August 2019
Here's where you can see/hear the first single and music video for
the 1st track off of Winning Combination: "It's
True" music video directed by our pals
Baby Pony Food Productions premiered on the
405
The Safes new album Winning Combination will be released on with
Action
Weekend Records and Bickerton
Records - LP/CD/Digital
Can't wait to share this album with you all!
July 2019
now look at you
Designing new t-shirts for our upcoming tour dates in the late summer,
fall and early winter
Just approved the LP & CD art and mastered album with Blaise Barton
at JoyRide Studio
June 2019
It's been a wild ride...
Finalizing the LP & CD art mock up, gonna have a true professional
and gentleman at X10 to
do the heavy lifting
The album is getting mastered and those videos for "It's True"
and "On Top" are nearly done.
May 2019
FWD, TTT new jams, tracks 1 and 2 or 2 and 1
we're on top of the world
April 2019
ahhhh lunesta
March 2019
midi?
Just got a view of Baby Pony
Food's “It’s True” music video filmed in DC ! Kafka
gameshow wouldn't you know
February 2019
Buy Frankie's been busy minting out WMOL and RTD in his studio,
while Patrick has been doing some consulting work
Gathering up the premasters that'll soon be getting juiced up
January 2019
Busy mocking up LP5's album cover - looking like a classic....
December 2018
Happy holidays, we're working on a new lp for fall 2019, stay tuned
fam
November 2018
Playing live on Fox Morning for a segment with Brittany Payton and then
at night at Schubas with The Differents, Baby Money and The Marcatos
Working on video ideas for lp5
October 2018
From our American Laundromat Records tribute single, the James William
Glass video for our cover of Juliana Hatfield's pop hit "I
See You" at Big
Takeover
Did you see the cool music video directed by Wendy Norton of Norton
Videos for our Juliana Hatfield tribute single of her hit song "Universal
Heart-Beat" via Jedd Beaudoin and the fine folks at Popmatters
WOW!!!! Now we know what people are talking about. Well our first tour
of Spain was outrageous! 13 corner-to-corner shows. Where do we start???
So much fun! What a country.... great people, delicious food, music
lovers... Thanks to our record
labels, Action Weekend Records & Bickerton Records, especially Carlos
and Juanma for Everything with the 7' release and tour! And Dany Tores
our friend, booking agent and tour manager extraordinaire!!!
Gerrardo of Los Chicos, Wily in Barcelona and all the beautiful people
at the shows.
September 2018
First a Japanese tour that was life changing and now a tour of Spain
in September....So blessed! Our very first show is at the Xiria Pop
Festival in Carballo, shows in Madrid, Barcelona, Cáceres, Cantabria,
Granada!
Plus soon we'll be sharing the music videos and recordings for the Juliana
Hatfield songs we recorded for our upcoming 7" tribute album on
American Laundromat Records! They're
wicked- you're gonna love em too!
Wendy Norton created the "Universal Heart-Beat" music video
for us and our other friend James William Glass created the "I
See You" music video.
August 2018
Skokie Backlot Bash was a ton of fun! Thanks to everyone
involved and the people that enjoyed the festivities with us.
Now we're "fools for Skokie village"
The Safes 7" record on Bickerton
Records and Action
Weekend Records will be released Sept 14 in conjunction with our
tour of Spain! More details to come!!
July 2018
Happy to be part of Beach Blanket Blitzkreig #2 on the 4th of July
at Montrose Beach with our friends Black Cat Heart Attack, Van Go. So....
come on. Fireworks, Rock'n'roll, beach, waves...
Take it easy... next month a show with Foghat
June 2018
Our friends at Daykamp Creative designed the artwork for The Safes -
Tribute to Juliana Hatfield; it looks killer! Can't wait to share it
with you and our recordings
James William Glass has created another gem of a video for The Safes
rendition of "I See You" and Wendy Norton is working on a
stop-motion diddy for "Universal Heart-Beat"
May 2018
WI The Safes are coming for you with stacked shows: Friday 18th
in MKE with Cabin Esscence and DJ Daniel James of Indonesian Junk
Saturday May 19 in Madison with The Arkoffs and Small Mediums
Mixing the Juliana Hatfield tribute songs at Electrical Audio very
soon! We'll keep you posted.
