In 1997, some Billy Liar and PN members felt the need to start up a punkrockband. Not just another punkrockband, but a combo with something to say and the sheer force to rock out at any occasion. Homer was born and shortly after they started gigin’ all over Belgium and the north of France. At the end of that very same year, a split cd with their fellow musicians and good friends of Billy Liar was released (first Funtime release). This split cd quickly sold out and the Homer boys continued their quest for melancholic yet powerful punkrocktunes by writing new material and playing live. Festivals like Krakrock, Groezrock campingfest, Hageland Fest, Funtime Fest, Good Life Fest and others delivered the opportunity to present the band to a wider audience and in the meantime Homer shared stages with bands like Travoltas, Death By Stereo, Face Tomorrow, Floggin’ Molly, Whippersnapper, Undeclinable, Venerea, Down By Law, No Fun At All, Diesel Boy, Chixdiggit, Liberator to name just a few of them. The band was also invited to be part of a whole bunch of compilations in and outside of Belgium, like the ‘Punk Parade’ cd (Germany) or ‘Elements’ cd (Belgium). In other words...’the ball was rolling’. Enter ‘Painting memories’. This debut full length came out in 2001 and the band played a lot of shows.
February 2002: Homer is back in the studio to record some songs for the split cd with Buckle Up . This split was released by Rearviewmirror (Funtime distributed label) at the end of September 2002. Followed by a long period of writing new songs. Songs that give rebirth to the band Homer and the bandsound becomes more mature and open to some other influences. The result is ‘The Punkrock Verses’. An album that is released in March of 2005 and immediately takes the band on top of things. A lot of raving reviews, more than 100 live shows, festival spots and a short tour through Portugal are some of the great effects. In the meantime, the band doesn’t stop working hard on new songs and in January of this year (2007), the band heads to ‘De Studio’ in Asse again to record the new album ‘Swan songs for broken voices’ with producers Dirk Miers and Jimmy Turbo. Mastering of the new record was done by Alan Douches (Thrice, Black Dahlia Murder, Silverstein, Sufjan Stevens...) at West west side music in the USA. This new album continues the quest of the band : writing punkrocksongs that combine melancholy with aggression, sincerity with dedication and personal with sociopolitical lyrics. In the end, ‘Swan songs for broken voices’ probably is the best Homer album to date. Harder and faster, that’s for sure, but on the other side also more melodic and emotional. This balance of heavy emotions and pure fucking punkrock energy, makes you want to dance and raise your fists. The album was released on the 4th of April 2007 and Homer has since then continiously played all over Belgium and beyond promoting 'Swan songs'...they rocked out alongside bands like Across Five Aprils, Ignite, Strung Out, Boysetsfire and an endless list of Belgian and international bands. Besides a whole lot of raving reviews of the last album (check them out somewhere on this myspace or the web), they got invited by several festivals like Rockfest, Riorock, Rock Herk, Funtime Fest, Ieperfest and more....at this very moment, Homer is still playing out, including a lot of festival appearances at this year's Belgian summerfestivals and a planned 4 day tour in Portugal with their labelmates Easyway. In the meantime, a whole set of new songs has been written already and the recordings for the new album are planned for the beginning of 2009...keep checkin' this profile for more news and info!!!
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