The Mission In Motion

Sydney’s The Mission In Motion are shaping up to be one of Australia’s most exciting new acts and hottest musical exports. The guys have just released their third record “Somewhere Safe” and are about to embark on a national tour with Valencia. We caught up with TMIM’s singer Brett to talk comic books, Saves The Day and the trials and tribulations of being in a band.

Hey dude, please start out by telling us your name, what you do in The Mission In Motion and your favourite thing to do on the weekend.

My name is Brett, I sing and my favourite thing to do on the weekend is to read comic books.

What are the band’s main musical (or other) influences?

I think we all have very different influences these days, when we first started the band we played together because we all had a mutual love of the type of music we play and while we still have that we have definitely grown up and our musical tastes have broadened so of course the product of that is our influences have also changed which is a great thing because we can explore different things within our songs.

You guys have been together for a while now, how did the idea for the band come about?

We had all played in different bands growing up, once those bands had finished up Far came to me with a few song ideas that he wanted me to sing on we really liked working together and we put the rest of the guys together from people we knew we wanted to play with.

The band released your third record “Somewhere Safe” in July, how did the recording process compare with that of previous releases?

It was a lot longer, a lot more hardwork, a lot more perseverence. We spent SO much time concentrating on every aspect of every song making sure it sounded right and that what we wanted to say was coming across as clear as we could put it and i think we acheived that, it is definitely the biggest thing any of us have accomplished and we are super proud of it.

How have you found the response to the new material so far from fans or critics?

Overall I think the record had a warm welcome, some critics didn't love it but thats the beauty of opinion you like what you like. Everyone who was already into our band seemed to really love the record and we have picked up a bunch of new listeners from having the record out which is something we are so happy about.

As Sydney boys presumably you get the warmest welcome from the home crowd. Well travelled of the Australian continent as you are, how do you find reactions from crowds across the country?

It honestly seems to differ from tour to tour, sometimes we will have a great show in Melbourne but Adelaide wont be so great the next time it's vice versa and there are so many deciding factors into what makes a great crowd. But this year we have been getting a great response everywhere we have been going so we couldnt ask for much more we feel very lucky.

The band has had some pretty cool opportunities to tour with some influential international acts including Senses Fail and Scary Kids, Scaring Kids. Not to mention your stint headlining that festival in Singapore! What’s been your best tour memory thus far?

I think its all been one big great memory, for me my favourite tour memory will always be sitting in the studio and watching Kenny Vasoli track his part on our record. He was such a great guy and influenced all of us so much when we were younger and to find out he was one of the kindest most creative people we have ever encountered is definitely been a massive highlight of this band for us.

What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to The Mission In Motion?

Just one? (laughs) There has been plenty, we have crashed vans, had gear stolen, got caught in mini riot involving pepper spray in Melbourne. There has been a lot but I think all that stuff happened early on now when it happens we are kind of used to things going wrong so its not as eventful as the first few times things happened to us hahaha.

Often the local alternative scene seems dominated by hardcore and metal, do you guys ever feel a little alienated in Australia coming from a more melodic, pop rock background?

I guess sometimes, but at the same time we dont really pay attention to what every other band is doing unless they are bands we are interested in or love. Music will always go in waves of what is popular and what isn't, and I think we take pride in the fact that we dont change our sound to what is current or what is supposed to be relevant in music at this point in time. It's a new thing every week and we dont want to be people who change who we are and what we are just because that is what everyone else is doing.

Always an interesting question, what does the band tend to rock while in the tour van?

Oh that's like the hardest question to ask me! We usually go off our tour manager's iPod because it has everything but at any given time you could hear anything in our van from Tom Petty to Pantera to Girl Talk to Saves the Day to Fleetwood Mac. When you have 6 people in a van who all have different music tastes it is always a pretty eclectic mix of music playing. And we love it that way cause one of us will always get shown a band we hadnt heard before so we take it as time to find new music.

Other than the upcoming national tour with Valencia, what does the future hold for The Mission In Motion?

We are going to take December off and recharge our batteries and then come January we are going back on the road and we will continue to tour until everyone is sick of us and then we will start writing a new record.

Thanks a bunch mate! See you sometime in November!

Thank you very much for having me, cheers dude.