April 2018
Can you believe this? On April 22nd, the O'Malleys were recording
two of our favorite (hard to pick just two) Juliana Hatfield hits -
"Universal Heart-Beat" & "I See You" - with
the slamming rhythm section of
Ted Ansani and Mike Zelenko of Material Issue inside Electrical Audio
with Steve Albini all on 2" tape for our upcoming @americanlaundromatrecords
7" double single tribute to incredible @julianahatfield !!!
To make it even more special, our great friend and remarkable artist
Nicole Anguish of Daykamp Creative is designing the artwork so you know
it's going to look stellar.
Let us tell you, it sounds amazing to our ears. This whole process of
getting to play Juliana's songs while sitting in the MI pocket (Ted
and Mike play like brothers - the telepathy and feel....)
has been a major thrill and honor for us. Thank you to everyone involved;
we still can't even believe this is real and look forward to sharing
more details over the next couple of months before the release.
Wanna hear some additional exciting
news? The Safes are thrilled to announce that we will be releasing a
7" record in Spain on Action Weekend Records and Bickerton Records
this fall!
Thanks to Carlos and Juanma for joining forces to make this happen.
More news on this soon!
March 2018
Japan you make dreams come true, thank you! What can top that? Arigato:
Toyozo, Chris Jack, PopNRoll Atsushi, Club Heavy Sick, The Fadeaways,The
Knocks, Car Crash, DJ Fumie, DJ Bisco, MELLVINS!, Everyone at Dream
on Records, Mule Team, DJ SxT, DJ Toyozo, Shotaro Ta2rou, Emilingo
at Green Apple, Gorilla*, Create Actions, Bobsleigh Trio, DJ Kame, Illustrator
Kame, DJ Chokkan, FiFi, Lesley and Jackie, Hokage, The Bryan, Koichiro
of Not Rebound, Onepercenters, Ax Little City & Construction Nine,
Ryota Suda of Nerd Magnet, Toru, Yoko, the fine folks at Bar Bassic,
The Routes, The Lovebites, Kurachi at Big Beat Records, Scott at Hidden
Volume Records, Rob Perry, Laurier and all our new friends in Tokyo,
Yokohama, Osaka, Fukuoka!!!
February 2018
Hot off the presses! How about this? Have you read The Safes feature
interview in Japan's largest English magazine, the Tokyo Weekender?
Please
check it out here! Thanks to Laurier Tiernan for the interview!
Thanks to Aaron over at 50THIRDAND3RD! Check out this cool interview
Frankie did with him about The Safes, working with Hidden Volume Records,
our upcoming tour of Japan, the Chicago scene, Vinyl and much much more,
like influences! You can read
the interview here!
Here is some Chicago love too! Please read this awesome interview Rachel
Zyzda of ANCHR Magazine did with Frankie about The Safes, making Tasty
Waves and our upcoming Tour in Japan! Check
it out here!
Boy Madison, WI you sure know how to
have some fun and throw a stellar bday bash for the incomprable Heather
Hussy! Thanks to our friends in The Hussy, Last Sons of Krypton, and
Psychic Drag and everyone that came out to celebrate Heather!
Order the Sea Blue &/or Electric Blue Tasty Waves LPs
at Hidden Volume
Or on iTunes & CD
January 2018
ALRIGHT TOKYO! ARE YOOUUU READY???!!! WILL YOU WELCOME HIDDEN VOLUME
RECORDING ARTIST THE SAFES!
The Safes couldn't be more thrilled about what we'll
be doing at the end of February 2018: a four city, 5-show Hidden Volume
Records tour of Japan! Stoked to be sharing the stage with our superstar
label mates The Fadeaways @fadeaways_toyozo + Gorilla @popnroll and
@theroutes!! Also very stoked to be playing in Osaka with The Bryan
and @dor_rec in Yokohama too! We are gonna try and break into Budakon
set up and play there too, ha! Maybe we'll get arrested and become famous
in Japan for that! Show dates and venues are on this awesome tour poster
designed by Scott at @hivorecords and Chris from the Routes! Thanks
dudes! And thank you to everyone at Hidden Volume and all these great
bands for making this all possible! People always say "Living the
dream" we actually mean it!
