Seattle, WA · pop-metalcore

The Home Team

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Seattle's funk-flecked pop-metalcore — groove first, breakdowns second, and falsetto hooks the scene didn't see coming.

The Home Team began when guitarist John Baran and drummer Daniel Matson, both veterans of hardcore and metal bands in the early 2010s, started writing pop-punk songs together as a side project. Once those earlier bands ended, they formed The Home Team in 2013 with vocalist Jairod Collins, guitarist Nick Alzate and bassist Alex Larson, releasing the debut EP Black Sheep in 2014.

The band works in the space between pop-punk, pop-rock and heavier post-hardcore, pairing clean, high-register vocal hooks with syncopated guitar work and rhythms that borrow from funk and R&B as often as from metalcore. That mix has given them a following among listeners who came to the group through the wider alternative and pop-punk scene.

By 2015, vocalist Brian Butcher, guitarist Ryan Murgatroyd and bassist Rob Saireh had joined, and the group began putting out singles independently. Murgatroyd left in 2019 to work as an audio engineer and died in June 2023; the band played a memorial show for him at The Crocodile in Seattle. Bassist Ryne Olson later settled into the lineup alongside Baran and Matson.

Signed to Revival Recordings, The Home Team released its debut album Better Off in 2018, produced by Casey Bates. A second album, Slow Bloom, followed in 2021, made with producers Skyler Acord of Issues and Seb Barlow of Neck Deep. After signing with Thriller Records in 2023, the band put out The Crucible of Life in 2024, produced by Zach Jones.

The Home Team has toured widely, sharing stages with Don Broco, Senses Fail, Neck Deep, The Used and Dance Gavin Dance, and supporting State Champs on UK dates. Vocalist Brian Butcher also filled in for the band Issues at their farewell shows in 2024.

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pop-metalcore