Nashville-based arena pop/rockers SafetySuit is one of the prime examples of the old adage "slow and steady wins the race."  Since forming nearly a decade ago out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, SafetySuit has been slowly and steadily climbing up not only the charts and in radio, but growing their fanbase the good old fashioned way, a grassroots type effort and subsequent word of mouth.  They have opened for big ticket acts like 3 Doors Down, Puddle of Mudd and most recently, Daughtry on the North American leg of their world tour.

2012 has been a breakout year of sorts for this dynamic and talented quartet. Combining electric songwriting with their take on everything best about arena pop/rock and throwing in superior stagecraft and improvisation in their live shows, SafetySuit is a group everyone needs to know about. And despite being no longer with the first label that signed them over four years ago, Universal Republic, the foursome are ready to move on by themselves and chart their own destiny.

I had the pleasure of reuniting with Doug Brown and company for the first time since in four years, when I made my on-camera debut with them at Austin's Saloon in Libertyville, Illinois. This time, I got the chance to sit down in their tour bus parked right outside of Chicago's slowly famous Bottom Lounge to talk about their new album These Times, their subsequent release from Universal Republic and a special thing that the band has done during the course of their headlining tour, now at the halfway point at the time of this interview!