Plus, we actually have some additional very exciting
and big news to share soon! Please stand by for that, The Safes are
really stoked about that as well!
December 2017
Watch the Streets and Sanitation video directed by James William
Glass (PLRLS) !!!
Order the Sea Blue &/or Electric Blue Tasty Waves LPs
at Hidden Volume
Or on iTunes & CD
November 2017
Midwest and West coast we're coming for you - MO, OK, NM, AZ, CA,
NV, UT, CO, KS, NE, IA, IL...and playing with tons of great bands!
Check the shows page for all the rest of our
autumn Tasty Waves tour dates details
Order the Sea Blue &/or Electric Blue LPs at Hidden
Volume
Or order on iTunes & CD
October 2017
Be on the lookout for James William Glass (PLRLS) "Streets
and Sanitation" music video coming soon
Check out The Safes XPN
performance and feature on Eric Schulman's #IndieRockHitParade Friday
night show
Don't forget to relisten to The Safes on Joe Belock's WFMU's
3 Chord Monte show and his show every Monday noon to 3pm - rocknroll
people!!!
Read this awesome Tasty Waves review by Lord Rutledge at
Faster and Louder
Gander at this Columbus, OH show preview written by Joel Oliphint at
Columbus
Alive
Thanks to Kayla Carmichael at The
Corner Type for the feature and posting the "Hometown"
video
That's right The Safes Tasty Waves (Hidden Volume Records) is
at 46 on NACC charts! Thanks to all the stations, MDs, and DJs spinning
our record and all the listeners! Been on the charts for 7 weeks
Read a fun interview with Frankie O'Malley and Allen Halas at MKE's
Breaking
and Entering
Did you see Tim Hinely's Tasty Waves review at Daggerzine?
3Hive -Todd
"Chicago's The Safes play sugary-sweet garage pop tunes that are
a sure cure for any sour mood. Their new album, Tasty Waves, is 22 minutes
of warm, summery-pop bliss"
Poprockrecord says
about Tasty Waves and the band...
The Safes follow a familiar trajectory in band development, from raucus
rock and roll origins to a more refined sound as we get closer to the
present. “Deception” from 2006’s Well Well Well showcases
the fun, almost live feel of their early work. But fast forward to the
2013-16 period and the sound has shifted to more melody and harmony
on tracks like “Live Life Like You Want to Live” with its
almost plaintive single note piano solo. The basic elements are actually
all still there, they’ve just been rejigged in importance, as can
be seen from the great rock and roll guitar intro to “I Would Love
You,” which also features a distinctive keyboard solo, this time
on organ. Which brings us to the present and The Safes’ fabulous
new record Tasty Waves. Sounding like a more punky version of Apples
in Stereo, the band aces the first single and opening track “Hometown”
with its chiming guitar and swinging hookiness. Here comes a serious
ear worm infection! The whole album is pretty strong, though I’d
single out “Streets and Sanitation” for special mention with
its insistent strummy-ness, rumbly lead line and nice horn motifs.
Here's AbsolutePowerPop.Blogspot
Tasty Waves review from Oct 10:
The Safes-Tasty Waves. I've always enjoyed these unreconstructed power
poppers from Chicago, but their latest is a leap forward in songcraft
and their best to date. Reminiscent of The Lolas and other similar early
2000s bands, they also draw on influences such as Rockpile and Guided
by Voices to produce a bunch of quick-hitting melodic gems (no track
here tops the 3-minute mark). They're all fun, but special marks go
to "Hometown", "Crystal Ball", and "Mind of
its Own".
East coast we're coming for you riding
Tasty Waves and playing with tons of great bands and friends!
Check the shows page for all the Sept, Oct and
Nov tour dates details
Be on the lookout for us performing live on two killer radio station
WXPN in Philly and WFMU in NJ/NYC!!!
Order the Sea Blue &/or Electric Blue LPs at Hidden
Volume
Or order on iTunes & CD
September 2017
Thanks to Richard Milne for spinning us on WXRT Local Anesthetic,
WLUW Razor and Die, and all the college and alternative commercial stations
playing The Safes Tasty Waves and getting us on the charts!
