South East pop-punk quintet Homebound have spent a year behind closed doors, writing, writing and writing some more, until they were ready to share their infectious fruits with the world. The result is their 6-track debut EP Coming Of Age, and we caught up with vocalist Charlie to give us a track-by-track insight on it all. Find out more below…
Valour
After what was originally a full four minute song, we condensed it down to be the perfect intro track for our EP. It reveals feelings of regret and self-pity at a time I didn’t feel I had much to shout about. I knew it was the start of a long year and that I wasn’t gonna get through it like this. Sometimes you have to keep a level head and believe that things will turn out for the best.
Turning Point
It was also the first song we recorded up at Emeline Studios with Ian. We had only really played this song as a full band 3 or 4 times before going to record so we were surprised with how good the outcome was! Lyrically, it is quite aggressive. It’s a build-up of feelings over time that at some point were going to boil over. Sometimes you have to take a step back and see that things aren’t gonna work if they keep going the way they are. Some people might find comfort in this song about a girlfriend or a boyfriend but that is not what I wrote it about!
High Ground
High Ground was the first song idea conceived for this EP and has undergone many changes. If you listened to the early demos of this song you would be surprised with how different the final outcome is. We all look to learn from previous experiences and use these to help make better choices in the future. This song shows my sporadic thought process. The up and down feelings you have, the overthinking of situations and the conflicting interests.
Clutching Straws
We wanted to write a simple verse chorus structured song. It’s one of the more ‘old school’ sounding songs on the EP. The riff played after the chorus is reminiscent of Blink 182 as a form of homage; a way to show our appreciation for their music. It’s about not giving up on something you feel passionately about however improbable it seems. There will always be setbacks and people will tell you to think otherwise but sometimes you’ve got to be gutsy and do what’s right for you. We wanted an upbeat and positive song on the EP and I think lyrically and instrumentally, that’s demonstrated in this song.
Second Best & No Regrets
As a band this is definitely the song that we are most proud of. It’s another song that went through a multitude of changes. Vocal parts were completely rewritten and the drum parts dramatically changed. It took a while for us to get a solid version of this song down for the studio but on the day it came out better than we could ever have expected. We all have different things going on in our lives, some more important than others. You may have to make sacrifices for what means more to you and that’s what this song is about. I found myself in this position and took a matter of fact view on it.
Coming of Age
This song was a very late addition to the EP. We started improvising together at a practice and realised what we were playing was worth something. We managed to completely write the song only a few weeks before we hit the studio and it turned out to be one of our favourites. With this being the EP track title, you can already guess it has the most relevance to the EP and its meaning. I think like most people my age, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t even know where to start looking with the all the endless possibilities. I think the freedom of it all scared me the most. So this song explains how I came to terms with it all.
Coming Of Age is released 21st July 2014. Check out lead track Coming Of Age below and keep an eye on the site for our upcoming review!
