Interview with Home Body

     On March 24th 2012 there was a show at the Mainstreet Museum In which three bands played. First band was Rabbit Rabbit from Northampton, then Thunderhole from Boston, The last band to hit the Stage was Home Body from Northampton also , who had some misfortune on their way down,  but I'm honestly glad they made it because they put on one great performance. I'm pretty sure if anyone had a sad mug on their face it was turned around to a happy grin by the end of the first song. Well Enough of my babbling read on and Check out Home Body!!!!

How did you guys first meet? When was Home Body conceived and then first arrived a stage?

We met over six years ago at Hampshire College and fell madly in love.  Then, about a year and a half ago we started making music together. Eric has been playing music for a long time, and Haley has a background in performance, so it made sense to try to collaborate and make a band.

Neither of us are traditionally trained musicians - we can't read or notate music - and so it took us some trial and error to find a common language to talk about music, and create the right balance of machine and vocals. But we kept pushing and playing around and finally found the magical recipe. We played our first show on New Years Eve 2011, and haven't looked back. We are having a fucking blast.

You have a pretty sweet arsenal of pedals and other electronic devices like a drum machine and note sequencer . What is the full list of gear you travel around with? What were some of your influences to start writing music with these electronic devices? 

Eric uses a Korg MS 2000, a Korg Electribe  ESX-1 sampler, an Electribe EA-1 note sequencer. Haley uses a Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer pedal, as well as a Behringer Digital Delay pedal and a Boss RC-20XL loop station.

Eric has been making music with these machines for ten years. It's not as if he ever made a decision to make electronic music, it's just the music he has always made. Some of his early influences were Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, and Aphex Twin.

You have some pretty Unique lyrics .... What place does your mind go to to write them?

We are really inspired by how mysterious and magical the human experience is. It's something we think people often seem to take for granted these days with the hyper-presence of technology and media. We love thinking and talking about bigger picture stuff- ancient history, anatomy, archeology, astronomy, architecture, and so on. We feel that music is one of the most magical and powerful forms of expression and communication, and that sort of wonderment often erupts into lyrics. Home Body also feels like a platform for our relationship as lovers, so those emotions often spill out, too.

What is story behind the white full body outfits? Do you plan out your Choreography or does the music move you? 

We can't imagine standing still while making music. We love dance, we go to dance performances, have taken dance classes, and go dancing all the time. We love the human body and all that it can do, all the ways it can look, all the ways it can bend, etc. We think that it's important to engage our whole bodies in the experience of our music, and what we wear is part of that.

Spectacle is as important to us during our live show as our instruments are. We love fashion and how what we humans wear is essentially the armor we choose for our lives. The jumpsuits are what we have chosen for the time being to help us get into character. We love how they walk the line of being practical and over-the-top.

I think I might have a addiction to your 4 song CD I picked up after your set.... and I really am craving more... Are there any other songs out there? Any more releases coming out in the near future?

Yes! We are going to be recording our first full-length album in May! We are also working on a 7'' of a couple sweet cover songs, due out this summer.  Stay tuned!!

While Performing at the Main Street Museum you choose the Go Bots as your background?... I was a big fan and wish I still had my old toys especially the Puzzler combiner.... Do you still own any?

We never watched Go Bots, we just chose it because the cover was cooler than the other choice. Robots are also just cool.

 It seems like there are a lot of cool bands coming out of Northampton.... Do you collaborate with any of them? What are some of your hometown favorites to play with?

There are so many great bands around the Pioneer Valley! We especially love playing with Speak! and Rabbit Rabbit. We invited Louise from Rabbit Rabbit to rock some vocals on a cover song, and it was awesome. That girl is killer.

What's up with your art?

For both of us, art is more of a way of life than a product or an occupation. Home Body is a great outlet for us to be able to incorporate all of our favorite art forms and skills.

In addition to singing, Haley has been known to make videos, dance, produce public art projects, make jewelry, draw, and sew. Some of her favorite materials include plastic bags and flashlights. Eric has been making music his whole life, primarily with his brother in HNATIW. Eric also makes sculptures, screen prints, and masks. Some of his favorite materials include embroidery floss and paper. The way Home Body is presented visually is really important to us, and really fun for us to co-create.

Open forum.... say whatever you want to let people know about whether it be about the band yourselves or anything in general?

We just put out a video for "Fire". We are really excited about our full-length album that we're working on, and we're planning an epic tour this summer. People should follow our Tumblr (hellohomebody.tumblr.com) and "like" us on Facebook to stay tuned about new releases, tour dates, videos, etc.

http://hellohomebody.tumblr.com/ - our Tumblr
http://home-body.bandcamp.com/- download our EP for free
http://vimeo.com/39740549 - our new video for "Fire"
https://www.facebook.com/helloHOMEBODY - our Facebook page