Alan has been recording for decades and has lots of old songs stored away in his rickety old barn. Lately he has been digging around and found some old stuff from his previous bands and recordings that he wanted to share with the most hardcore fans out there (his mum)! All of the songs that you can listen to on this page are written by Alan.
It started in 1980
Alan was fourteen years old and sleeping over at his grandparents' house. That night he dreamt about a guitar - an electric guitar. And when he woke up that morning he knew he had to get one. At first he borrowed an old acoustic guitar from his mother and bought the AC/DC - Back in Black guitar book. After managing a few guitar chords he instantly started writing his own choruses and verses, and the very first song Alan ever wrote was "Lucie" in 1982 at the age of 16. Resently Alan drew Lucie as the cover art for the song. He also remastered it, and added it to his songs on Spotify.
Blacksmith (1984)
This is the very first band Alan ever played in. Alan was writing lots of songs at that time, and introduced some of them to the band. One of the songs was "Blacksmith" and that became the name of the hardrock/punk group. Looking back on the lyrics it is plain to see that this was a bunch of puberty rockers, with a spoonful of childish humor.
Blacksmith toured around a bit, and had some really bad performances in the beginning, but made some nice gigs after a while. Long hair, Marshall stacks and tube screamers were the recipe. In the picture below you can see from left to right: Yngve, Ketil, Knut and Rune (before the Safewood period). The drummer Bård Espen is behind there somewhere...
Blacksmith went to a home-recording studio in 1984. It was four tracks on a cassette tape, and this was probably what made Alan interested in multitrack recording. The original Blacksmith demo was found deep inside the barn. One of the songs they recorded was "In the gutter".
Blacksmith Demo (1985)
1. Blacksmith
2. In The Gutter
3. Highway 69
4. Fuck The Fashion
5. Let Him Hang
Quote from one of the songs:
"I wanna bang my head to the wall
- and when I do I´m having a ball."
Backbeat Brothers (1989)
In the late eighties three of the Blacksmith´s members had some fun rehearsing under the name of Backbeat Brothers. The bassist played the drums and the rhythm guitarist played the bass, and Alan played guitar and did the vocals. Although they had a lot of songs, it was never to be more than just a local band at Lier Rockeverksted (an old school made into a rehearsal house). They performed at only small concerts there. Listen to a song from one of the rehearsals made on a cassette tape recorder in the room: "Wont Be There"
Another hopeless theme and a crying guitar: "Hope she´ll know"
Alan Safewood - The Dr. Drunkenstuncle period (1990)
In the late eighties and early nineties Alan spent a lot of time with his close friend Øyvind. They travelled around Europe and Asia (India), and this made a deep impact on the way Alan saw the world and the people around him. Øyvind and Alan made a living by selling jewelry and T-shirts on the streets of Oslo for a while. Although this was one of the best times in Alan´s life, the music he made at that time was sometimes dark and heavy, like this recording on his eighth track: Erased
Low Budget Radio Band (1990)
Erik, a friend of Alan, used to play the electric guitar on old tube amplified radios. The sound on some old radios is great, and a radio like this can be found in second hand stores for a nice price. The band Low Budget Radio Band was formed in 1990, and all guitars, bass and vocals were amplified through old radios.
The memberrs Truls, Per, Erik and Rune rehearsed at the old mental hospital some miles south of the Safewood studios.
Alan Safewood
Where have I been? - Demo (1991)
Alan played and recorded all instruments in an EP called "Where have I been" in 1991.
1. Where have I been?
2. Telephobia
3. The captain
4. Another day of rock´n roll
SPIN (Nice Beaver Orchestra - Family Fresh)(1999)
Formed in 1998 with good friends of Alan: Karl, Øyvind, Per and Paul. At first the band was some kind of an experimental Psyko-rock band with only instrumental songs. This band had a mind blowing name: Nice Beaver Orchestra.
Here live at Skansen Kro with "Button Boy".
After a while they found Paul, who wanted to contribute with some blues rock songs. They changed the name to Family Fresh and started playing around in local bars, after ski, hotels and the like.
In 1999 they started to write more songs, and changed their name again to SPIN. They made an EP with 5 of their own songs and this is one of them: "Painting Pictures".
The EP was made at the Safewood studios and Erlands living room right after the millennium. It was recorded on a Roland 8 track recorder. This is "Sister Mary" from the EP.
Turbid Twins - EP (2002)
Formed in 2002 and still going strong. A musical collaboration with Mr. Erland Evjen has led to an enormous consumption of tea with lots of sugar - and quite a few beers. Mix this with two acoustic guitars and Turbid Twins is the result. Listen to "Has to be you" - from a rehersal (written with Mr. Evjen).
Turbid Twins - EP
1. Sister Mary
2. Man for a while
3. Where I´m going
4. Come a long way
Alan Safewood (2016)
Between 2004 and 2016 Alan had a musical stop, and barely touched the guitar for 12 years. Most of the time went to the family, the job as a film director and other interests.
In 2016 he had about 60 songs in the drawer, and felt an urge to play the guitar again. He sold some old vintage equipment and bought a drum set, a keyboard and all the recording gear you need to mix and publish a song. Then he invited some good friends to come and play in the Safewood Studio, and Alan was rocking again. The first song on Spotify was "Control". Go to the "PLAY" page to hear it.
Guitar tutorials
In 2021, during the Corona pandemic, Alan decided to share some guitar "licks and tricks" on YouTube, mainly for guitarists on an intermediate level. Go to Alans YouTube page to view some of it.
If you want to reach out to Alan - do it here:
