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We’re excited to be speaking today with acclaimed UK pop punkers STAY SAFE; greetings and salutations, gang! Before we dive into the proverbial Q&A mosh-pit, could you each say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive readers?
Hello hello- I’m Chris, guitarist & general band Mum- I’ve been playing music for pretty much most of my life- stoked to be talking about our upcoming release next to me, super personal track for me this one, so well excited to share it with you all!
Hi, I’m Lee. Drummer and jokingly nicknamed “daddy lee”. This is my favourite track so far and I hope you all like it.
Hi, I’m Jack, I’m more likely to make you laugh than impress you with my guitar skills! We are super proud of this one and can’t wait for you all to hear it!
Yoo, I’m Joe, lead singer and front man. Small in stature, big in personality! Love sharing the stage with these Kings and sharing our music with you.
I’m Scott, the bassist and semi-pro triangle player. Next To Me is my favourite Stay Safe song so far – I’ve been buzzing about the release day for months now.
Major congratulations on the brilliant new single Next To Me which is set to premiere on July 21! Joe, what’s the story behind this amazing new tune and what made it the best choice of song to release as a single?
Thank you so much! The story behind this song isn’t actually our story per se. Following on from Chris’ answer above its actually a very personal song about his relationship with his fiancé and gives an insight into the early stages of their relationship. They are getting married later on this year and what better way to celebrate that love than to immortalise their story in a song. The lads and I love them both and it was a very easy decision to make this the next single in our journey and with a new producer too. The best thing is that although it’s personal for one of the lads, it’s relatable to many who have a special person in their life.
Chris, who was the producer on Next To Me and what did the collaboration between band and producer look like in the studio?
Alex Copp! He’s worked with bands like As December Falls & Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes and now us! Alex is an absolute legend- this was our first single working with him, and we’re so chuffed with the work he’s done with it. We tracked all the guitars at my house, so Jack & Scott just came and spent a day tightening up all the lines. Lee did all the drums via a few Zoom calls with Alex as they’re all MIDI on the record. Then vocals we all went and piled into Joe’s recording room and spent the day with Alex tracking. It was a great process across the board- because we all work full time alongside Stay Safe, finding a process that means we can get really high quality tracks without taking weeks off work is unreal.
Jack, in your humble opinion, what differentiates Next To Me from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music scene?
For me I feel the songs simplicity is what really helps it stand out. The whole idea is based around such a common human interaction that when you take the time to listen to the lyrics or even see the video, it’s going to remind the listener just how lucky they are to have the people they love around them. The way the song does this so naturally puts the listener in the driver’s seat and really helps to make what is an everyday experience feel personal and relatable to whoever’s listening. For me that is what will separate our song from others as well as making it memorable.
Lee, on the heels of the July 21 release of Next To Me, can fans look forward to an EP or LP release from STAY SAFE before the end of the year?
Unfortunately, not. We decided together that after the release of our 1st EP Power Chords and Nursery Rhymes last year that we should do single releases for a while. With us being 100% self-funded it will allow us to commit more money into each song release as it comes i.e. production, video, and marketing rather than a softer release of many songs. This also benefits us time management wise as we all work full time jobs to focus on one song at a time, with a few extra bits in the background of course.
Scott, what does the touring/performing dance card for the band look like in the coming weeks and months?
It’s going to be a busy couple of months for us! We’re really excited to play with our friends Northbound & Down on Saturday for their album release show this weekend (check out their song Nostalgic). Then we’ve got a couple of Stay Safe firsts in August; we’re going on tour and playing Brighton (24th @ The Brunswick), London (25th @ Hope & Anchor) and Nottingham (26th @ The Chameleon) all for the first time, if you’re free it’d be great to see you there!
A question for all of you: Who inspires you musically?
Chris: Oof, tough question- as a guitarist, seeing people like Tim Henson is nuts, I don’t even understand how people get that amazing at an instrument so that’s always a good reminder to put more effort into practicing. As a songwriter, I love James Veck-Gilodi from Deaf Havana, he really brings such a personal, intimate feeling to tracks, but still keeping those hooks that appeal to everyone, something I really aim for us to do in Stay Safe
Joe: I definitely have a lighter taste than the rest of the lads. As a singer I lean more towards songs I can sing along to (I’m not a screamer). I feel I’m stuck somewhere in the mid-00s. That being said I’m a big fan of state champs and neck deep and would like to think we can slip somewhere into that space.
