“I’ll Be Bad to You” Single and Music Video Out Now
Watch the music video for “I’ll Be Bad to You”
Download the single via Bandcamp, or stream on Bandcamp, SoundCloud, or the audio platform of your preference
Safe Houses are heard and/or seen on: Full Time Aesthetic — Austin Town Hall — Music Shelf with Mustard/MUTV — Janglepophub — Tinnitist — That’s Good Enough for Me — The Bad Copy — bandNada — American Pancake — Part Time Rock Star
Upcoming Gigs
Sept. 22 — Hart Bar, Brooklyn (with Roomtones, Jupiter Boys, Nite Music)
“I’m having a hard time listening to anything other than this Safe Houses single today… Stomp and pop, crashing organ, and each time the layer of vocals greets your ear, your face breaks out into a huge grin. Go on, try it on.” – Nathan Lankford, Austin Town Hall
“If you know what’s good for you (or just want to watch Jon Mann with a mustache beat himself up), then you’ll watch [the video]. Right. The f***. Nooooooooooow!! It’s Telecaster pop at its purest.” – Rob Lanterman, bandNada
“The jangly powerpop truth telling and mild face slapping of ‘I’ll Be Bad to You’ not only takes me back but gives me grand dreams that late 70’s/80’s-esque powerpop distillations are not only firmly back but will invasively spread like crabgrass. … Pure and purely inspired by iconic sounds while adding their own level of subversions.” – Robb Donker Curtius, American Pancake
“Their music is so damn fun.” – Jeff Sorley, That’s Good Enough for Me
“There is an element of garage/punk here in the loudness and the tones of the sound, something DIY and also slightly vintage… something that could be done in the 50s, 60s or pretty much any decade after that.” — Spiros Maus, Start Track
“The N.Y.C. power-popsters know you can do better on their jangly new gem.” – Darryl Sterdan, Tinnitist
NYC powerpop/garage rock champs Safe Houses are back with a big, bright new music video and digital single, “I’ll Be Bad to You.” That trademark driving, jangling Safe Houses sound is all here – loud and clean guitars, buzzing keyboards, sparkling vocal harmonies, a kicking beat, and an ageless production style. Lyrically, “I’ll Be Bad to You” comes off as the deeply self-effacing confessions of a Bad Boyfriend™ – but one who knows you can do better, and who has high hopes for your chances.
The music video, directed by Tasha Lutek and Jamie Frey, brings Safe Houses face-to-face with their arch-enemies, Dangerous Motels (looking surprisingly like Safe Houses wearing supervillain gear). The scene of the showdown is the long-running and beloved Brooklyn DIY space East Williamsburg EconoLodge. Only one powerpop foursome will emerge from this literal battle of the bands.
For years, Safe Houses has been a constant in NYC’s rock scene, and a well-recognized name in the Brooklyn DIY community from which they sprang. Pulling sounds from classic ‘60s pop, late ‘70s punk, ‘80s indie, and beyond, they and their music have been featured in Full Time Aesthetic, Post-Trash (calling them “a muscular, precise, hit-delivery machine”), Janglepophub, Mustard’s Music Shelf, Tinnitist, Break Thru Radio (“a great garage/powerpop sound that sets them apart from many of the borough’s other reverb-n-riffs rockers”), and more. “I’ll Be Bad to You” is the lead single from Safe Houses’ upcoming EP, The Winter I Turned Psychic.
Onstage, Safe Houses singer/guitarist Brian LaRue frequently introduces “I’ll Be Bad to You” by saying, “This song is about what happens when you go around thinking ‘If I could be in a relationship, I’d be really good at it,’ and then you get into a relationship, and you realize you were totally wrong about yourself.” Look, we’ve all been there at some point. When they invented 21st century dating, they made it pretty error-prone. You have to laugh, really. Laugh, or at least rip a gnarly guitar solo.
Safe Houses today is made up of Brian LaRue (guitar, vocals), Kiri Oliver (keyboards, vocals), Jon Mann (bass), and Cory Rohr (drums).
“I’ll Be Bad to You” is available May 16 via the University of Space Recording Company on all major streaming audio platforms.
Promotional photos by Jeanette D. Moses
Check out the music video for “I’ll Be Bad to You:”
… And while you’re here, check out the earlier video for “Someday Is Starting Now:”
UNIVERSITY OF SPACE 