R.I.P SAFETYWORD

My favourite Bristol band (and one of my all time favourite bands) Safetyword split up at the weekend. I'm really sad about it.

I was lucky enough to be around when they started the second phase of Safetyword (in Bristol)..making music and playing live as a four piece..when they got really good! Not that they were'nt before, i just wasn't aware of them so as far as i'm concerned i made them into the great band they turned out to be, HA! please, i AM joking. I worked at Fopp with that forth piece (that was my nickname for him, not really) Steve. He used to burn me copies of the new songs and EPs as they were made. It was exciting! I remember the first time i played them in my room, i was actually pretty scared! It's like all really original stuff, when you play it for the first time you get taken back by it, unsure of what it's doing. I always end up loving these things that shock you on first play. It also scared me cos it was soo good, soo different sounding, oh and there was an elephant roar at the start of the track (do elephant's roar? am i being really dumb again?). I started going to the live gigs which were all amazing! I soon became addicted and ended up going to pretty much every local gig and some London one's. I got my uncle to book them for the Lynton & Lynmouth Festival twice which was brilliant fun...maybe not for them as they had to play in an old pub in front of a load of old locals, although worst was still to come for them..later that weekend they watched us play our first proper gig which must have been tough going. Then i got cocky and offered to try and book some gigs and promote them (having never done it before), kind of like a manager..yeah! in my head i blew this up and i WAS Safetyword's manager! "I'm not soo keen on the name lads, how about...BOX!" I still think they should have been called that. After about 3 weeks can you guess how many gigs i booked? yep!..none! Worst manager ever! I remember the chat i had with some of them where i mumbled my way out of having any responsibility for the bookings. Hmm, yes it's all been downhill for the band from the moment i quit as manager. I think we all know the reason for the split now don't we? back to the music, the EPs were brilliant but nothing could compere to seeing them live. I had soo many great nights.. fuelled by the brain juice (beer) bopping along to the band who would fill their wonky sets full of jerks, yelps, and on one occasion robot dances. People would often suggest they were aliens, or in Jan's (the drummer's) case, swear by it. How did he do it? I'd like to watch people's faces in the crowd as they played to see their reaction, that was a laugh. I'd often drift off and get ideas and imagine videos to these songs. Some people have heard these ideas, good job i didn't tell the band them..oh no! i did..on a number of occasions. Hmm.. i really do regret hassling them about the videos i really wanted to make them / i really do regret not hassling them more about the videos i really wanted to make them. I did make a few posters for them and dj'd before they played, and best of all us Worms got to support them twice! Such lovely boys. If you havn't already you should check out their podcast they did for us too. Then it was album time! The album dropped and it blew everything out of the water! It was my no.1 album in my 2006 list! I think 'Man's Name Is Legion' (album cover below) will go down as a undiscovered classic in years to come..listen to me i sound like Paul Gambaccini! I really did think they were gonna blow up in a big way, it was only a matter of time. Such a shame it's ended. Before it did end they managed to record the second album and from what i know it was done very quickly! I'm expecting the postman to deliver it any day now..i'd like to hear a postman whistle a Safetyword song, i'd like to challenge anyone whistle a Safetyword song.

You might think all this waffle is a bit much for a local band or you might think i'm going over the top just because i know them, well WRONG! They really were something special. I hope the people who didn't get into them when they were going do now and realise how good they were.

Farewell SW!
* Blub blub sob sob *

Here's the history of Safetyword on this blog. I blogged the hell out of that band!

Some videos..

'Pour Your Features Through The Mirror' (live)..



'Foot Oven' (live)..



'Walpurgisnacht' video (they did make a video, i'm not jealous)..