Scott: Oh definitely Leyland, far too modest, patience of a saint and the only lead guitarist you ever have to tell to turn themselves up. But of four-string fame, it’s gotta be Mike Dirnt of Green Day, John Entwistle from The Who and Ryan Scott Graham from State Champs – I’d love be a half as good as any one of them.
Lee: My first inspiration was Travis like many others which is a boring answer and of course Joey (R.I.P). However, for a long time Omar Abidi from Fightstar was a massive inspiration, his power and control were something I loved from the big man. Nowadays there are alot of of great drummers out there for all to see however Chris Turner is doing wonders for modern rock drumming right now so I’d say it has to be him at the moment.
Jack: This is a tough one for me as there are so many incredible musicians I look up to, but after a lot of thought and taking it all the way back to how I got into the music I like and the real reason I play guitar, I have to say my dad. I’ll never forget listening to him play as a kid and pestering him to have a turn, it was the coolest thing in the world to me and I always thought to myself, I hope I can play like he does some day.
Joe, how is Next To Me similar to such past Stay Safe efforts as Goosebumps? How is it different?
It’s similar in the sense that you can instantly recognise it as a stay safe song, but the difference is that we have grown so much as a band and as people in the very short time we’ve been playing together and that reflects in our more recent tracks. Next to me shows that the songs haven’t dried up after the first EP, in fact, we believe the best is yet to come.
Chris, how did STAY SAFE come together as the super-tight band which we hear on the new single? Is there a VH1-Behind the Music origin story you could share with readers?
Hahaha! I love this question, I feel like this should be intercut with childhood photos of us- So originally me, Joe & some mates played a few cover tracks together with him on drums when we were like 13, then we ended up booting him out for Lee and we then played in a few bands together till we were like 17. Life got in the way for a bit till about 12 years later in 2019 when me and Lee got together to play some covers and just hang out, then the whole world shut down for a few years, so we just used the time to write material and learn more about how to track remotely. We decided to start taking it a bit more seriously at that point, Lee recruited Joe in as our vocalist and Jack in as rhythm guitars. We did originally have a different bassist who couldn’t really commit the time so that’s when I roped Scott in after chatting with him about music when we worked together! Then things just immediately clicked on the first practice in mid 2021!
Jack, STAY SAFE has roots in both Leeds and Bolton. How do those roots inform the sound of the band?
Being fairly far apart from each other didn’t cause us many issues with the band starting in lockdown as a fun project to keep us creative. By the time we could get together and play we were used to writing and discussing ideas over videos chats and little recorded snippets. I personally feel like it was the perfect way for us to start, when we did get together for our first practice we had a good idea of what we were working on and mixing that with the natural progression that playing together brings, it brought us the sound we create today. Another positive from being from these two places is that Leeds and the Bolton/Manchester area both have huge music scenes and give us the opportunity to play two home town shows to some of the best crowds you could ask for! We wouldn’t have it any other way!
Lee, at the end of the day what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving many-a spin to Next To Me?
As the lyrics are self-portraying. I would say that listeners should walk away with the feeling that love can spring from any situation, it really doesn’t matter. The base of the song was written by Chris about himself and his soon-to-be wife in the early stages of their relationship. It’s got true meaning behind this one.
Scott, was it as much fun for the band to make the music video for Next To Me as it was for us to watch it?
Thank you so much, it was so much fun to make, it was an awesome day in Llandudno. So far we’ve had great luck whenever we’ve pitched up to do a music video in the past, but I think we were extra lucky this time – Paul and his team at Llandudno Pier were super accommodating and we must have had some of the best weather North Wales has ever seen in March. It was our first time introducing some narrative into our music video, with Harry (Jack’s brother) calling us in his hour of need, about to embark on the most important date of his life and asking us for help to make sure nothing went wrong. It wouldn’t have been possible without Ste Midgley, our videographer – he’s not only produced a video we’re all super proud of, but made the day incredibly fun, whilst keeping a group of hyperactive 30 year old men focused for an entire day and making sure we got all the shots we needed for the video.
… also, if there’s any band that goes harder on the recorder OR the triangle, we need to know.
Pre-save ‘Next To Me’ – https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/staysafe4/next-to-me
For music links, see https://open.spotify.com/artist/1oD4XIPQaOEtcWpuWGQJ4f
For more show updates, see: https://www.facebook.com/staysafe.poppunk & https://www.instagram.com/staysafeofficialuk/
