Interviews: Hometown Crew

In this new occasion we have the great opportunity to interview the Hardcore Punk band Hometown Crew from The Netherlands, here we will let you their FACEBOOK PAGE to give them a like and follow them.We have nothing more to say, so enjoy this interview!

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?  

Well, the idea for the band name is quite a long story.  Coming up with a band name is probably harder than writing your first song, you come up with a lot of ridiculous names and the ones you do like all seem to be taken. Pretty frustrating haha.

Now we come from a city where hardcore really is flourishing at this very moment and when we started there were only two bands. One is the band of good friends of ours (Defeated Decade) who ,at the time, had been going at it for about two years. The other one was Blood of Kings with some guys that were somewhat older than us who had really been the only hardcore band in our city carrying the torch and actively playing the local shows for years. Now they had a song called "Hometown" expressing their love for the city. While we were thinking hard about the band name we decided we wanted to do a little tribute to their persistence and effort in our local scene. And their persistence really paid off because opportunities for the local kids are popping up everywhere right now.

We had been rehearsing quite a while before we settled on the name deciding we were going to call ourselves "Hometown Crew" after their song in combination with the old school/Youth Crew sound we were working with back then. And most importantly, the name wasn't taken haha

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

The basic idea for the band was founded by our bass player (Nick) and Vocalist (Dan)  It kind of took some time defining what we really wanted to do but it was pretty clear to us that we wanted to bring back the kind of hardcore that we really missed looking at the current "trends".

We wanted to make music that was energetic, that would make people want to sing along to, stage dive  and just move, smile and have fun. Nick had always been really into old school punk like Black Flag and fast melodic punk  like Rise Against and I myself had always been really into youth crew and the things that evolved from that. And the both of us had always really liked bands such as Champion, Have Heart and especially Bane.

When it became clear that Bane was going to call it quits it kind of felt like the end of something we held very dear and that's when it became clear to us that this is what we wanted to do to keep this style of Hardcore going and represented. It still needs some work defining the sound but at least our creative goals are clear to us, and as long as we are genuine and honest in what we do we're happy with what we're doing. We were just Hardcore kids wanting to give it a go.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?  

Our bass player and I knew each other quite well, we went to the same high school and we had been supporting our friends their band for quite a while. There were possibilities for us to work with people we knew who wanted to do a side project, but we felt like working with them would be a disservice to us. That's because we felt our band would come to be "That side project". Also we wanted to introduce new, local kids to Hardcore and you can't do that when you keep working within the same network over and over again.

We got to know our guitar player (Richard) through a guy who gave me (Daan) some guitar lessons and when we contacted him he introduced us to our current drummer (Kobus). Both of them knew their instruments surprisingly well and they were really into heavy music like metal.

So in the end we were able to show them something new and exciting and they just really delivered the solid foundation to the band. And it worked really well since all of us were on the same page when it came to our work ethic. Over time they also really started getting into the music we introduced them to and that kept the drive going really well.

4. Each band member favourite band?  

Daan (Vocals):  That's a pretty tough decisions because I would have to chose between either Bane or Have Heart.  But if I had to pick I would definitely say Bane. It's a band that has been there ever since I started listening to Hardcore when I was fifteen and that has really given me a lot of perspective on life. Without that I probably would have turned out a little different so that band has a special place with me and their music is still teaching me lessons every day, also they always remind me how much I love Hardcore. They have really defined the way I approach Hardcore and our band.  It's been pretty hard seeing them say their final goodbyes in Europe a while ago.

Nick (Bass):  Not that hard for me, I had the logo inked into my arm when I was seventeen. Definitely Rise Against, especially the old stuff! This band has gotten me through more rough times and dark places than I'd honestly like to remember. When I was fourteen an old classmate send me 'Worth Dying For' and I was pretty hooked. It made me the person I am today. It got me into skateboarding, made me see eating meat sucks pretty hard (in my honest opinion) and taught me to always question people who are trying to control you. Through any type of music I have listened to, from Slipknot to Pink Floyd, from Bring me the Horizon (pretty ashamed of that one) to Against All Authority, Rise Against was, and still is, my very favourite.

Kobus  (Drums): Children of Bodom! They have always inspired and motivated me to play guitar and drums, and to do things the way I do them today. They blow me away every time I hear or see them!

Richard (Guitar):  Well I like a lot of bands, and I have always been really into metal. I have got to say: Pantera, it's loud, fast metal and as a young guitarist I always really looked up to Dimebag. I have been listening to so many styles of metal it's hard to keep track. I almost went through the entire spectrum of metal haha. But pantera always stayed with me, it was the music that always got me moving or head banging. It also got me through a lot of hard times when I needed an outlet to my aggression when stuff just wasn’t working out. And Pantera was the way to let it out I guess.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Musically we would say that (once again) we would have to come up with a lot of the same answers.

Our approach in Hardcore is really inspired by bands such as Bane, Have Heart and Champion, we're not the most technical band or anything but we try to give everything at every show and just sweat our asses of and scream our heads off and have fun. So we're inspired by these bands in many ways, not just the song writing. Our music still needs some work and it takes time figuring out what works well. At the moment it's still pretty straight up Youth Crew  with some influences from bands such as Youth of Today and Ten Yard Fight. But in the future we want to bring some more melody into it. We're are planning to work with a second guitar player and write some more challenging music and lyrics that are more thought provoking. We would really like to use the Youth Crew sound as a basis and grow from there into something just a bit more interesting/melodic.

Lyrically we mostly tend to talk about problems with people/families, pressure from social environment, self reflection and how that connects to society.  We don't go to deeply into politics because those are subjects you can keep talking about (and it's good to know things about it), but they're not problems we can effectively change ourselves.

