Homework are Michael, Santiago, Andrew and Lizzie, a 4-piece band from Glasgow that came to my attention back in October when a couple of people I follow on social media raved about them.
The band have a busy period coming up, with a string of gigs including bringing in the bells with a Glas-goes Pop show at Mono with Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake. Homework then keep momentum going with a gig as part of King Tuts New Year Revolution shows on 27th January.
So they are clearly getting their name out and about the Glasgow scene. That stems from the release of a self-titled 3-track EP via Gold Mold Records back in March 2023.
It has a delicious warm, melodic, fuzzy, slacker vibe to it. Think early Fanclub meets Pavement on a sunny day after a couple of cans of beer.
I was keen to find out a little more, so sent the band an email and they kindly got back to me.
If you read this in time you can catch them at BLOC on Wednesday 6th December.
When and how did you form?
The first two proto-Homework line-ups were formed in parallel back in 2019. On one end, Santiago (guitar) met Forbes (drums) at a cowboy themed party, and they started jamming as a noise duo. On the other end, Forbes was also playing with his primary school friend Michael (guitar).
Forbes cunningly merged these two projects together and recruited his friend Tom (bassist) formalising homework in early 2020. Covid unexpectedly hit before our first gig in april, Forbes moved to Estonia, and Tom to Aberdeen. This left Santiago and Michael playing occasional Maxwell Park acoustic jams before moving back to the studio in summer 2021.
Lizzie (30) was having a mid-life crisis and had just re-taken up the drums, her friend Izzy mentioned that we were looking for a drummer and one awkward email later, she was in. Izzy followed by taking up the bass and for a short period, our rhythm section had 4 zs!
Santiago was at the pub on a date and bumped into his old pal Alec and his brother Andrew (bassist). He started banging on about how great Pavement are, and how we needed a bassist to play on his birthday the following week. Andrew tentatively agreed to play, learning all the songs in a day, and was inducted into homework after quite a stellar performance.
2. Are you all involved in writing songs? How do you write/form your songs?
Santiago, Michael and Andrew are all songwriters. Lizzie plays the drums.
The process itself is quite collaborative with a no-front-person policy. Sometimes someone comes with a fragment of an idea, or a whole song, and we spend a lot of time jamming to figure them out. There is always quite a lot on the workbench and we love jumping from song to song. Every rehearsal is recorded and archived, so we can work on ideas at home individually. Extremely crucial to our process is spending a lot of time faffing about.
3. You've released one EP to date. Do you have any further releases in the pipeline?
Yes! Double a side single release, and a party for it in some near-future Glasgow 2024.
4. You have a busy run of shows into February including a couple of big ones at Mono with Norman Blake and then Tuts in January. What do you enjoy about playing live?
We like the general buzz that comes with hopping on the stage and putting up a good energetic show. We like to keep it quite relaxed, with a healthy dose of fuzzy chaos. One of the best parts is that we get to meet other people in great bands, hang out in a group and drink free beer. The conversations with people who you don't know after the shows adrenaline rush are really motivating.
We love really complimentary Dads. Shout out to the Dads, truly our strongest demographic.
5. Do you have much of a plan, or are you going with the flow?
We've got plans... We've got a gig coming up in London early next year, and would love to do more gigs outside of Glasgow *wink wink* promoters *wink wink* festivals *wink wink*
6. What music are you enjoying listening to at the moment?
Michael's been listening to MJ Lenderman, Bar Italia, Happyness,
Andrew has been listening to Second Grade, Ginger Root, Hotline TNT.
Santiago's been listening to this up and coming band called The Beatles, Autechre, Silver Jews, Kelora, Model/Actriz, and Beach House.
Lizzie's been listening to Divorce, Mega Bog, Dua Lipa's new one, and Beach House.
We have a playlist for this: Homework listens
7. Are there any other bands on the Glasgow scene you'd recommend checking out?
There are so many! As tempting as it is to rattle off a massive list of all our pals, we're wary of unintentionally offending anyone we'd inevitably forget. Come to our gig and well tell ya off the record : ) ; ) But we have a playlist for this to get you started: The Glasgow Scene
