Cover photo by Danielle Towers
“Everyone got it?” guitarist and vocalist Max Cohen asks. I didn’t. All I got was incoherent mumbling that vaguely resembled a melody. But bassist Andrew “Gibby” Gibson somehow translates the mumbling into a sick bass riff. Guitarist and vocalist Zach Basile and drummer Isaac Appelbaum don’t seem phased either. Home Remedies speaks their own language–and it’s unbelievably exciting to hear it up close.
Ahead of their upcoming headline show at Union Stage on Feb. 10, the four-piece student band granted me band-aid status, an ‘I’m with the Band’ press pass, into their practice and recording process. Walking into Home Remedies Studios, Zach’s bedroom, GarageBand is open on a laptop on a cluttered desk while he struggles through the melody of a new song. Gibby is to the right, intonating a sunburst Les Paul guitar which has ‘GET WEIRD’ written in black acrylic over sky blue paint on the pickguard. Max is in and out of the room, coming back with water glasses and peanut butter pretzels, later disappearing to make a usual dinner of rice and beans.
The energy in the room is chill and controlled, an uneventful session per prior warning from the band; to be fair, I was promised a harmonica bit that never came up. They are demoing their unreleased track “Those Things,” which they plan to record professionally over the summer in Philadelphia. This is the “making of” of the making of their first album–the song will be on their debut Goodnight Moon, slated for release in the fall of 2023.
The music that comes out of their dynamic is warm and comforting, the “sonic equivalent to mom’s chicken soup.” On their song “Homecoming,” Zach croons over fingerpicked guitar, “Ma says it ends with a wedding, Dad says it ends if you run out of luck…This is your homecoming, breathe deep that familiar air,” anticipating the epic full-band instrumental section in the latter half of the song. In the live version, featured in their release Live from Before, there are imperfections and background conversation that showcase the beauty of both DIY recording and their ability to make the music that is tender. Zach’s acoustic guitar sounds like friends coming together for the sake of being together; it’s simple and it’s wholesome.
A few days later, Isaac’s back in town to practice for the Feb. 10 gig. Crammed in the back practice room of GW’s Students Musicians Coalition, the four band members work through two new tracks, “Dolores” and “Cable News.” Sometimes they accidentally stumble onto Slaughter Beach, Dog or Mountain Goats-esque riffs, stopping to comment about how great the bands who inspire them are.
A note to Home Remedies fans–you are gonna wanna stick around for these new songs. The music is tight, and the lyrics … man, the lyrics are really great. That day, Zach is teaching the band “Cable News,” to which Gibby and Isaac write their parts on the spot. “If you start playing, I’ll show you,” Isaac says right before the room is overcome with full-bodied music. The bass lines on these tracks are to die for, and the band is planning to debut them at Union Stage on the tenth.
“Let’s dedicate the day to cable news
And filling ashtrays with our blues
Scrubbing mirrors to get a clearer image
Sunlight sneaking through the shades
Finds me in our bed unmade
Cause I never did wanna start small now did I?”
“Cable News”
In the in-between moments, where someone is tuning or checking a text, the others don’t let the music die; someone else is always playing a riff or trying a different chord progression. The noise is constant, giving their songs a lasting sense of perpetuity, kinda like love or political scandals.
That day they also rehearse “St. Geezy Street.” Gibby and Zach share a mic for backing vocals while Max takes the lead, “Just take a few deep breaths / and learn to love the moon.” Then the sound builds, blanketing the practice room in a tight embrace. It’s familiar. The crowd will scream the words back at them and somehow it sounds better that way.
Caught in that intimate space of Zach’s bedroom, the band makes a point of how well they click together. Their friendship is captured through their inside jokes and rhythmic, cohesive laughs that warm the room over. They epitomize DIY music-making in a messy college student’s bedroom. There’s an unspoken aspect that feels so incredibly real. It’s something the band brings to practice and onstage with them, transforming the mood of the crowd into a unique cohesive unit: people dance, people mosh, people scream about Max’s sister’s shitty guitar.
“I can’t say if we’re doing something that will be important a few years from now, but it’s important right now and it feels good,” Zach said. “I think that when everybody starts yelling, regardless of what happens the next day, that’s special.”
Catch Home Remedies headline Union Stage on Feb. 10. Doors open at 7 p.m., music starts at 8 p.m. with support from Lobby Boy and Makeup Girl.
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