‘TASTY WAVES’
Chicago’s The Safes enjoying time on the road with new album
Patrick O’Malley’s life is action-packed.
He’s living the good life on tour and making stops around college radio shows.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he says during a recent phone interview. “We’re taking a little break from tour before we head out West.”
O’Malley is a member of the Chicago rock band The Safes. The band is on tour in support of its album, “Tasty Waves.”
O’Malley is in the band with his brothers, Frankie and Michael. The band often records in its StudiO’Malley in Chicago.
The brothers have also worked with some top record producers like Brian Deck, Keith Cleversley in Chicago at the Playground, Jim Diamond in Detroit at Ghetto Recorders, Jason Ward in Benton Harbor at Key Club Recording & Prole Arts in Chicago and David Suycott in Chicago at IDIGMusic.
The Safes have also toured with Andrew Bird, the Smoking Popes, members of Wilco and the Raconteurs.
“We enjoy what we do,” O’Malley says. “It’s important for us to have fun.”
On ‘Tasty Waves’,” O’Malley says Frankie wrote the majority of the songs.
“Frankie has his own little private studio where he records stuff,” he says. “He sent me the songs over the past couple of years. They have a collective theme and are coming from the same place lyrically. Thankfully, we liked all of the songs. Then we had to learn our parts, and the rest his history.”
The album also features one song with an acoustic guitar.
“We were also building up the electric sides to the album,” he says. “We even added some French horn.”
The Safes are the definition of a band that does everything on its own.
“We book our own tours, and we’ve developed relationships with clubs and talent buyers,” he says. “Over the course of our career, we’ve been able to meet some incredibly amazing people. Returning to Albuquerque is nice for us, because the local music scene has embraced us.”