The Home Team – Better Off

By starrymag | July 18, 2018

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound? 

 

Daniel: We’re basically a bunch of guys in our 20s who never got out of our Panic! and Fall Out Boy phase.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

Brian: I The Mighty, Coheed and Cambria.

 

John: Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World and Panic!

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “She’s Quiet.” 

 

Brian: “She’s Quiet” is about finding that sense of infatuation with someone and falling in love after years of emotional stagnation. I, basically, got to a point where I didn’t think it was possible for me to ever find myself falling head over heels for someone and once I did, it was incredible. Shout out to my girlfriend Tess.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to? 

 

Brian: Regardless of whether or not someone went through what I did prior to falling head over heels, I think there are a lot of people out there who cherish the feeling they get when they know they’ve found someone really special. Lyrics like: “You should see what I’ve become: so obsessively lost in the way I love,” I think have the ability to connect with anybody who’s felt that before.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics? 

 

Brian: Typically, yes. From what I’ve come to understand, my songwriting process is apparently unusual. I typically take the instrumental track, pop it into Logic, midi piano melodies that I think fit well, adjust them as I see fit, write lyrics with those melodies in mind, alter the melodies to accommodate the lyrics and voila! However, within the last six months, I’ve actually been coming up with a lot of hooks on my own, without music to accompany them. I’ll be writing music to these hooks once I get home from tour, and we’ll see how the process goes!

 

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music? 

 

Ryan: We do pre-production in my home studio for every song that we write. Then, we send it off to our producer (Casey Bates for this record) to critique. We go back and forth a bit, and then by the time we hit the studio to actually record it, we’ve worked out most of the kinks and we have a pretty good idea of how each song is going to sound.

 

Q) What can fans expect from a live The Home Team performance? 

 

Daniel: LOTS of energy. We all come from a metal and hardcore background, so we’re used to going as hard as possible during our sets. We get the crowd involved a lot and really feed off of their energy. If you come see us live, you’ll have a good time, we promise.

 

Q) What songs off your Better Off LP are you looking forward to performing live? 

 

Brian: By now, I think we’ve already pretty much played every song from Better Off live that we’ll be playing, with the exception of “She’s Quiet.” Personally, “Fashion Forward” and “Since We All Fell Apart” have been my favorites to play live.

 

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to your new LP as a whole? 

 

Brian: Don’t take anything for granted, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

 

Daniel: We just played The Masquerade in Atlanta and that’s probably the coolest venue we’ve ever played as a band. The staff there was incredible and even though we were literally on the opposite side of the country for the first time, we had a bunch of kids singing along with us which was a trip. Obviously, we love playing at home too and few things can beat playing to our friends in Seattle, but we also love playing in Logan, UT. There’s a venue there called WhySound that has treated us super well from the start and our friends in Logan are the best.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future? 

 

Daniel: I’d love to do something with Kendrick Lamar. He’s my favorite artist out right now and I think everything he does is super interesting. I’d love to be in the studio and work with him in any capacity.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

 

THT: Don Broco. That’s our current jam, can’t get enough of them. They have a super unique sound and are really groovy. Everything about that band rules.

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans? 

 

Daniel: Fans can interact with us literally whenever they want and that gives them a connection to us that past generations have never had. I have two cats (the ones in our video for “Fashion Forward”) that I post about a lot and I get people who I’ve never met before talking to me about how cute Sophia is or how silly Izzy looked with her little Yoda hat on. Because of social media, fans can see pretty much everything we’re doing on a daily basis, which definitely helps us all connect.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work? 

 

THT: Thank you guys so much for listening to our music and hanging out with us on tour. We’re super proud of our new record and we hope you love it as much as we do. If you haven’t seen us live yet, come catch us at a show!