Liv chats with The Home Team

Liv: Batman or Superman? (Or someone else??)
Daniel: Hawkeye because he’s just like a regular guy who’s really good at archery and somehow manages to stay alive while battling supervillains and aliens. (Solid answer)
John: The Watchmen - I always felt like it was a much more realistic look into what having superheroes in our world would be like. But if I had to choose: Batman - I feel like Superman is just the kid on the playground who has every single super power ever which feels lame. (Also very valid)
Ryne: X-Men reigns supreme. (I'll give it to you- but that's...not one person lol)
Brian: Between them, Batman, but I’ve always had an affinity for Wolverine. Also Captain Planet because he’s fighting the most dangerous villain of all and no one cares lol. (Props for a very solid Captain Planet answer. Also- please look up the lore of the Milwaukee Milverine.)

Liv: Samurai, Cowboy, or Astronaut? THT: Astronaut for sure, we want to get the hell off this planet. (VIBES)

Liv: If you could switch roles with someone in the band who would you switch with?
John: I would love to play bass - I actually started with bass and a lot of the music we write is so bass driven and heavy.
Brian: Also bass, that shit rocks. (This is a big plot twist, but duly noted- everyone wants to be Ryne, got it.)

Liv: Some bands you think people should listen to more? THT: Polkadot Stingray, Bad Rabbits, Kaonashi, Humanity’s Last Breath, Don Broco. (Aye Aye Captains!)

Liv: What’s something you’re looking forward to in the next few months? THT: Getting a little break from touring and focusing on the singles campaign and the album release! (There's no more comfortable bed than your own, I dig it.)

Liv: What’s the weirdest green room setup you’ve seen? Daniel [I think]: I feel like I haven’t seen anything wild on any of our tours, but I heard from a friend that a huge band he toured with had a gaming room set up for the singer at every venue. That’s my ultimate goal now. (That almost seems like it should be a staple!)
Brian: There was, however, one time that we played Heaven at the Masquerade in Atlanta and our good friend who was driving for one of the headlining bands got to our green room before us, turned all the furniture around to face the walls, and when we walked in we didn’t even question it, we were just like “huh that’s weird” and moved them all back/sat on them as they were. (All that effort and y'all just rolled with it lol)

Liv: What’s your go to funny tour story? John: The latest one that happened to me was on the UK tour with The Used. I had asked our driver and friend, Sam, some UK slang I should know which he responded with “Taking the piss out of me” which I guess is the US equivalent of are 'you f*cking with me.' I thought he said “Taking the Piss Hat” so I asked who wears the piss hat in this situation, which obviously confused Sam, so it became the inside joke to ask who was wearing the Piss Hat. (I'm imagining The Cat in the Hat hat, but...make it piss shaped.)
Brian: One of my favorites is when we were passing through the Canadian border and I was driving. I’d asked the border patrol officer “Hey, how’s it going?” as I pulled up and he straight up ignored me. Then, from the back of the van, one of our crew (same mf from the green room furniture story) yells “HE SAID HOW’S IT GOING???” and boy let me tell you my a**hole has never puckered that fast in my life. The officer didn’t seem to care about that either. (I don't know who this man is, but I love him for his chaos.)

Liv: What are your must haves for tour?
We have a pourover [coffee] rig inside a pelican, it comes with us into every green room, and we would actually perish without it. Also, electrolyte beverages. (Men after my own heart.)

Liv: What are some stand out moments from past tours?
THT: We’ve had a couple “we made it” moments in the last year or so. The first time was playing Heaven at The Masquerade in Atlanta (the big room) opening for Real Friends and With Confidence, that was the biggest room we’d ever played and the most people we’d ever played to at the time. The second one was headlining a sold out Baltimore Soundstage after we had played there 6 months earlier on that same Real Friends tour.
The most recent one was the London show of our tour with The Used and Honey
Revenge. That was the biggest show we’ve ever played, on our first time in the UK, and the crowd response was wild. (I love this for you guys. You're on constant repeat for me, so I can't wait until you're headlining shows this big for yourselves.)

Liv: As a band, how did you get to the style of music you make. It’s definitely unique- any inspirations for that sound? THT: When we wrote our first record, we were writing what we thought people would like, it wasn’t really us. We all grew up playing in metal and hardcore bands and we wanted to distance ourselves from heavy music because we were trying to be the opposite of that. With our second record, Slow Bloom, we decided to dig into our roots and just write a record that was representative of our tastes and our background. We used an 8-string guitar, funkier basslines, and dancier drums, which in turn inspired Brian to write more R&B influenced vocals, and that’s pretty much our recipe. (Amazing. And definitely relatable- trying to fit into a box and then finding a rhythm that works better for you guys. 10/10)

Liv: Who did you grow up listening to?
Daniel: A lot of nu-metal bands like Limp Bizkit, System of a Down, Linkin Park.
John: Mostly metal, rap/hip hop, and R&B.
Ryne: Mostly metalcore/post hardcore, with some older punk bands like AFI and H20 in my early years. I, like many millennials, was raised on the Warped Tour scene.
Brian: A combination of scene post-hardcore, prog metal, and rap/hip-hop. (All of this checks out. Definitely a good vibe to grow up listening to.)

Liv: Did you have a mindset going into writing your new album or did the songs come together individually to create the album? THT: We wanted to take what we did on Slow Bloom and amplify it. Bigger choruses, dancier drums and bass grooves, catchier vocals. We recorded with a couple of different people to try something new, but ultimately we learned that we need to trust ourselves and our vision of the band. This album was definitely harder to write and record than Slow Bloom was, but we’re stoked on how everything turned out and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it! (I'm so excited to listen to it! And I LOVE the vibe of 'Loud,' which definitely stood out from Slow Bloom so I'm looking forward to a whole album of that!)

Liv: What do you want to share about the upcoming album? THT: The new album has the grooviest stuff we’ve ever written, the heaviest stuff we’ve ever written, and the catchiest stuff we’ve ever written. If you liked Slow Bloom, you’ll love the new record. (Again- so excited.)

Liv: What are some goals for you and for the band? THT: We’re hoping to land some dope tours for 2024, release the new album, and eventually have our biggest headline tour yet. We also really want to tour Europe, Australia, and Japan! (Just a matter of time for you guys!)

Liv: Anything fun you want to share regarding future work OR favorite band you’ve gotten to work with?
John: We got some fun collabs on the new album!
Brian: Issues collab will only extend to these shows! However, Sky and Ty have been with us for the last two albums now helping us write and produce them, and that most likely will not change.

Liv: Anyone you’d like to work with? THT: We would do anything to collab with T-Pain. Mr. Pain, if you’re reading this, we’re big fans. (Megan Thee Stallion/Spiritbox who? A The Home Team/T-Pain colab would be amazing.)

Thank you, The Home Team, for chatting with us! We can't wait to see what you have in store for 2024!