by Kenneth Morton

Get In The Van! is a melodic rock band based out of Northern California who would find themselves right at home with the Drive Thru or Fearless roster of talent. Consisting of Ryan on vocals and rhythm guitar, Matt on guitar, Greg on bass, Joel on drums, and new member Mike on guitar, GITV! is gaining quite a fan following due to their energetic live shows, memorable tunes, and Myspace presence. We recently spoke with vocalist Ryan to learn more about this exciting up and coming band – unsigned for now, but probably not for long… (Editors Note: This web edition is slightly longer than the magazine version.)

Is there any story behind the band name Get In The Van!?
Actually, we were in the studio and we had this finished product – we were about to go to LA to master it and we realized we still really didn’t have a name for the band. We went through a few days where everybody was just throwing out band names. We had a few where everybody was trying to be real serious and they all just kind of sucked. And Matt made this joke on this first day and he was like, “We should be really creepy and be called Get In The Van!” And everybody was like “No!” It was too creepy – too scary – that we should be an explanation point at the end at it would be like really funny. It was kind of like an inside joke for us while we were trying to come up with names for the rest of the month. And we thought about it more – it fit us because we were just kind of kids joking around and it ended up working for us.

What city are you guys from and are there a lot of places for your band to play there?
We are from Walnut Creek, California – up in North California. We’re about half an hour east of San Francisco. And there aren’t too many places in San Francisco in the East Bay to play – maybe there’s two venues and they’re kind of sketchy to play. Obviously in the city there’s some good places to play once you get a little more notoriety. But as a band coming up and trying to build a name for themselves, it’s really hard to find places to do that.

Are you guys all out of High School now and have time to devote to the band?
Yeah, we’ve all graduated out of High School. I devote pretty much all of my time towards writing the new album and recording demos and all that. Pretty much everybody is still going to school – going to college at the moment – just because the new album isn’t anywhere near done yet, we don’t really have too much of an income. Because of everybody at school, we’re all pretty much spread out evenly throughout California. Right now, I pretty much spend four-five days a week traveling up and down California getting to everybody and writing with everybody.

That must be a lot of pressure on you, trying to come up with everything.
Yeah, it’s kind of a lot of pressure but at the same time if I just look at it, there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing than try to make this work and try to write the best songs that I can. It’s definitely not just an effort by me. Our guitar player Matt writes a lot of great stuff – and we actually just added a guitar member Mike, who had a solo project for a while. He’s helping out a lot too. It’s really just a complete collaborative effort between everybody. Usually I’ll bring something to the table; but by the time we get done with it, everybody will have changed it enough where it doesn’t even resemble what I came up with.

Let’s talk about the songs on the EP. What inspired you to write the lyrics on And You Can Quote Me?
The whole EP, if you listen to it from beginning to end – and I actually didn’t realize this until after we put the track listing together. I wrote them pretty much in the order that they appeared – with the exception of Sweeter Dreams. But that one is kind of about the drive home after a breakup or an ending of a relationship. In the song, it’s obviously about a girl – a significant other person – or you could look at it like a friendship as well. But it’s just kind of the initial aftershock of kind of depression, but at the same time you’re a lot better off now anyway – but it’s kind of rough. The EP kind of came in the wake of a personal relationship of mine ending. I find it’s the best motivation or the best way to write.

It seems like no one can ever write when they’re happy…
Yeah, I can’t do it. After we released the EP, I got a new girlfriend and was super happy – and I was not writing songs at all. And a couple months ago, I went through an incredibly bad breakup – and now it’s kind of laying the foundation for this album. So if you need to write an album, just start breaking up with people and stop talking to friends. (Much laughter)

How do the new songs you are writing compare to the songs on the EP?
I think I speak for pretty much everybody. When I look back at the EP, it was the best effort we could put out at the time. But now with these new songs and the depth of them intellectually, emotionally and musically as well – we can’t wait to get all that stuff out there and kind of push the EP out of the picture and get this new album out. I think we’ve definitely grown a lot. I’m really proud of how it’s looking right now.

Why should someone rush over to your Myspace page right now and check out your band?
I think people should rush over there and check us out – I mean I know us – I know the rest of the guys in our band and I don’t think we’re gonna settle or call it quits anytime soon. We’re definitely going to keep working the new songs. People should just check out an underground band that hopefully will have a bigger name in the near future. They’re welcome to talk to us – we talk to everybody who contacts us. Give us a holler – if worse comes to worse we’ll just have a nice conversation. And if we do get big – hell, we’ll give you free stuff!

Get In The Van! links

Get In The Van! on Myspace: The Official Myspace Page for Get In The Van!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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