See you Cleveland, State College, Philly, Cambridge, Newport, at
end of September!
Crossroads Music Festival in splendid KC, Circle-A in MKE and Scoobfest
in Green Bay both were a gas, thanks to all you kind people!
Wanna be part of the coolest music festival
around, head tons of killer bands, meet other sweet music lovers and
eat some tasty KC BBQ? Trust us, you do! Grab your tickets for the Crossroads
Music Festival that we are fortunate to be playing next weekend
9/9 in beautiful KC, MO! This festival is masterfully produced by Bill
Sundahl, KKFI 90.1 FM radio station
and some of KC's finest like Jaqui Craig! We can't wait!
Buy tickets now!
Midwest and East coast we a're coming for you!!! Check Shows
page for the dates!
Popmatters
Jedd Beaudoin premiered The SAFES - Tasty Waves. Read Jedd's review
while streaming it in it's entirety here!
Listen up for our second single, "Mediocre
Jokers" premiered here by Jim Kopeny at Chicagoist!
Pre-order the Sea Blue &/or Electric Blue LPs at Hidden
Volume
Or pre-order on iTunes & CD
August 2017
Thanks to Stereogum
for premiering the first music video & single from The Safes Tasty
Waves out Sept 8th on
Hidden Volume Records, folks!
Watch this "Hometown"
video that was expertly directed and annimated by Patrick
Oleksy here!
Shout out to Alternative
Press for including The Safes "Hometown" video single
as 13 songs you need to hear!
July 2017
The Safes are thrilled that we'll soon be sharing with you our first
single, "Hometown" from Tasty Waves via Patrick Oleksy
magnificently animated and directed music video - LOOK OUT!
The Safes have the best friends. Thanks to you! We will see you soon
in your towns soon!
Thanks to all the lovely people that came out to Montrose Beach on the
4th of July - what an awesome night!
June 2017
The Safes are thrilled to be releasing our next LP, Tasty Waves,
with Baltimore's garage rock maven Hidden
Volume Records on September 8, 2017!
Be on the lookout the limited edition two color vinyl options!
Beach Blanket Blitzkreig on the 4th of July at Montrose Beach with our
friends Black Cat Heart Attack, Sweet Figurines. So.... come on. Fireworks,
Rock'n'roll, beach, waves...
May 2017
RawFest - June 3rd Sat. Chicago, IL @ Township
w/ Bible of the Devil, The Vibrolas, Buzzzard, The Evictions, Beggars,
The Miners
Dr. James William Glass surgically crafted the Streets
and Sanitation video! So cool!
April 2017
Hello!!!! Hello!
Penthouse Sweets album release for In the House of Penthouse Sweets
on Saturday April 29 at Livewire Lounge Chicago
with The Safes and The Means of Production. Cya there!
Mastering our new album and starting to get the artwork formatted
- soon we will share....
March 2017
Finished up the mixes with Brian Deck at his home studio last month
- sounding great...
February 2017
Bickhamstock show at Double Door on Friday Feb 17 playing along
with Little Boy Jr, Coyote Riot, PM Buys!
Final mix touches happening soon for our next lp - can't wait 'til you
guys hear it
Listen to and watch some videos from The Safes on WGN Radio's "Live
from Studio 435" on Justin Kaufmann's The Download show right here
January 2017
Just tracked some french horn and trumpet for the next album - sounding
cool!
Radio, Radio - Monday Jan 9 @ 10pm CST tune into WGN Radio to hear
The Safes on The Download with Justin Kaufmann!
Come out to Township on Sat. Jan 14 for a great Early, all-ages
show with our friends The Differents, The Hustle, and Ex Okays; doors
3pm, $8
December 2016
Shooting footage for animated music video for "Hometown"
off of our upcoming album
November 2016
TV - TV - TV - TV --Wed Nov 23 at 8:45am (CST) tune into Fox
Morning News to hear The Safes play live the morning of Friendsgiving!
On Friday Nov. 18 at 5pm, tune
your radio dial to the Razor and Die show on Chicago's WLUW
to hear The Safes talk with Di and Razor about Friendsgiving,
spin a new cover song we recorded and tracks off White Mystery and Flesh
Panthers new albums!
