Name: Safe Ships
Formed: January 2012
Hometown: Belfast/Yorkshire
Genre: Post Hardcore
Line-up: Matt Chambers (Vocals / Guitar) | J Chambers (Drums/Vocals) | Nathaniel Mack (Bass/Vocals)| Matt McGraph(Guitar)
Similar to: LetLive | Norma Jean | Underoath
What They Say: “Heavy punk, southern, rock with big dirty riffs.”
What We Say: Post hardcore at it’s turbulent best.
◀ Q & A ▶
▶ How did the band start?
Myself (J) and Matt have always played music together obviously because we’re brothers. When we lived in England we used to play together then I moved over here then Matt moved over here two years later and we started a college course together, music, and started writing songs. So pretty much picked up from where we left off in England. We got about three songs together and started to look for some other people to play with us. We got Nathaniel who we’ve known for 5 years to play bass, played a couple of little intimate shows and then Matt McGrath (Ginge) asked us if we were interested in having another guitarist and we thought, yeah, why not. Bulk up the sound live and free lips up aswell. That was about a year ago now…It fitted like a puzzle. Or a nice glove. With a bit of glitter.
▶ What does the name Safe Ships mean?
It’s meant to describe something that can last for years under any conditions you go through, something you can rely on that won’t cave in.
▶ Who would you cite as your major influences?
This might sound cliché but we’re not trying to sound like anyone. I don’t want to sound bigheaded saying this but there is a different sound to our songs but in each song there is still the same Safe Ships sound.
Nobody’s going to say, ‘oh you sound like Mozart…”
▶ If I were trying to describe Safe Ships to someone who had never heard of you before what would I tell them?
So I’d say if people are going to listen to us they’d get energetic they’ll get passion. I want people to feel that we love what we do and love what we play.
You’ll go see a band and they’ll just stand there or they’ll move a metre radius. I just feel you need to put everything into it and that’s the whole reason why I do what I do.
If we don’t come off stage looking like we’ve had a shower then we’re not happy!
▶ Tell us about the new single?
It’s called Fighting Fit it’s 2 minutes 47 seconds long.
▶ Listening to the new Single ‘Fighting Fit’ and it’s B-side ‘Safest of ships’ it feels as if you’ve done a lot of growing up and know exactly how you want to sound?
It’s hard to find your sound, but I think we’ve found ours…we have stuff people haven’t heard yet, and with that we’re definitely feeling like we’ve started to grow up.
▶ Can we expect an album soon?
Next year, yeah! We want to go on tour first though, we have a homecoming one in Yorkshire coming up at the end of October.
▶ Who are you big fans of in the local scene?
We love Hornets, Axis Of and And So I Watch You From Afar.
We respect the ASIWYFA guys because even though they’re out touring like 7/8 months of the year and they’ve got a label they still come out and watch your band.
They’re just down to Earth guys!
▶ There’s been a lot of discussion about the current state of the Northern Irish music scene, is it as strong as it once was?
There has been a lot of talk about the music scene dying in Belfast, People are saying it’s the lack of venues and people going to gigs, It’s not, it’s the support from bigger bands to smaller bands. We’ve had a lot of help. We love the guys from Pigs as People, Rupture dogs, Bellos they’re always offering support and advice. More bands are helpful than not. People still need to physically turn up to gigs! The local scene in very important to us, it’s important to support local bands.
◀ LISTEN ▶
Facebook ▶ /SafeShips Twitter ▶ @SafeShips
