Dusted Down: A Day To Remember – Homesick (15th Anniversary Edition)

Florida’s post-hardcore heroes recalled

A Day To Remember – Homesick (15th anniversary edition) (Craft)

The unlikely ascent of Ocala, Florida based post-hardcore outfit A Day To Remember predominantly stemmed from the inescapable expansion of the pop-punk third wave spearheaded by the likes of Blink-182 and New Found Glory. Simultaneously, the hardcore revival as well as the burgeoning metalcore and deathcore scenes of the early noughties were rife across the MySpace landscape, with the teen angst generation of the era practically turning their noses up at any track that didn’t have at least one breakdown.

Enter a group of young upstarts with both a knack for sacharrine earworm hooks and heaving hardcore heft, delivering a compositional concoction catering to essentially every type of punk fan. While 2005’s debut full-length And Their Name Was Treason offered a primitive and amateur display of their initial vision, hindered by a low budget and raw recording quality, the power of the material was enough to land the band a deal with Victory Records for the release of 2007’s breakout sophomore effort For Those Who Have Heart. Boasting more intricate writing, and a highly increased sense of finesse, the album would serve as the introduction for many to the group with the help of some of their biggest singles such as ‘The Danger In Starting A Fire’, ‘The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle’ and their now iconic rendition of Kelly Clarkson pop anthem ‘Since U Been Gone’.

Leaping within the span of one record cycle from buzzed about metallic popcore flavour of the week to top-billing headliners, all eyes were set firmly on the band’s next move, which they would take advantage of with hilariously endearing results on their The Homesick Sessions web series, where the members as well as their producer would play fictional versions of themselves. Best described as a punk version of the P. Diddy MTV series Making The Band (which was already torn as under on Chappelle Show and likely inspired this hardcore reimagining), the webisodes provided a more goofy insight into the relatively new group who who were utilising their newfound platform and coverage to simply fuck about, but would the already titled Homesick live up to the hype and hyperbole being lobbed around their series in increasingly absurd fashion?

Well, 15 years on from its initial 2009 release, and arriving on a lush gatefold 2xLP deluxe edition to remove the sizzle from the steak of many an inflated Discogs flipper, the quintessential genre smashing, scene defining third album from A Day To Remember finally comes home to widespread wax to celebrate being three quarters of the way to 20.

Critically acclaimed and adored by fans upon release, the legacy of Homesick only seems to strengthen with each passing year, while there’s few projects in the scene that have ever lived up to the almost unreasonable levels of hype that were placed upon its shoulders. Furthering their fluid and effortless pursuit of marrying the most accessible elements of pop-punk with the vicious nature of metalcore, cuts such as ‘My Life For Hire’, ‘I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?’ and ‘Welcome To The Family’, all boast pop-punk hooks of an already ludicrousky catchy standard, juxtaposed with some of the all time great hall of fame beastly breakdowns, with the iconic “Disrespect your surroundings” mosh-call from standout single ‘Mr. Highway’s Thinking About The End’ achieving legendary status within the scene.

What also helped to elevate Homesick to the height of global success, however, was the band’s brazen ability to stay the course for a full sonic trajectory if need be, with opening stomper ‘The Downfall Of Us All’ putting peers in Four Year Strong or Man Overboard to shame with its easycore gang-vocal chants, while the emo-pop ballad ‘Have Faith In Me’ recieved heavy push and rotation from MTV (or at least their fledgling digital department), appearing somewhat as an effortless throwaway single to push sales where other artists would sell their souls for a track with half the melody or traction.

It’s thanks to this knack for seemingly hiding their more vicious tendencies from the masses that A Day To Remember managed to insidiously weave their way onto playlists of unassuming listeners with little knowledge of breakdowns or hardcore dancing, yet found themselves enthralled by the sheer venom and monumental heft offset by choruses so catchy they put every Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Blink-182 record of their youth to shame. Cementing their legacy with the upper echelon acoustic emo-punk ballad ‘If It Means A Lot To You’; a regular staple if not closer of their set, Ocala’s A Day To Remember were once perceived as the outlier of each and every scene they waded their toes into, seemingly too hardcore for the pop-punk kids, and too pop for the hardcore heads, yet on 2009’s genre-smashing, scene ascending Homesick, they managed to cater to every punk taste simultaneously, whilst tricking those in power into believing they were just another easycore hit maker, toeing the line enough to take full advantage of their mission statement. Mark our words, there’s no album in any era of the scene that flexes both the head-slitting hefty breakdowns and joyous cathartic pop hooks found on either end of the sonic spectrum with such confident abandon in its place at the epicentre of dichotomy. In short, A Day To Remember are the fulcrum, the Venn Diagram intersection where the most melodious of emo-tinged pop-punk comes to throw down with the neck-tatted crowd killing of metalcore, with Homesick serving as their finest example of their theories in full practice.

Zach Buggy

To buy your double vinyl copy of Homesick (15th Anniversary Edition), out July 19, by clicking here