If the phrase “heavy pop” sounds like a contradiction, then leave it to The Home Team to make it feel like the most natural thing in alternative music right now. With their biggest hit to date “Worthy,” the Seattle-based quartet are staking their claim, and rightfully so. From metal and hardcore roots to pop-hook obsession, the band is blending worlds in a way that makes them worthy of the spotlight.
Formed in 2013 in Seattle, The Home Team began as a collaboration between drummer Daniel Matson and guitarist John Baran, both seasoned in the metal scene. They were soon joined by now vocalist Brian Butcher in 2015 and later by bassist Ryne Olson, which finalized their lineup in 2019. The band’s first full-length album in 2018, Better Off , laid the groundwork for their signature sound, which continued to develop until the 2021 release of Slow Bloom. The album, produced by Skyler Acord (Set It Off, ISSUES), was followed by a deluxe edition in 2022, and marked a significant turning point. It was then that they gained increased online recognition from fans and other bands in the scene.
In 2023, The Home Team signed with Thriller Records, a move that provided them with the resources and support to fully execute their creative vision. Their third studio album, The Crucible of Life, was released last year, and a deluxe edition arrived in June of this year, which quickly garnered even more traction for the band.
With new momentum behind them, the band also found themselves reconsidering how to describe the sounds that set them apart from the rest of their peers in the metal scene. When explaining how the term “heavy pop” came about, Butcher shares he didn’t quite know if the band fit the title and it wasn’t until the band made and released their first single under Thriller, “LOUD” in December 2023, the term stuck. “Structurally, the songs are made as if they were pop songs, but with the same instruments as a rock song,” he says.
The term wasn’t invented by the band themselves but by Acord after working with each other more and more. Originally labeling his own band as “intercoastal heavy pop,” he pointed to The Home Team and said, “guys, I think this is heavy pop. I think you got it.”
Each member of The Home Team came out of the heavy music world, but they arrived at “heavy pop” by way of curiosity and not being confined into a box. Feeling a lack of creativity in some corners of metal and hardcore as the genres evolved, the band pivoted their sound, and rather than listening to more rock or metal, Butcher found himself drawn to female pop and R&B artists like Doja Cat and Doechii. He and guitarist Baran began using those influences as songwriting fuel.
The tension that the band thrives on –pop sensibility married to rock instrumentation – was finally coming together. Their background in hardcore and metal means that aggression is baked into the music’s DNA, but their taste for R&B, pop, and groove demands something more expansive and once “LOUD” hit, the definition of “heavy pop” felt solidified.
They weren’t interested in following the typical formula within the genre – a heavy breakdown paired with a bubble-gum chorus – but instead focused on how they could merge these hard and melodic elements in a way that feels cohesive and fun. It took time to land, but when it did, the results started showing. Butcher says being true to themselves has always driven them the furthest and that is something that translates into a deeper connection with fans, not just streams. “I think it’s very obvious when an artist is an artist and true to themselves because you see people show up to their shows,” he says. “They can really resonate with that.”
“If you look at artists like Tyler, the Creator or Doja Cat and then you look at other kinds of top-40 musicians, there’s a group that sells a ton of tickets and a group that streams way better…”
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