“She’s So Sad”

On The Safes‘ Facebook page, the Chicago-based trio describe themselves is described as “pop tunesmiths who play with punk rock intensity”(Go Metric). After a brief listen to the song and “She’s So Sad” above, it’s hard not to agree with them. Consisting of core members (and brothers) Frankie and Patrick O’Malley who switch off on guitars, drums, and vocals, the band now includes third member Patrick Mangan on bass and vocals. I spoke to Frankie O’Malley on the phone this weekend, and we chatted about the differences between playing with family versus friends, the band’s extensive back catalogue, and how the road has become as much of a home as any.

Laurel Kathleen: What’s your band dynamic like? Is the other Patrick like the third O’Malley brother?

Frankie O’Malley: Well he’s our cousin, actually. My brother Michael was the originally bass player and so when he got married and started his family, Patrick was finishing college and wanted to be in our band and join as a drummer, but we were like “How about bass?” and he was like “Hell yeah!” It was like, the smoothest transition in the world. His other bands and our bands were together. So when Michael was like, “I can’t do the road anymore” it was just a natural transition.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Ballantyne

LK: What’s the difference between playing with family members versus friends?

FO: There’s certain chemistry with playing with family. But we all grew up playing with other musicians. So all of us have been very busy throughout our entire lives and playing with other people is never a problem. Me and my brother have been in various other bands. We had Kathleen Wilson from Thee Lexington Arrows sang on our last album, and it was great. Playing and working with people outside of the band, additional musicians and we’ll have nieces and nephews, and our dad played some saxophone on this record and some previous records. We’d have our entire family playing, and our bass player’s sister is playing harp on this record. We always kind of mix it up. The other thing is, we’ve had various drummers and the lineup has changed a bit. Me and Patrick have always been core members, but the rest of the lineup has changed over the years.

LK: How do you keep it fresh after more than seven years?

FO: Well we’re always writing new songs so that helps: always working on new material. That’s really it. I mean, me and Patrick write so many songs, people want to hear songs they’ve already heard from the CD’s. But then by the time the next record comes out, they’ll know those new songs which is beneficial. The other night I dumped 11 songs out of my 8tracks into ProTools. We’ve got a catalog of like, eight fully demoed albums even though we’ve only released three.

LK: What prompted the band’s recent visit to a recording studio in Detroit?

FO: We had recorded our first EP there with Jim Diamond who’s done a bunch of really great records. He came out to see us at South by Southwest, and he had been messaging us about coming back. He’s one of the best recording engineers in the world and we had always talked about going back there, and last year when we came back there he was like “Dude I’m serious, I really want to record you guys again” and he’s worked on so many great records, and he works so fast! The results are…I can send you a copy of the record. This’ll be our third LP though we have six official releases. But we’re working on artwork and music videos at the same time.

LK: When’s your next show?

FO: July 8^th at Frank’s Power Plant in Milwaukee,  July 9^th at High Noon Saloon in Madison, July 23^rd in Galena, Illinois.

LK: Who have you been really getting into lately? Anyone in Chicago specifically?

FO: Yeah, we always like to play with The Danvilles and Thee Lexington Arrows… there are so many bands! That’s the thing: once you start naming bands I don’t want to leave anyone out! We did a week with Thee Lexington Arrows on our last tour. You know, they’re always a great group to hang out with. Our Merrifield 7” was a split with them. They recorded one of our songs, and then we recorded one of theirs, and then we each did an original. It was a great experience. Patrick’s actually going out to DC this summer to help them produce their record.

LK: What happens when you have to work with people you don’t quite fit with?

FO: We’ve done recording sessions that we’ve had to throw away because they ended up sounding terrible, because people were stubborn and wouldn’t take our advice on how to mix. Usually we’d just play it cool and eat it. Basically, you just stop working with someone who doesn’t work with you. You want the best results for your art, and sometimes when you work with people it doesn’t mesh right. It’s very much like friendship, being in a relationship, work. Not everything is a perfect match, and when that happens we just try to keep it cool and move on.

LK: Are audiences always less appreciative outside your hometown?

FO: Equally appreciative. In Chicago, we tend to have more close family and friends. Although at this point, we’ve been touring so much we have a close friend everywhere. Pretty much, playing anywhere is equal for us because we’ve played so much. Over 100 cities, 37 states? We’ve been averaging 60-70 shows per year.

LK: Any favorites come to mind?

FO: We have several second hometowns. We love Baltimore, DC, Boston, Philly, KC, and St. Louis and Austin Texas, Oklahoma City, San Francisco…those are just a few we’ve repeated. Houston I forgot! There are so many when I think about the friends we’ve become close with. Whenever we show up in those towns, there are people that look forward to seeing us and telling our friends and spreading the world. So there are a lot of…second place towns (laughs). And I’m forgetting some too! We’re very lucky; we have a lot of people who take us under their wing and we’ll go play somewhere and make friends, and they’ll be very receptive and enthusiastic about having us back. We’ve developed good fan bases around continuously touring. It’s almost like, being on the road is like home at this point.

LK: What’s one thing in the music industry you’d like to see more or less of?

FO: For the general public to start buying recorded music again.

LK: What do you think would prompt a return to that?

FO: People paying for downloads, whatever is legitimate. Buying CDs and records. We sell as many vinyl records as we do CDs now at shows and through our website. Digital downloads, that counts. A sale is a sale.

If you’re in the upper midwest this week, catch The Safes in Milwaulkee at Frank’s Power Plant on the 8th or in Madison at the High Noon Saloon on the 9th.  For more information on their upcoming tour dates and album releases, please visit their website or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.