Thanksgiving Eve. Friendsgiving: White
Mystery // The Safes // Flesh Panthers // Master of Ceremony, comedian
Bill Bullock
@ 1st Ward (2033 W North Ave) on Wed. Nov 23
Ages 18 and over! FUN.
October 2016
DJ James VanOsdol and longtime supporter of The Safes spun "I
Would Love To" on his 101 WKQX Demo312 show, thanks James!
September 2016
Don't miss this show - Friday Sept. 30 @ Township with The Differents,
Baltimore's PLURALS, and The Laureates!
9pm - $8 Talk about a steal!
Did you read John Borack's review in Goldmine
Magazine re:
THE SAFES –RECORD HEAT
"One of the cooler things
about being a music buff is discovering a band that’s flown under
your radar for many years. Such is the case with me and The Safes, a
Chicago-area combo led by the O’Malley brothers – Frankie,
Michael and Patrick – that has drawn comparisons to Guided by Voices,
The Apples In Stereo, Brendan Benson, Fountains of Wayne and even the
Kinks. I’ve been listening to their 2014 release,Record Heat, and
it’s a short (barely 25 minutes) 10-song effort that can be seen
– and heard – as some sort of amalgamation of all the above
comparisons, with a garagey swagger and super-sweet lead vocals (courtesy
of Frankie, I believe) that are a bit reminiscent of The Singles’
Vince Frederick. “I Would Love To” and “Know it All”
are both power poppin’ sureshots, and The Safes deftly avoid any
of the clichés often inherent in the genre. Check out their 2006
effortWell Well Wellas well; 10 more cool ditties with sharp hooks and
some great song titles: “Cool Sounds are Here Again” and “Phone
Book Full of Phonies.”
August 2016
Windy City shows in September with our friends from home, Philly
& Baltimore! Can't wait! First one is Friday Sept. 9 @ Liars Club
with our bros Red Lions and The People!
July 2016
Did you see that placement with The Safes "Youth Cult"
and Quiksilver? Radical
June 2016
Still waters run deep...
March 2016
Making more recording process and Chicago be on the lookout
for shows soon
January 2016
Tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking summer songs in
the middle of winter - it does a body good
Photo shoot late last month was truly special - family style, be on
the lookout.
December 2015
10 new recordings in the can in 2 days with the boys in the band
and Brian Deck at the console
November 2015
Thanksgiving Eve Nov 25 at Livewire Lounge ( 3994 N. Milwaukee Ave
) - Don't miss it!
The Regals will open the show, Red Plastic Buddha will perform second,
The Differents third and The Safes play last
More rehearsals and preproduction happening before we head into
the studio to record another new one
September 2015
Finished mixing one album Sept 18; started practicing for next lp with
the boys Sept. 19.
My oh my, how have you been? The SAFES are playing a fun weekend
of shows with our pals Thee Lexington Arrows and
Red Lions Oct. 2 & Oct. 3
See you there
November 2014
Thanksgiving Eve 2014 - with our friends The
Differents kicking off the show and Back
Alley Riot closing it shut! See You there.
Wed Nov 26 at Livewire
Lounge
3394 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60641
Check out this fun feature Pollstar
interview by Jay Smith with Frankie talking about whats cooking
Thanks Magnet
Magazine for the spotlight on "Hopes Up, Guard Down"
on MP3
At 3PM
"Chicago power trio The SAFES, who pump out some of the best
garage rock the music world has seen.
Latest single “Hopes Up, Guard Down” is fun and crazy, constantly
spinning and whirling in a frenzy of psychedelic garage pop."
Terry Flamm reviewed "Record Heat" on Broken
Hearted Toy
October 2014
Pollstar
kindly highlighted Willie Nelson performing at the White House,
Grateful Dead dudes at the World Series in San Fran,
and The
SAFES new music video
Yahoo!
Music premiered The SAFES "I Would Love To" music
video directed by Mickey Mangan on Oct. 20. You have to watch
it!
YahooMusic.com by Wendy Geller
"Chicago-based power-pop band the Safes have just released a new
album, Record Heat,
and to mark the occasion they’ve decided to release an anthemic
new video for single “I Would Love To”
— one that shows off just how dedicated (and widespread!) their
global fan base is.
