tours and it just turned out we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to do both of them. We haven’t been on tour for a few months so we are lucky enough to get to go back on the road, but we are also lucky to go out with two pretty well known bands that will hopefully help us to promote this new record and show our music to people who might not have heard us before. Also, a lot of the opening bands in each state of the tours are really good friends of ours so it will be good to head out and watch friends play and meet new people. We are really looking forward to it.
MF: Now’s the time we start leading into summer festival season; what shows are you playing/hoping to play?
BI: We would love to play Homebake. It’s just a really great, iconic Australian festival and I think we would all feel really proud to be able to play it.
MF: What albums are getting the most plays at the moment?
BI: At the moment I have just (finally) pulled Band of Horses – Infinite Arms out of rotation, that is such a good album. I am listening to Steel Train’s self titled album a lot also and Local Natives are getting a solid working, they have such good harmonies and that song Shape Shifter – wow.
MF: Touring will always bring out bad habits; who has the worst habit in the band?
BI: Everyone always says me. Always. I can be pretty slack on the whole ‘loading’ aspect of being in a touring band hahaha. Rohan our bass player and I also have tendencies to talk about things that interest no one but us.
MF: We’re in the midst of an election, if Mission In Motion were a political party, what would be your campaign slogan?
BI: I could not come up with a single answer for this question so I put it to the band’s Twitter/Facebook followers and here are a few I got back:
‘The Mission In Motion – Tighter than Tony Abbott’s speedo’s’
‘Let’s put this mission in motion and move Australia forward’
‘The Mission In Motion – Drop Beatz not bombs’
‘The Mission we currently have in motion is to keep you all Somewhere Safe’
MF: What’s an interesting fact about the band the kids might not know about?
BI: I was once mistaken for a girl in a truck stop bathroom at 2 am on the way to Melbourne. I was walking out, an older gentleman was walking in and he looked up at me completely shocked and said “Oh sorry love, is this the woman’s?” I just shook my head, kept walking and stupidly told the entire band about it, which of course I have never lived down.
MF: What would be the first song you would put on a mix tape?
BI: If it were for a girl? Hmmm, I would go with Here Comes My Girl By Tom Petty OR She’s Just That Kinda Girl by Lucero.
Mission in Motion play with Senses Fail at The Factory in Marrickville this Saturday 14th August. New album Somewhere Safe is out now through Taperjean/Shock records.
