The dream-pop gem from the Sydney quintet is packed with lead singer Lexi Green’s sharp wit, loaded with punchy one-liners and a growing annoyance with their housemates.
“’That’s What You’re Like’ tells a story of a failing sharehouse in the Inner West of Sydney complete with a former friendship dying to a thousand minor grievances and a toxic boyfriend who is always around but never pays rent,” explains Green.
The Sydney band’s first single of the year follows their impressive debut EP from 2023, Why Is Being Successful So Hard, which explored nature, office romances, fame and fortune and everything in between. And with a title like that, you know without even listening to Safety First’s EP that it contains immediately relatable narratives and lyrics.
With “That’s What You’re Like” in the rearview mirror, Safety First are now preparing for an upcoming fundraising show at Marrickville venue Red Rattler Theatre on Saturday, July 20th. All proceeds are going towards the Palestine Australia Relief and Action (PARA), a non-profit organisation that helps Palestinian migrants and refugees settle in Australia and achieve their full potential (tickets available here).
Tone Deaf caught up with Green as part of our Get to Know series to get to know Safety First a little better, which you can check out below.
Safety First’s “That’s What You’re Like” is out now.
How did you artist name come about?
Love Indie?
Get the latest Indie news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
We were just combining random words together, and somehow ended up at Safety First. We were like, “Yeah, this kinda fits the music we’re making,” so we just rolled with it.
How would you describe your music to your grandma?
I would tell her that it’s either funny in a sad way or sad in a funny way, depending on your mood, and that there are lots of guitars lol.
Tell us about a few of your tracks; their titles and what they’re about?
“Haircut” is just me pretending to be famous. “Office Romance” is an office sitcom if it was a song. “Exactly Like Me” is about comparing yourself to someone else. “Drinks” is about the last couple of hours of a night out when all its infinite possibilities are starting to shrivel up and die, and “Diary Entry” is about trying to be STRONG and get through the day after being rejected.
What do you love about your hometown?
I’m from Canberra originally, I like all the birds and the trees and in winter everything seems to sparkle. The air is so brittle and it gets so dark and quiet it feels otherworldly sometimes, I love it. Sydney gets cold too but it gets cold in a really boring way unfortunately.
Career highlight so far?
Probably the first time we got played on the radio! Me and my housemates gathered around in the kitchen and there was this really tense five seconds of dead air before the song played and it felt like I was being swallowed by this black hole of silence, it was wild. But it was really special because that was the premiere of the first song we ever released.
Fave non-music hobby?
This is very specific and niche but I will collect old nature magazines, band posters, random photos and off-cuts of me and my friends’ art and then paste them all over the walls of my bedroom to create this massive collage, so every time I walk in there it feels like I’m entering an alternate reality and the real world was all just a dream and everything will be fine. Also I can’t handle empty walls, my anxious thoughts just bounce off them and go right back into my brain lol.
What’s on your dream rider?
I have literally never thought about this until now haha, but definitely a meal with drinks, and maybe incense? I feel like incense in the green room should be a thing if it isn’t already. Everyone would be so relaxed and in such a good mood.
Dream music collaboration?
Men I Trust! We all love everything they do, and we saw them live when they came to Sydney, it was amazing.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Playing festivals, big stages, having fans who love us for who we are, touring overseas, maybe being a little washed up but in a cool way. But really just being able to support ourselves off doing this honestly – not having a day job would be sooooo nice.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Probably “Love Shack” lmao. Literally every line could be a meme, there’s call and response, and there aren’t any weird long verses that no one remembers. It was built for this purpose.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
If you try to make a big change to a song you’ve written, you will most likely end up going back to what you had originally. My old piano teacher said something like that, and it really helps if I start overthinking something and losing sight of the reason we wrote it in the first place.
What’s one obsession you have that no one would guess after listening to your music?
Probably weird riddles/logic problems/puzzles/anagrams etc.. Whenever one of these comes up I get SO focused, the world outside my field of vision literally ceases to exist. Also special mention to the SBS game show Letters And Numbers – we used to watch it growing up and it was always my dream to go on there so I was genuinely devastated when it got cancelled. I think I actually cried.