What we can do is give people some relief on frustrations in day to day life, dealing with people or setbacks or bad things that can happen to everyone. We can only hope that there's a small chance someone might relate to our lyrics and find some relief in it or even learn to be more patient or to reflect more on themselves/situations.

That's what hardcore always did for us personally so we really hope to keep that message going.  Because that is something we hope we CAN change instead of world politics  So we just hope we can be relatable and express what we think/feel in the meanwhile.

6. Where was your last gig?  

Well we try to play at least one show a month even though we are still a pretty young band. The past month was quite the struggle to find even one show but luckily we were welcome to play a benefit show for an animal shelter on the top floor of Cafe the Move in Arnhem (NL). It was quite the long drive having all our stuff packed in our little car but we had great fun and were really grateful to the guy Daniel for putting us on the bill even though he didn't know us and didn't know what to expect.  Met some pretty cool people there.

7. Where would you like to act?  

We don't really have specific places we would want to play. Every venue and city is always a surprise, but that's what makes it fun. We just love going to Hardcore shows and getting out there. The fun is in the adventure, the surprise of going places you otherwise never would have gone to and meeting people. You never know what you're going to find but as long as the people are friendly and excited it's always great.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Well we always like playing shows with the people from our hometown and we also know some really cool guys from the surrounding areas. We like playing with our friends in the bands named above and the guys from Ambush and Maniac Forces who are also from our province. We also met some really cool guys in bands such as Superhero Status. Also we really look forward to play along some guys we plan to do shows with in the future and to get to know them in person like Tango Mi Amor and Lifespite. There's so much to get excited about and look forward to, too much to mention.  But we try not to dream to much about things we'd want to do and just really appreciate all we can do, get to do and the nice people we get to meet.

But if we're allowed to dream, it would be really exciting if we could play with some bands from overseas such as Caught in a Crowd, True Identity, FREE or the Geeks. Also some guys we had some contact with in a really cool youth crew band called Mad World (Ohio). Would love to have them over to Europe and very recently we talked with a cool youth crew band from Argentina called EXCUSAS.

9. Whom not?  

There's not really a band we wouldn't like to play with. If we happen to notice that they are just really unfriendly people or that they send out a message we really do not stand behind such as some right wing or misogynistic bullshit we just let them do their thing and leave it at that. You can always give it a shot but if we happen to notice something like that or some arrogant rock star attitude it's probably as simple as a "once but never more" thing. Even though at the time it will probably be pretty aggravating, but that's just human and we need to get past such things if they ever happen to occur. Luckily it hasn't yet because we really don't agree with such things.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?  

Most of the guys had already done some smaller bands in High school but when we got the band together and started getting a bit more serious everyone was just really excited and ready to go and not nervous at all. I personally (Dan, Vocals) was the only one who had never been in a band before. But I was just really siked on Hardcore and when we did our first show I just screamed my head off and sweated my ass off and I just felt really at my place and it calmed me down more than it made me nervous.

I (Nick, Bass) almost shit myself the first time I went  on stage with a band. I think its pretty normal to have some stage fright, especially when you're young. When I went on the first times I didn’t have the 'If you don't like me, I don't care' attitude. I was scared shitless for what people might think of me. Now I honestly don't really give a damn and just do what I love most. So my advice? Fuck their opinions, do what you think is right!  You have no idea.. (Richard, Guitar). I played in a couple of smaller bands before but my first big gig was a show put up by school and I was backstage just stressing out. In the heat of the moment I tuned one string a tone down. We did a Nirvana cover and it sounded horrible and I got so bummed out. But you just keep playing because stopping in the middle of the song is unforgivable.

Any tips if you suffer from stage fright, well we would have to say this.  This might sound really cliché but if you really believe what you're doing as a band/person than you should be feeling just fine and excited every show. After the show you can just politely ask people about their opinion and things they would improve just so you know what to work on because there wouldn't be much left to do if you couldn't improve something. And besides, you're in a hardcore band. It should therefore be pretty acceptable if you don't sound perfectly crisp.  Ever listened to the really early hardcore like SSD, MDC, Youth of Today and Minor Threat? They were purposely trying to sound rough around the edges. Just work hard and give it your all and be convinced about the things you say or scream and people will see that and everything will be fine. And rehearse a lot, that seems to help haha.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?  

We just keep mentioning the band Bane.  A band that really defined our approach in Hardcore and how we do shows, write music and play shows. Also we've taken a lot of influence from Champion and their "give all at every show" mentality. And Have Heart when it comes to music/lyrics but also how we do shows.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?  

Couldn't think of anything. We don't exactly have "fans", we do have gotten some great new friends and them just liking our music and asking us to play shows with them is a really big surprise in itself.

13. What do you think of your fans?  

Same thing, we have some great friends. Can't exactly call them fans but we are just really grateful there are people who like our music and who are willing to support us. That's something that's hard to believe because it's hard to be perfectly happy with everything you do yourselves. You always find new things you want to improve. So to anyone who enjoys what we do, that's just amazing.

14. What do you think of our site?  

Looks great, really cool website. Great to see that there are people who take the effort to promote bands and extend the reach of music. It's tough enough for bands to get their music out there so having sites like yours that are supportive of young bands is just great.

15. Something to add?

We would love to ask people to check out any of the bands we mentioned above.

They have been really supportive to us in our earliest stages of being a band and that really deserves to be mentioned. Also check out Retired Punx Fest, Weert Hard and COMA-Bookings, they supported us from the beginning. And shout out to our little scene and anyone who contributed to it in any way, by showing up or by booking shows and being in bands or starting new ones.

And a sincere thank you for wanting to interview us, we honestly really appreciate it.