This is the third EP from THE LOUD BANGS, following Jan 2022's "Zaera," and April 2022's "Introducing The Loud Bangs."

So that's 15 songs in a short span of time, plus other remixes and singles. As you may know, Shoeplaze, the label, decided to take the 10-song debut LP and split it into smaller EPs. This is a common release strategy in modern times. When this was announced, it bought the band more time and more flexibility to design these individual experiences.

"Zaera" was a strong EP and set the template. "Introducing" was mostly the dreampop stuff, a lot more song-oriented than the other two. "Highway Safety Films" is the fuzzy cousin; it rocks harder and looser. The band sounds fantastic, as always. Hannah is one terrific bass player and Daisy sings and plays amazingly well. Alice's as-always strongwriting is on display. And Marcus is again on drums -- but only two tracks, as there's some drum machine and "Emergency Surgery" has no drums at all.

Like "Introducing," this EP is not side two or anything of the original record. For example, "Archie's Enemies" is now song #2 in this EP's running order, but it was originally side one, #4. As well, as with the track "Introduxions," which wasn't intended for the original LP, we added "Oranges" onto this one and took off "Playboy Tattoo," as "Oranges" fit better into this experience. ("Playboy Tattoo" will be on a later release.) We also did things like add the police radio chatter in "Archie's Enemies" and changed the title of the opening instrumental to be titled "Speed Enforced by Aircraft" (a common roadsign in California, and one that still spooks Alice), thus amplifying the "Highway Safety Films" theme.

The EP was originally called "Highway Safety Films Incorporated," which was a real company in the 1950s that did very violent high school driver education films. That company is no more, but we cut "incorporated" to avoid confusion (and law suits) about use of the name. The EP is, though, really focused on cars and sort of hangs together like a concept album about a high-speed car crash. "Cars Kill" is definitely the most 'on the nose.' Singer Alice Street is absolutely terrified of car crashes. That refrain of "I want to stay safe," which is one time spoken as "I want to change seats," is a good summary of her jitters. The track is a favorite of mine because the production is so muddy and rockin'. I love the feel of the song and its Devil-may-care attitude about structure. BUT...

...I do think my favorite on the EP is "Oranges." It came about fast and we all dug it . It's only two chords, but it has an intensity that you can't beat. I don't think there's ever been a song so intense about a fruit. But, Alice likes the smell of oranges and finds it very comforting and stress-relieving. So, as a metaphor for dying, it works well.

We also recorded a single, "Something Left Unsaid," during these sessions. The song was written by me and Morgan Taylor (aka Gustafer Yellowgold guy) in 1985. A couple 80s bands I was in played it. Charlotte always liked the song and we thought it'd be fun to do a version in the style of THE STROKES for her solo catalog. It didn't fully work, so we shelved it. But THE LOUD BANGS heard it and added a bunch of dubs that resulted in a very satisfying new wave / shoegaze mash up. So now it's a song for them. It was just a one-off curio that we enjoyed making. However, the new arrangement feels like some incredible epic, because it's long, has many "movements," and keeps getting louder, and louder, and LOUDER!

So, the band is on break for now until all these things hit the market. The idea is to do a full 10-song LP in the fall, but there may be a few things before then, like the late summer EP, "The Alice Experience." Now I'm booked for another couple projects, so we'll return to it when we can!