Check out this great interview I did the other day with Charlie and Tom of UK based pop-punk band Homebound!
Homebound
How did the band originally come together?
Charlie: Well it was probably about maybe two years ago, weirdly enough. One night after a few beers, we just sort of like said “screw it, let’s just start a band!” We woke up the next day and weren’t really sure if we were in it now that we were sober (laughs). But we still went with it, and just sort of went from there. We stopped being shitty after awhile, and started taking it more seriously.
The EP “Coming Of Age” will be released on July 21. How long did the writing process originally take?
Tom: The song “Higher Ground” is probably about a year and half old.
Charlie: Yeah that was the first one that sort of came about. That was probably about April or May of last year. That was the first song, but then all the others just quickly happened. We had a little break where the band almost ended; we weren’t sure if we were gonna do this EP. But we still had these songs ready to finish writing, and luckily we kept going with it. We finished the EP with the most recent song “Coming Of Age” in literally January, just before we went into the studio.
Where does the album title come from?
Charlie: I think we were just all at a time where we were coming out of college, which was like seventeen or eighteen. We were sort of going off in different directions, whether it was going to university or getting a job, and something really hit us all. It was something that made us realize that we had to make these decisions for ourselves, and that we had to, for the first time, really choose for ourselves. I think it’s sort of that process, and that timeline of when I realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life.
Where did a lot of the lyrical inspiration come from for this EP? What do you like to write about generally?
Charlie: It’s sort of just my own experiences, and my very confused feelings. It’s just the easiest way to do it, to write songs about it. It gives you some piece of mind about it all. If there’s something that sparks some sort of emotional feeling for me, I’ll write about it, whether it’s literally anything. I’ve tried to base them around things like coming of age, and decisions about my future, and general things that happened in that past year. “Coming Of Age” is sort of the main one that brings in everything about the EP, and my process of how I was coming to terms with how I make these decisions. Kind of hard to explain. (laughs)
Tell me about the EP artwork. What is the significance behind it?
'Coming Of Age' EP artwork
Tom: We went to this guy for the artwork, and it’s meant to show someone facing the bigger things in life.
Charlie: Yeah, so like when you’re going out into that world and there’s that danger. We explained to him how it was sort of about coming of age, and the general vibe. He said “Okay I’ll go in and think about some stuff.” When he came back to us, he had three or four really good ideas, but that one we felt really epitomized it, really. You see the danger of the guy walking into the wilderness, sort of facing his fears up front. We felt that it was very different; I think that was the thing that we liked about it most.
Tom: Yeah we didn’t think it looked like a pop-punk EP cover.
The next two questions I ask to every artist that I interview. First: what kind of message would you like fans to walk away with after listening to your music?
Charlie: I guess that everyone goes through the same sort of stuff in life. Everyone comes to that moment at some point in their life, so you’re not really alone in that aspect, and everything sort of turns out alright in the end. But it’s going with a more happy vibe, and it’s that sort of summer feel. We want people to listen to it positively, and get that sort of teenage angst out of it.
Second: what does music mean to you?
Tom: That’s a hard one. I want it to be typical and just say “everything”, because I’m sure that’s what everyone would say.
Charlie: I think it’s like, universally, everyone likes music and wants to be in a band. They have the same sort of feelings towards it, regardless of the music. They enjoy people listening to their music, and playing shows. I think everyone shares that same common drive and passion for it. We just enjoy what we’re doing.
Tom: It’s also something that you can cling to at any sort of age. You can still be forty, and still be well into music.
Last question: what are the future plans for Homebound right now? You’ve got the EP coming out on the 21st, but if there’s anything else you want to let fans know about, go for it!
Charlie: We’re currently sort of in the middle of booking shows. We’ve got a tour ready to announce that’s still in the mix. We’re already writing for the next EP. We’ve just started going straight into it. Hopefully another video for this EP. We’ll see how it goes really. We just want to get this one out and see what people’s reactions to it are. We hope it has a good, positive effect on everyone and they enjoy listening to it as much as we’ve enjoyed writing it.
Homebound's new EP 'Coming Of Age' will be available on July 21.
This has been another shameless promotion.