Homeward Bound interview with singer / guitarist Michael Anderson.

When did Homeward Bound form and how did it all come together?

After Irrelevant called it a day, I wasn’t interested in playing in a band at all. I tried jamming with a few people, but it felt forced and more of a chore. I knew I would eventually be interested in playing music at some stage, it was just a matter of when. I have played guitar long before playing drums so after a year or so I picked up the guitar and started mucking around. I was toying with recording some songs myself and Doddo formerly of Easy Company fame mentioned he was interested in hearing them and having a jam. Shaun caught wind of it and was keen as well. And on arrival to the studio Bish walked in to my surprise. They had previously jammed which I didn’t know about and Shaun had invited him along. So it was all pretty unplanned actually. Doddo was busy with Easy Company and pulled the pin. Not long after we asked Jared and it all has rolled on from there.

Would readers recognize the members from any other bands?

Jared aka Jerry aka J-fresh played drums in Rex Banner, Chris Bischof aka Bish played in The Chunks and Omerata, Shaun Warren aka Waz aka Rock dog played in Stepping Stone.

People might best know you as the drummer from Irrelevant or Last Nerve perhaps. What prompted the move out from behind the drums to guitar and inevitably singing?

I had always wanted to have a go at playing guitar and singing in a band. It was mostly curiosity to see if I could do it. So clearly we have found out I can’t ha-ha.

Was it more of a Dave Grohl inspired move or perhaps more like Phil Collins?

Dave Grohl huh, shit didn’t that dude do it right. Fuck I wish. Based off looks I’m gonna have to say Phil. You can’t deny the intro to “In the Air Tonight”!

Had you done much singing before in previous bands? Some backups for Irrelevant perhaps?

Nope.

Is the pressure taken off you a bit with the vocal ability of bass player Bish? You guys kind of swap the singing role around a lot?

Yeah for sure, this singing shit is hard. With the songs we are putting out the majority of them had vocals before we jammed so it’s turned out that I’m singing the songs I wrote previously and Bish is singing the ones he had written. There are a few that were written together and I had vocal ideas for those so I ended up singing them too. Bish and I throw lines here and there in each other’s songs just to mix it up and Waz is doing lots of backups, which thickens out the sound. As for new songs we want to make every song have both of us singing parts to make it sound more like us then individuals singing each song.

In your own words how would you describe the sound of Homeward Bound?

Melodic punk rock!

What bands are influencing the sound of Homeward Bound?

For the most part Sommerset, Hot Water Music and Avail but we have some pretty different influences that may creep into the sound in the future. I was gonna say definitely no keys but we have piano on the recording ha-ha. Let’s leave it at no synth and no turntables, I can safely say that.

Lyrically can you break down what some of the songs are about?

Speaking for the ones I have written some lyrical concepts are: Music and letting bullshit get in the way of the pure form of something that I love, inspiration, losing friends, wasting life, Assholes (people not literal), everybody having secrets. And the bullshit games the mainstream media plays.

What would be a dream line up of bands to play with?

HWM, Avail, Sommerset, All, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters. Shit so many.

What’s coming up in the near future for Homeward Bound? Any plans for a first release?

Definitely, we are sorting it all out at the moment so expect something in the next two months or so.

How can people get in touch or keep up with what’s happening in the band or listen to some of your music?

We have a facestalk page http://www.facebook.com/homewardboundmusic

Or you can call Bish on 1800 more bass