Diving into the darker side - John Saffrey & Stewart Drake of Playfight

Originally posted on Barrietoday.com as part of the Scene Setter series (#50 - Aug 13, 2023).

Like a pulse, music changes its beat based on what is being faced head-on in the moment in a uniquely visceral and genuine way. Music created in earnest, from a place of honesty, rings true in the ears of listeners who share a song’s feeling but perhaps aren’t able to vocalize it. But as everyone knows, change can be difficult and some feelings are even more difficult to describe. 

A band that is using their gifts and skills of creating music who are embracing that change, following their pulses, and navigating into darker waters is Playfight.

Playfight started as a collaboration between John Saffrey (guitarist, writer, producer) and Stewart Drake (vocalist, lyricist, graphic designer) who met through an online pop punk group and quickly began sharing ideas remotely during the pandemic. The band emerged in 2021 with catchy lyrics, riff-heavy arrangements, and upbeat songs that harkened back to the days when pop punk reigned supreme - a nostalgic rush of serotonin that was desperately needed at that time. 

Caleb Morin  (drummer, photographer/videographer), who has lived in Barrie for 15 years and heavily involved in its music scene, joined the band in December of 2021 and several new singles were released. The Playfight camp was relatively quiet for nearly a year until an announcement of a new EP was released, along with a new single that set the tone for a heavier and darker direction for the band. 

I had the opportunity to ask members of Playfight a few questions about the band, the upcoming release of the Unacceptable EP, and take a deeper dive into each track before its release later this month.  

Richard: From your first single “Tell Me I’m Wrong” in 2021, it was clear that the foundation of Playfight’s sound was rooted in classic pop punk but with elevated layers in the music and more mature approach to lyrics. What is it about this genre that made you shape the band’s sound in that direction?

John: It was honestly just what was coming out when I was writing at the time. I tend to kind of go with the flow of whatever feels natural to write, I try not to force any certain genre based tendencies, it just kind of happens that way. I think that’s why even on the first EP, there is kind of an overall Pop Punk theme, but there’s a good chunk of songs with influences from other genres, and the songs as a collective just worked together.

Richard: There is a dramatic shift in tone from your self-titled debut EP, both musically and aesthetically. What was your process with this heavier sound on Unacceptable and was there any inspiration from other bands or artists?

Stew: Lyrically I’m just angrier now and hardcore has taught me to vocalize my frustrations responsibly - With John coming from a Metalcore background it was easy to make the transition.

John: I’ve always been kind of a hybrid of a metal and punk guitarist. From that standpoint, it just makes a lot of sense to blend the influences a bit more that I might have on the first EP. 

Richard: Right from the introduction to the EP, there is a dire sense of urgency. Is there an overarching theme or narrative that unfolds during the Unacceptable EP’s runtime you hope the listeners connect with?

John: I think it’s got a bit of frustration and anger behind it, especially compared to what we’ve done before. It’s just getting out those sort of negative feelings in a sort of therapeutic way. 

Stew: We need to return to humanity, we have regressed as a society where our day to day decisions are either focussed on becoming millionaires, influencers, and celebrities. We’ve lost the plot on what being a good person is. I also think that’s why it’s important that we have a classic love song like “Euphoria” - to give the listeners a break from my melodic lectures.

 

Richard: Why did you choose the titular (and last) track “Unacceptable” to be the first single off the new EP?

John: It’s kind of a nice middle ground for what people can expect musically on the rest of the EP

Stew: We wanted to set the tone right off the bat, this isn’t a pop punk EP.

Track by track:

Track 1: “Hell In A Cell (An Introduction)”

Alot of our favourite bands growing up would start off their albums with a nice melodic/calm intro that leads into pure chaos. I think we dialled that in pretty well with this.

Track 2: “Fate Of The World”

The Chaos begins. This one is one of the fastest, most intense songs we’ve done, and it touches a lot of things we mentioned earlier. This one’s all about the current state of the world, how obvious the decline has become - and how uncertain our future is.

Track 3: “Silver Line”

This one is more of a personal one.It touches on the internal struggle of crippling anxiety and self doubt with an overall message, that it can be overcome.

Track 4: “Euphoria”

“Euphoria” is just a classic love song. Even throughout the heaviness of the rest of the EP, we still need that sense of melody and lyrical content to not only provide some relief, but just to keep things interesting. We never want to have the same sort of song twice on any release.

Track 5: “I Hope It Hurts”

It’s a little self explanatory. After a relationship goes sour, if you know you were in the right, you kind of want the other person to feel bad about it over time, you hope they regret it.

Track 6: “Fools Gold”

With all the “get rich quick” schemes that seem to be so present in society, this is a backlash to all of that. Whether it’s cryptocurrency, pyramid schemes, scams, none of it is trustworthy, and the greed of it all changes so many people’s attitude towards their day to day lives.

Track 7: “Unacceptable (ft. Mike Julian)”

Stew basically wanted the verses to sound as if God’s Hate was singing Taylor Swift lyrics. The song’s all about a relationship gone sour, but no one’s at fault, and there's no need to hold ourselves to other people's unrealistic standards. Tonally, it’s definitely got that sort of “easycore” feel to it, which is pretty much just major scale pop punk riffs played like a metalcore breakdown. It’s just a really fun song.

Unacceptable, the new EP from Playfight will be available to stream starting August 25, 2023. Keep up with Playfight by following their instagram (https://www.instagram.com/_Playfight/), facebook, (https://www.facebook.com/Playfightisaband/), and stream their music on spotify here. (https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Yvx5Wy1cDKor0dKVRxg3P)