Homestate are a pop-punk band from Perth, Western Australia, Australia. The band was previously known as ‘At The Counter’ and were active under this name from 2007-2017. This self-titled EP is the second release from ‘Homestate‘ the first being an 11 track album called ‘A World Of Second Chances‘ which was released on the 15th of December 2018.
The band released a 5 track self-titled EP on the 29th of November 2019. Mixed and mastered by UK producer Seb Barlow (Neck Deep, As It Is, Roam). All 5 songs are over 3 minutes long so this is a decent amount of music for an EP.
The first track is called ‘Sunny Day’ (3:18) and it has a fade-in moment for an intro, before the drums start in then bam, the energy picks up with distorted guitars playing a strong progression of power chords. The guitar gets a bit creative as the song continues, with riffy parts and a nice melody piece of lead guitar work. The soundscape will keep you engaged as it heads for the bridge. It has a cool bass part backed by some solid drumming. The song has a fade-out style ending. The band gave a shout out to their former guitar player Aaron Jenkin for his contribution to the songwriting on this track. This song has had plays on Triple J’s Short. Fast. Loud program.
The second track ‘Breathe’ (3:22) opens with a clean guitar strumming away and vocals playing the chorus which teenagers everywhere should be able to relate to the opening line “stop hanging over me, I need some room to breathe” which is delivered with a catchy little melodic hook. The guitar gets creative again and displays great technique as it plays melodic leady parts through the verse, you can also hear riffy parts and sliding. This song is so well written it will be stuck in your head for ages, even the ending feels right.
In the middle of the EP is ‘Lifted’ (3:25) this song is all in from the start musically and full of energy. As the guitars shift to something more subtle the vocals start-up and really pushing hard. Amongst the familiar song pattern is some parts where the singing turns to talking, these parts add something different to the mix.
The next track is ‘Sick Sad World’ (3:28) which was released ahead of the EP in the form of a music video on the 10th of October 2019 … is anyone else thinking about the MTV show Daria? The song starts with some fast strumming on a clean guitar for a few bars then switches to distorted power chords as the whole band joins in. A leady riff part on the guitar makes the verse is softer musically but doesn’t last long before the energy picks up again. The song goes through a verse/chorus/verse/chorus pattern before arriving at the bridge where the soundscape drops again and we hear some trademark ‘whoa’ parts as it builds back up then turns to an echo fade-out ending. The band also gave a shout out to their former guitar player Aaron Jenkin for his contribution to the songwriting on this track. This song was added to the ‘New Pop-Punk Essentials’ playlist on Spotify.
The last track is ‘Happy’ (3:10) which was added to the ‘Skatepark Punks’ and ‘New Punk Tracks’ playlists on Spotify. This song has a really cool guitar part for an intro, it plays through twice before the heavy pop-punk power progression stuff starts. The vocal tracks feel more varied in this song than any of the others.
Overall this EP is a solid piece of work and the mix feels spot-on for pop-punk. The familiar song pattern might seem to run through all five tracks but the band manages to do enough to keep it interesting.
Homestate is Chad – vocals Tom – guitar Elliot – bass/keys Jack – drums Brian – guitar
Head over to one of the links and grab some music/merch and show your support for the band and the scene. If you like it support it
Homestate LINKS
Link Tree https://linktr.ee/homestateau
Facebook Link:https://www.facebook.com/homestateau/
Apple Music Link:https://music.apple.com/au/album/homestate-ep/1483178598
Bandcamp Link:https://homestateau.bandcamp.com/releases
Instagram Link:https://www.instagram.com/homestateau/?hl=en
Twitter Link:https://mobile.twitter.com/homestateau
