HOMETOWN CREW - Shine Through Hard Times ! (The Netherlands - HardCore - Interview with Daan).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music? 
Hey what’s up? We’re a band called Hometown Crew from the Netherlands. We started this band at the end of 2014, so about 12 years already. All of us had a passion for music in our own way for years before we started this band. We all come from a variety of musical backgrounds and experiences with some of us being active in the local Hardcore scene while others had an interest in more Metal and other related genres or even completely non-heavy genres. We’ve always been passionate about the energy and message in Hardcore and Punk and how it’s a scene that’s truly built by people who do it out of passion and love for the music.

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
The band initially got started by me, Daan, singer and Bassplayer (Nick) who frequently visited shows from bands our friends played in within the local Hardcore scene. After a while the idea started taking shape to start a band ourselves. We especially wanted to do a band that would bring back the kind of Hardcore from the early 2000’s that had its roots in “Youth Crew Hardcore” but with a sense of melody and emotional urgency. The sound that wasn’t as mosh oriented but more focused on Sing-A-Longs and Stage Dives. Since we didn’t want to be another “side project” from guys in our scene and wanted to draw new people into our local scene we started to ask around to find some people and got in touch with our original guitar player Richard who brought in Kobus as a drummer. We played with that line up for about a year until our second guitar player (Sven) got added to the band who was a good friend of our drummer Kobus. We actually played with that same line up for 10 Years. By the time we reached the 10 year mark we had been able to do a lot of cool things. To name a couple, we played some amazing festivals like Tells Bells and Pitfest and did many cool tours around Europe and the UK. Some of these tours were done DIY other were as a part of larger packages with the highlight being the Rebellion Tour with Madball, Drain and H2O. We still had some goals to explore but life and it’s responsibility’s definitely made it harder for all of us to maintain it. Around the 10 year mark Richard had to make the difficult decision to focus on other things. After searching for a new guitar player for a while we got in touch with Ivo who has been a part of the band for a while now. Since that time we did a couple cool shows and toured as direct support for Battery.

Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
Our sound is very much influenced by early 2000’s Hardcore bands. Bands that had some roots in Youth Crew/Hardcore Punk but with more melodic elements and a message that was more interpersonal and vulnerable. We were very much inspired by bands like Bane, Have Heart, Go It Alone, Carry On, With Honor and Verse.
I don’t like telling people what to do. But if you want to listen to Hardcore that isn’t just about heavy riffs and tough lyrics (We’re absolutely no tough guys) but is vulnerable, emotional an yet energetic you could give us a spin.

Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ? 
As mentioned above, our influences come very much from early 2000’s Hardcore. Bands like Go It Alone, Bane, Have Heart etc. For us personally, lyrics should be on the forefront of every Hardcore band. When I listen to a band I want to see that what you sing about is “Real” and an unapologetic expression of you as a person. It doesn’t matter if it’s tough lyrics or something very vulnerable. It has to be YOU and show some depth. Looking at that, a lot of the lyrics we write are about personal struggles and challenges I/We’ve been through around the time of writing a specific song. It’s an attempt to reflect on a situation or to reflect on yourself as a person and how you’ve approached things and what you could’ve done better. But it often comes down to: Trying to be a good person, the way we show love to others, the way we look at life and our own place in the world.

About your latest release ? 
Our latest release has been about 1 year ago. It was our second full length album “All Things Considered” which was produced, record and mixed/mastered by Daan Nieboer at Cornerstone Audio in the Netherlands. The artwork is actually done DIY. Our bassplayer Nick and drummer Kobus spent a day creating the painting of the artwork. Once that was done they buried it in the ground for about a week to make it look old and damaged. After digging it up we asked our friend Levi Brouns (Who also did our band photo’s) to take pictures of it while staging it with some old furniture inside and old theatre in our city. There are multiple meanings behind the artwork that I’ll leave up to personal interpretation for now. The record is available online and on Vinyl through Positive & Focused Records, Dead Serious Records and Bandcamp.

Future plans ? 
At the moment we try to plan some little tours, shows and weekenders again. It’s been a bit more quiet lately and our time is a bit more limited nowadays since we all got older, have some other responsibility’s and one of us is becoming a dad soon. So it’s a bit more challenging but we are looking into getting out there again and doing some cool things.

Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
Honestly, everything up to this point has been one big surprise. We started this band when we were very young, between the ages of 14 and 19. If you told us back then we’d play shows with Madball and Battery we would’ve looked at you like you were insane, let alone the fact we got to tour with those bands. It still feels a bit surreal sometimes that we got to do this as a band from a city most people barely ever heard of. I think the last 12 years have been insane altogether.

Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ? 
Hard to say. Every concert is different. Sometimes it’s the great crowd you remember or special connections you make with people. Other times it’s the insane heat and having to vomit after the show from exhaustion, or the fact that it’s just you and another band with literally nobody showing up. Cause we’ve also had those shows. We did run into a couple crazy and even dangerous situations on a few occasions but I’d rather not talk about those. The thing is, we always made sure we had a good time. Sometimes a terrible show was still an amazing night because there was no pressure and we just enjoyed the fact that we were in a new place having a laugh with the 5 of us.*

Next live-appearance(s) ?
We’re actually doing a small local show for fun on Febuary 21st. It’s one I’m promoting myself for our friends in Spear from our city and Without Love from the UK. We were looking into doing a couple shows with them around this time but couldn’t make it because of a multitude of reasons. However, since this one was basically in our backyard we could work something out.

Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ?
Our local “Weert City Hardcore” scene has been great for years. We all come from a small city where there simply wasn’t a lot to do. For some reason that sparked quite a bit of an alternative scene where some Hardcore bands started popping up. It started with bands like Slugger, Boost, Blood of Kings and Stab by Stab but eventually a younger crowd started showing up with bands such as Defeated Decade (Whose members later formed SPEAR), Cold Grip and ourselves. Since we were such a small scene we knew that gatekeeping it wouldn’t make sense. We basically welcomed anyone that wanted to be a part of it and didn’t worry about fashion or whatever style of Hardcore your band was playing. We helped each other and  still do. Losing some venues during Covid has made it a bit more difficult to organise shows like we used to but everyone’s still very much connected !

Last word is yours.. 
Times are weird nowadays. The world is in an uproar, the music climate has been changing a lot in the past years and it’s noticeable in punk and hardcore as well. Don’t forget what this music was always about. Build true connections, expand your worldview, be a good person, stand up for what is right and contribute. Because if you do, the world opens up to you in amazing ways.