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Music

Meet the Band: Safety

A look at band with local ties.

By JULIE GARISTO
Published October 5, 2006

The band: Ben Natras, drums; Andy Diaz, guitar and vocals; and Grayum Vickers, bass and vocals.

Formed: In Tampa in 2001, shortly after Diaz moved to Tampa from Plant City.

Seminoles: All three are 18 and attend Florida State University. Vickers is majoring in meteorology; Natras studies business; and Diaz says he is seeking an astrophysics degree.

Their sound: Fast, melodic hardcore punk with lyrics you're not embarrassed to sing out loud.

Live: "It's a really involved show," Vickers says. "There's a few little gimmicks that I guess have become staples of the Tampa punk scene, like whenever Andy plays a guitar solo, everyone will stick their hands out and start grabbing at his guitar."

Adds Diaz, "We have a lot of people come on stage and sing. It's a pretty high-energy show. Everyone's moving around, jumping up and down and having a good time. The crowd gets into it, and that makes the show a lot better."

On disc: Finally, The Gout; a couple of demos; and a new full-length called Curses! scheduled to release in early spring. Two songs from the forthcoming CD Sprood and The Crow Meets the Sparrow, Part III, Revisited, can be heard at www.myspace.com/safetyfl.

What's Sprood?: According to Diaz, a Goth schoolmate inspired the tune. "There's this really lame kid who went to my high school. He called himself the Crow, like that movie. We were talking to him about drinks that we like. I said, 'I really like root beer,' and he says, 'I really like Sprood.' Everybody kind of looked at him. And we said, 'What's Sprood?' And he said, 'It's Sprite mixed with blood.' And I thought that was the most ridiculous thing that I'd ever heard. So, it was ridiculous enough to put somewhere on the CD."

Not all for laughs: Humor "was how Ben and I first started writing songs, but we try to have some form of social commentary," Vickers says. "We're not by any means a political band, but there are definitely social issues that we like to write about. We don't write about everyday experiences but more about things that have happened to us to help us become the people we are."

They go way back: "I've known Ben since I was 3," Vickers says. "Ben got his first drum set at his fifth-grade birthday party, I remember. We were all really excited, and sixth grade was when I got my bass. Then Andy brought over his guitar."

Influential bands: "My top three would be Bad Religion, the Lawrence Arms, Leftover Crack," Grayum says.

"Back when we first started it was Rancid, Offspring and Bad Religion," Diaz says. "My tastes haven't changed, but they've just grown. It's safe to say we were all Green Day fans in middle school (they all laugh), but we grew out of that."

Natras: "My big bands were AFI and the Offspring (pause) and Ted Nugent (laughs)."

Check 'em out: 8 p.m. Saturday at the Transitions Art Gallery at the Skatepark of Tampa, with the Flaming Tsunamis, Kix, the CV and Hot Sauce. 4215 E Columbus Drive, Tampa. $6. www.safetyflorida.com.

[Last modified October 3, 2006, 13:00:00]