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Music

Safe to Say's New Album 'Down in the Dark' Is Change We Can Believe In

Safe to say this is good. We're not apologizing for this.

Photo by Wyatt Clough

From playing in a small town in an even smaller venue 40 minutes out of Toronto to touring with genre-defining bands like Silverstein and Cancer Bats, Safe To Say has justified and solidified their seat in the halls of pop-punk. In just about four years together, the Ontario band has been releasing music that has captured their listeners' ears and challenged them. Safe To Say is not afraid to change their sound, in fact, it’s the only constant about the band. The band’s earlier release Sick to Death in 2012 was a raw and overly aggressive traditional pop-punk post-hardcore EP. As they’ve matured through the years, so has their sound. Their 2013 debut album With Everything In Between offered a brighter and less aggressive side of the band. Then in 2015, the band released an EP called Hiding Games, which threw another curveball that featured a child’s choir and slower melodies.

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In about the span of three years, the band had not only solidified a sound, which is an achievement in and of itself, but also had dared to push the borders of their genre. Now yet again, Safe To Say has pushed their limits again with their second album Down in the Dark. With cathartic and powerful songs like “Only Rain” to the downtempo grief-stricken strings and sweet harmonies of “Tangerine”, Down in the Dark is thick enough and deep enough to find itself evoking a wide range of emotions. We spoke with the band's vocalist and guitarist Brad Garcia about the new album, which comes out July 22nd but you can listen to it early below.

Noisey: Yet again, this album is a different turn for the band, what do you think sparks that drive to be different?
Brad Garcia: I think there's two reasons for that. One being, the artists and albums we all admire are the ones that break barriers and plunge headfirst into new territory. There's something worth admiring in those kinds of risks. The second reason I think we do that is simply because it's boring to do the same thing twice. It's fun to take people for a spin, especially when you're going on the ride with them, not really knowing where you'll end up.

Does that make you guys ever scared that your fan base won't like what you do next?
Honestly, we are all very aware every time we write now that some fans will cut the cord. But for every person who can't get behind what we are currently trying to do, another will be totally into it. The cool thing is that even though someone might not initially like it, our music is something that can grow on people because it's so out there at times. I like to ask myself "would I still be happy playing these songs ten years from now? Or would it be lame." And when it comes to Down in the Dark I’m confident the songs will withstand time. That's the goal. We aren't the band that puts out hit singles and gets a million views on YouTube. I want to continue being the band that tried what others are too afraid to and make people think. That impression lasts longer than a catchy pop song.

In a genre that is so saturated and has such specific tropes, do you feel like you have to write songs that'll be different to get people listening?
I mean, in general it's just way more fun for us to write songs that are out of the box. We try to not worry too much about what others think, whether it's comparisons or expectations. The more we just do what we want, the more Safe To Say has its own sound regardless of how different the songs are from one another. Fads die, trends fade out, but acapella interludes on rock albums are something that keep people talking. [laughs]

Byron Yan is a writer living in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter.