Ever wondered what it would be like to be in the shoes of a glamorous female vocalist covering songs by Jessie J, Adele and the like? Or a drummer to the beats of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam? How about jamming with a guitarist and bassist to the tunes of Jimi Hendrix? Here The Get Ups give us an inside look to their lives as a band performing at a popular capital venue.
The Get Ups is made up of Anna Radford 23, John Crick 25, Bic Eccles 28 and George Say 24, all of them from the United Kingdom who’ve been playing together for just under a year.
As the only female in the group, and the lead vocalist of the band Anna Radford says she never thinks of her role as special but once you meet her you can tell she is a confident woman with an incredible voice and a passion for singing. She comes from a musical oriented family and they are constantly supportive of her career move, “When the opportunity came up to move to Abu Dhabi to be the singer in a band and get paid for the luxury, I jumped at the chance! Who wouldn’t!?” says Anna.
Being the lead singer also come with a huge amount of responsibilities such as putting up a great set list, which she never fails to do, and also engaging the crowd and putting on a show. When asked how it feels to be the only woman she said “It’s great! Makes me feel important! And the guys make it really enjoyable on stage.”
Starting young
Then there’s John Crick, the guitarist of The Get Ups who plays both electric and acoustic guitar (which he has named Taylor) who swaps between the two guitars to mix things up a bit. He got his first guitar when he was 14, “I still have it at home and it has served me ridiculously well although I’m regretting some of the stickers I put on it as a teenager! I didn’t name it, and that’s just plain weird.”
He talks of some of the challenges he’s had when learning to play. “I think the hardest parts are the boring technical exercises that you have to do to develop your technique! It’s not always fun, but is very important… like recycling.”
Energy and Buzz
Bic Eccles is the bassist of the band. He says he likes performing at Porters because of its energy during the weekends and the weekdays. He explained that he gets his energy from the food that he eats. “Seriously though, when the audience are buzzing and having a good night, you feed off them and give them a better show. There’s a definite to-and-fro of energy between a band and the audience.”
Bic says his inspiration comes from his lecturers at university; they were the ones that helped to shape him into a ‘fun loving and energetic bassist’. “Other than that, my inspiration would have to be any amazing musician that is producing good music. There are a lot of them to pick from, so I won’t single any out!”
Keeping the Beat
The person that keeps the tempo of the band comes on is George Say, the drummer who also supports in vocals. He says he never sang in front of anyone before coming to Abu Dhabi, “The very thought of singing in front of people terrified me!” He says as a drummer being able to simply sit back, bang on some beats and enjoy the vibrant crowd is the best thing, “The crowd and vibe varies. At the weekend it’s a brilliant crowd. There’s a unique vibe and it feels good playing to an audience who appreciates you! During the weeknights the crowd is much more chilled out.”
The Get Ups perform every day except Sundays at Porters, Grand Millennium Al Wahda. For more information, call +971 2 495 3935 or visit http://www.millenniumhotels.ae/grandmillenniumalwahda and email your queries to porters@grandmill-alwahda.com
Anna- Put yourself out there, take risks and don’t give up!
John- I started writing songs as soon as I started playing. It helps because you find yourself playing a lot.
George- The drums are the best instrument on the stage! Nothing looks better than an acoustic drum kit. Go for it and make sure you practice to reap the benefits.
Bic- Dedication, practice and perseverance. If you pit the time in, you will get the results you want.
By Angeli Castillo