Yahoo Music is excited to premiere the very first look at the innovative
clip, which depicts fans of the band throughout the world
– in their home countries (15 represented), and in their native
languages (12 represented). Talk about international appeal!
If you’d like to catch the Safes on tour in your town, they’re
rolling through the Northeast all November. Check below for Fall tour
dates.
11/10 Cleveland, OH @ Pats In The Flats
11/11 Pittsburgh, PA @ Howlers
11/12 State College, PA @ Darkhorse
11/13 Philadelphia, PA @ Ortlieb's
11/14 Boston, MA @ PAs
11/15 Portland, ME @ Bayside Bowl
11/16 Providence, RI @ The Parlour
11/17 New York, NY @ Pianos
11/18 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
11/19 New London, CT @ Oasis
11/20 Annapolis, MD @ The Metropolitan
11/21 Baltimore, MD @ Sidebar
11/22 Bowling Green, OH @ Howard's Club H
11/26 Chicago, IL @ Livewire Lounge
Sign up to be a Daytrotter
member to hear our Record Heat Session Listen to "Hopes
Up, Guard Down" right here
Thanks to Nic Harcourt for spinning "Hopes Up, Guard Down"
on his Connections
radio show!
Be on the look any day now for the release
of the "I Would Love To" music video directed by Mickey
Mangan. So awesome!
Thanks to Mickey Mangan, Giovanni Bucci, Siobhan and all our fans across
the globe for being part of something we're very proud of - you rule!
Check out the Shows page for our upcoming
east coast tour! Can't wait to see your lovely faces again!
August 2014
Had a blast recording a Daytrotter
session last weekend! Session will be posted soon
Working on finishing up LP4
- LOOKOUT!
May 2014
Buy Record Heat on CD or 12
inch white vinyl here
or on Bandcamp here
Popmatters premiered The SAFES
- Record Heat. Stream it in it's entirety here!
While listening you can read
stories of each song written by Frankie O'Malley!
Be on the lookout for the
official music video for The SAFES - "I Would Love To" directed
by Mickey Mangan to be
premiered soon! It's incredible.
Thanks to Mickey and everyone that contributed to make a truly global
video.
Watch a video of The SAFES
tracking and mixing Record Heat in Detroit with
Jim Diamond, Jason Ward in Benton Harbor, MI @ KeyClub Recording and
at StudiO'Malley.
Can't wait to see you all on the road!
April 2014
The SAFES Record Heat
will be going for adds on radio on April 22 - tune into your favorite
radio stations and request The SAFES!
Thanks to Eric Davidson of
CMJ
for the video premiere of The SAFES 'Hopes Up, Guard Down"on
Monday April 7 directed by our friend Mike Hindert.
"Chicago’s modern rock musical rep rests primarily on Touch
& Go’s long post-rock legacy, and deservedly so. But since
the late-70s, the Windy City has also been a consistent fount of solid
power pop, from the big bang of Cheap Trick to awesome also-rans like
Epicycle and the Vacant Lot, regional warhorses like the Elvis Brothers.
The Safes have continued along that line for a few years now. A trio
of brothers (Frankie, Patrick and Michael O’Malley), they credit
their dad with having a home full of cool classic rock records, and
they smelt loads of exhumed ’60s garage and pop goodness into their
bright sound. Their third full-length, Record Heat—recorded by
Jim Diamond (White Stripes, The Sonics), Jason Ward (Arcade Fire) and
Patrick O’Malley—will be out April 29 on Wee Rock Records,
and we’ve got a video premiere for the single, Hopes Up, Guard
Down, right here. Let’s just say the motorcycle bandit who zooms
through this mini-movie is no chicken."
On
Tuesday April 29, Wee Rock
Records brings you The SAFES new LP Record Heat
Available in White-hot 12 Inch
vinyl LPs, compact discs, and digital varieties
Come pick up your copy at one
of these fine shows - we're
looking forward to seeing you all
Here are some stills from The
SAFES upcoming music video directed by Mike Hindert of The Bravery; look
for a premiere in early April!
