A Quick Chat with Safety First

Nice to meet you Safety First! Tell us who you are and what inspired your name?

Nice to meet you too! We’re a band from Sydney/Eora consisting of myself (Lexi) on vocals, Tom and Zac on guitars, Lauren on bass and Oscar on drums. Honestly, I think the name came from Tom and I literally throwing random combinations of two words together. “Safety Matches” had been floating in my head for a while and then Tom suggested “Safety First” - something about it felt right. I thought it was the kind of name a band from the 80s might have. Just before our first gig I panicked and wanted to change it because Safety First is already a common phrase and I thought it was going to be really hard for people to find us online. I literally came up with a list of 2898692342 other possibilities but they were all bad. The others convinced me that Safety First is actually a really good name for a band, which it is! I just love thinking up new ways to be anxious lol.

What’s your new single ‘Haircut’ about?

It’s about a celebrity persona - MY celebrity persona. I LOVE pretending to be famous because I just thrive off being the centre of attention, except at the same time I’m also very introverted and shy haha. Sometimes if I haven’t slept much, I feel like I can see through the glamour and maybe actually being a celebrity wouldn’t be that great, even though I suppose it’s one of the end goals of being a musician.

Who would you consider as your biggest musical influences?

There are too many! Courtney Barnett and Sidney Gish are the two lyrical influences I keep coming back to, but we have a long list of other influences including Moaning Lisa, Slow Pulp, Momma, Nilifer Yanya, Men I Trust, Stella Donnelly, Soccer Mommy, The 1975, Phoebe Bridgers, Alex G, Jay Som, beabadoobee and The Beths. We’re also influenced a lot by artists from the 70s/80s/90s like Talking Heads, The Cure, Elliott Smith, blur, Hole, Liz Phair, Pavement, The Sundays, Nirvana, Radiohead, Slowdive and David Bowie. I definitely feel like I’m forgetting someone really important but we have a LOT of sources of inspiration and we’re always finding new stuff as well.

Who’s an Aussie musician you can't get enough of right now?

There are so many, but if I personally had to pick one it would be Moaning Lisa!

Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with? Why?

Anyone from the list above really but if I had to narrow it down - Stella Donnelly, I love her sense of humour and she seems really wholesome. Also I think our lyrical styles could fit each other really well! Courtney Barnett has been a HUGE influence on my lyrics and working with her would also be really cool. I would also really love to collab with Phoebe Bridgers, for some reason I feel like we would really get along and it could lead to something really interesting although I would probably be so starstruck and awkward haha. Finally Sidney Gish is either me or the opposite of me, I have no idea but I feel like we’re both “quirky” and would have great chemistry either way. I also wouldn’t be afraid of being myself around her.

What was the first gig you ever attended?

I didn’t go to many gigs as a teenager, but my parents took me to see the Symphony Orchestra once, so it was probably that. I also saw the Presets in ~2013. I feel like there might have been something else before that, but I honestly don’t remember.

When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?

I like to draw, take film photos, I tried writing a fantasy novel and got half way (it’s really bad). I’ve also started editing the band’s music videos and I’m really enjoying that too.

What’s next for Safety First?

Friday the 17th we have a headline show at the Oxford Art Factory! After that we’re going to release another single and then an EP. We’re also recording and writing more songs on the side and we’re planning some more shows throughout the year!