Safety Word Orange Seek Acceptance with New EP

Safety Word Orange, they’re the band you should know and will know once their EP “Acceptance” hits shelves on June 14^th. Just days before its release date we caught up with the band and got the 411 on the makings of the new album.

Sinister Girlz: Your new EP, “Acceptance”, will comes out on June 14^th what can audiences expect from the record? (sound wise, lyrically, etc.)

Safety Word Orange: This EP has a little bit of everything. Sound wise, it doesn’t stray too much from the last record, On Your Mark, Get Set…, however; as a band I think its important to constantly continue to grow and make “new” music, so I feel as though we have progressed in that aspect. I think we all grew a lot as musicians in the time between our last EP and Acceptance. The EP is only four songs, so when we went into the studio we wanted each song to be able to stand on its own. We have a pumped song, and fun song, a slower jam, and then our single, Breathe, which is sort of a mix between the others in terms of sound. Lyrically, this record is pretty real. We aren’t sugar coating anything or singing about non-sense. Since last year when we put out, On Your Mark, we have all gone through a lot of struggles personally, and as a band. I think this record reflects just that. Audiences should expect a Safety Word Orange record with an extra dash of substance.

Sinister Girlz: How would you describe your band’s sound?

Safety Word Orange: Our sound stems from what we grew up listening to. We all are 80’s babies, so a lot of the influence comes from late 80’s and early 90’s bands. A lot of also grew up listening to pop-punk bands so we definitely take a heavy influence from that. Whenever I’m asked the question, “What genre is your band?” I say we are an Alternative Pop-rock band.

Sinister Girlz: What was the creative process like?

Safety Word Orange: The creative process never really ends for us. We were writing songs for this EP when we were recording our previous EP in December of ’09.  Over the course of the year, James and I probably put together about 15-20 song ideas, 9 of them actually got developed. Once we had a pretty good idea of what we were going for we would present it to the rest of the guys and take it from there. When we hit the studio we did a bit of rearranging. We brought nine full songs to the studio and then narrowed it down to three. The last song, which ended up being our single, Breathe, was a bunch of ideas thrown together during pre-production. During the recording process and leading up to it was a pretty big struggle for all of us. We were all going through our own personal struggles, as well as the obvious struggles of any unsigned band. It was a long and drawn out process, but I think in the end that is truly what made this record what it is. The record is about accepting who you are, where you are, and what you’ve come from.

Sinister Girlz:  What does it mean to be an unsigned band in this digital world? Is the promotion or distribution easier because of the Internet?

Safety Word Orange:  YES! The Internet and social media have completely revolutionized how music is bought, shared and marketed. Overall, I think the music industry is still trying to adapt to the change so we are in a weird spot. Yes, it is easier to promote your music and distribute it. But, because it’s so easy, there are so many bands out there going at it and doing fairly well. It’s hard to differentiate yourself. Being signed to a record label these days doesn’t mean what it used to. I think the Internet and digital media in general are partly to blame for that. But it’s not a bad thing. In terms of money, that’s one less person for bands to pay out. It is still tough though. Without some sort of backing, whether that be management, booking, or a label, bands are forced into a weird position. I think digital media has opened up opportunities for bands that were not previously there, but it doesn’t mean our problems are solved.

Sinister Girlz:  You’ve toured with some impressive bands like The Used and Bowling for Soup how did you guys end up on those tours and what did you learn from touring with those bands?

Safety Word Orange: To be perfectly honest, we never toured with those bands, although that would have been an amazing experience. We did share the stage with both of those bands though. Playing with bands like The Used and Bowling for Soup really reinforced why we are out here doing this in the first place. It has been great to look back and see where we came from and then look at where we are now. The times we have shared the stage with bands that have made an impact on us are great milestones and we’re going to continue to strive for more!

Sinister Girlz:  Have you ever had to work hard to win a crowd over if so what did you do impress them and if not what would you do in that situation?

Safety Word Orange: There have been plenty of crowds that we’ve had to work hard to win over a crowd haha. We have been working our way up the ladder for a while now so we have won and lost that battle many times. I think the most important way to win a crowd over is to perform as best you can, have fun doing it, and engage with the crowd. Sometimes a crowd just doesn’t want to get into it and that can be kind of a bummer, but if your having fun and putting your heart into it, then at the very least, your building character haha.

Sinister Girlz:  What are your plans for this summer; will there be lots of touring and festivals?

Safety Word Orange: Our plans for this summer are to release the new EP, Acceptance, and get it out there. We are going to be playing as much as we can. We are playing Get Heard Fest in Marlboro, NJ June 4^th, which is going to be awesome. Robbie, our guitarist is a HUGE fan of Catch 22 so he is ecstatic. We have a short run down to Florida and back after the release and we’re working on putting together the rest of the summer. It’s proven to be extremely hard to put together an extensive tour ourselves, so we are going to be doing a good bit of shopping our music around to management and booking company’s. Hopefully we can get some people behind us. At this point, we are open to anything. We’ll probably do a few benefit shows up North and just continue building our fan base in other states. It’s safe to say we are going to be relentlessly working on getting our music heard.

For more on Safety Word Orange visit them on http://www.facebook.com/safetywordorange