Start Listening To: Home Counties
Welcome to a shotgun wedding between 70’s post-punk and early 2000’s pop.
Since 2020, Home Counties have been making a ruckus on London’s DIY scene. Purveyors of self-defined wonk pop, proudly share their School of Rock obsession and let us into the mysteries of rural life. Their language transcribes into a tongue-in-cheek light-heartedness, snappy lyrics and happily discombobulated instrumental. Today, they’ve sat down with us to share secret paths leading to their home county.
Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
We are Home Counties, formed in Bristol and now residing in East London. We’re from Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire originally, hence the home counties have always had a place close to our heart. Our music has changed a lot since the early days and has been called every name under the sun since, I’ve always been a fan of calling it ‘wonk pop’
How did it all start?
Me and Dan have been playing together since primary school, inspired by School of Rock. Conor joined us in secondary school, where we formed our old project Haze which we played in for years.. We got fed up of that a few years back, enlisted Barn on synths/percussion, and formed Home Counties whilst we were living in Bristol for uni. Bill, from Barn’s other band Jerry, joined us this summer on bass - and the rest is history.
If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?
A shotgun wedding between 70’s post-punk and early 2000’s pop - think David Bryne meets Britney Spears
How are you feeling about the upcoming release of your new EP 'In A Middle English Town’?
Buzzing. It feels like our music has changed so much since the first EP ‘Redevelopment’, which was very much the sound of us forming and working out who we were as a band. Our last release ‘Redevelopment’ came out in the midst of the first lockdown and so we didn’t get the chance to promote it as we wanted, but now that the world is opening up again, we can finally play some shows and let the music come to life a bit. It definitely captures more of a live sound than our lockdown singles (‘Modern Yuppies’ and ‘White Shirt/Clean Shirt’).
Can you tell us more about the themes behind this EP?
The EP centres around small town and rural everyday life. A lot of it focuses on changes in everyday life over the last 50-odd years, but there are also more pervasive themes of village mentality and community. The whole EP takes a pretty light hearted and tongue-in-cheek look at these themes, rather than being a mass critique.
How do you feel about touring this year?
Absolutely thrilled. We managed to get on the road a little bit last summer supporting our friends Feet and Courting and it felt great - we’re looking forward to getting out there again. The good thing about booking a headline tour is that you get to hit up your favorite spots, old and new.
What inspires your music?
When we started out we were really into the new emerging ‘post-punk’ stuff, particularly Duds, as well as older stuff like Devo and Wire. More recently we’ve sort of reorientated towards the dancier side of 70s/80s alternative, with more electronic centrality, as well as 00’s pop. I think ‘The Home Counties’ has got a bit of a Year 3000 thing going on.
What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your
band?
Play notes that are one fret apart on guitar, make the synth sound as cheesy as possible and sing in a silly voice.
If your music were a film or TV show which would it be?
We’re all big fans of ‘Withnail and I’ which summarizes our band quite nicely; shabby Londoners making a pilgrimage back to the country.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?
We’ve all got our own favorites, but we all agree that ‘Light Up Gold’ by Parquet Courts is central to all of our musical education. 2022 marks 10 years since that album came out and there are still bands emerging trying to rip it off to this day (we should know, we were one). Everything from the production, the performances, and the songs, make it an unparalleled post-punk album in the 2010s. Agreeing upon a favorite album is essential to any band formation, and for us, that album was ‘Light Up Gold’.
What do you hate right now?
Trying to juggle full-time employment and the band
What do you love right now?
This amazing Italian cafe on Bethnal Green Rd is called ‘E Pellici’. It’s breakfast is absolutely unbeatable and should be the first place you go to should you find yourself in East London. If you go, be sure to say hello to Nev.
What comes next in the Home Counties’ story?
After the EP release and the headline tour, we plan on getting back to writing again. Maybe we will be in album territory by then. As well as a bunch of shows around the country beforehand, we’ve got a few festivals lined up this summer too which we can’t way for, hopefully trying out some of the new material.
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
This feels like a good space for the obligatory plug.. Come catch us on tour next month. We’ll be hitting up:
16 Feb - Jericho Tavern, Oxford
17 Feb - Hare & Hounds 2, Birmingham
18 Feb - Castle Hotel, Manchester
19 Feb - Headrow House, Leeds
21 Feb - Louisiana, Bristol
22 Feb - Heartbreakers, Southampton
23 Feb - Prince Albert, Brighton
24 Feb - Lexington, London