Hometown Anthem was an American alternative rock band originally formed in

Essex County, New Jersey Essex County is located in the northeastern part of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 863,728, making it the state's second-most populous county, behind Bergen and Middlesex Counties.

, sometime in September 2002. The group consisted of 6 members: lead vocalist Joseph Crawford, lead guitarist Dominick Gaglio, Keyboardist David Rodrigues, back guitarist Stephen Dufresne, bassist Joel Cuozzo Gonzalez, and drummer Joseph Static Hughes. The band was initially called “No Easy Answer” and started with small appearances in

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s and playing in small concerts until signing into indie record label

Emerald Moon Records Emerald Moon Records (abbreviated as EMR) is an American Independent record label, founded by Matt Boylan in Baltimore, Maryland in August 2004, they worked with many bands up until shutting down on October 3, 2012. The label primarily focuses o ...

and releasing their debut album ''Don't Hold On To What You Hear'' (2005) and their follow-up EP ''If We Could Dream (''2006). Due to the success, the 6-piece band earn two slots to Warped Tour 2006 at the Smartpunk stage and Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands Winners. Hometown Anthem was also fortunate to be one of the thirteen bands to be included in ''Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands 10 Compilation'' (The Best Unsigned Bands In North America) on

Warcon Records Warcon Enterprises was a New York City based independent record label focusing on mostly post-hardcore, started by Bob Chiappardi of Concrete Marketing and Kevin Lyman, the founder of Warped Tour, in 2004.heBlue (2007) with many bands. After five years playing together, they officially disbanded in 2007, after the breakup, Joseph Crawford and his sister Kim Crawford and two friends formed a new band called "The Tonight Life" in 2008. Dominick Gaglio and Joseph Hughes formed a new band called "I Am Fighting" in 2010. On September 26, 2015, the band made a reunion show in 10th Street Live, Kenilworth, New Jersey with Aspen It Is.

History

2002-2005: Early years and ''Don't Hold On to What You Hear''

Hometown Anthem was formed in September 2002 by 5 childhood friends and was originally called "No Easy Answer." It originally comprises five members: Joseph Crawford, Dominick Gaglio, Stephen Dufresne, Joel Cuozzo Gonzalez, and Joseph Static Hughes. In a little over a year of being formed, the band was already landed in a record deal with Regret Records in 2003 and begin working on their debut EP. The group released their debut EP ''The Malice Series'' on May 14, 2004, where they hosted a CD release party with Runaway Orange, The Rookie, The Maybridge Falls and Aspen It Is. It was announced October 8, 2004 that No Easy Answer signed into indie record label Skyline Records on October 8, 2004. The group brought two new songs on their Purevolume on December 14, 2004. They'll appear on a compilation album called ''Punk The Clock'' on December 28, 2004, featuring various bands like

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

, YellowCard,

Hidden In Plain View Hidden in Plain View is an American five-piece post-hardcore band from northern New Jersey. They formed in 2000 and originally disbanded in 2007. During this seven-year run, the group released records with four record labels (most notably the ...

My American Heart My American Heart is an American rock band from San Diego, California, formed in 2001. Originally named No Way Out, the band released two studio albums through Warcon Enterprises and toured the world before disbanding in late 2009. They reunited ...

and more. Before that, they attended the Punk The Clock Tour with

, Stole Your Woman, The Academy Is...,

Gym Class Heroes Gym Class Heroes was an American rap rock band from Geneva, New York. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band's music displays a wide variety of influences, including hip h ...

, Greenley Estates on November 25–29. The band left Skyline Records on January 26, 2005 for personal reasons and they'll star in another compilation album in ''Drive-Thru Records And Purevolume.com: Bands You Love, Have Heard Of, And Should Know'', also featuring The Format, Houston Calls, The Early November,

The Juliana Theory The Juliana Theory is an American Rock music, rock duo from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Greensburg and Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, United States. They signed to Tooth & Nail Records, and later to Epic Records for the release of the ...

and more on February 8, 2005. The band changed their name to Hometown Anthem on February 3, 2005 and in that same year, the band signed into

( All Time Low,

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

, Spark is a Diamond). The group started be friends with All Time Low like touring with them and sharing a stage together. Rodriguez who was an old friend, joined the band sometime in 2005 soon after since the band have now added

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s in their music. The band released two new songs (D.C.M.A.R. and Pug Fugley) in an Emerald Moon Records sampler on July 11, 2005. The band will finally release their debut album ''Don't Hold On To What You Hear'' on July 19, 2005 and a music video was made for the song "Make Me Believe” on June 8, 2006. The group was able to attend Warped Tour 2006 at the Smartpunk stage and Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands Winners.

2006-2007: ''If We Could Dream'' and disbandment

After the success of their debut album, the band resumed work on their next project until they came across

Rob Freeman Robert Andrew Freeman (born March 26, 1981 in Andover, New Jersey) is the guitarist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter for the pop punk/ post-hardcore group Hidden in Plain View. He owns/works at The Pilot Studio as a record producer, record ...

(

) who'll help them produce, mix, master and record their EP. The band shot a music video on the song “Like No Other” on January 16, 2006, and a second version will be made later. The band toured with The Summer Obsession and posted two new songs on their Myspace. The long-awaited EP will finally release on September 26, 2006, called ''If We Could Dream''. Hometown Anthem was lucky enough to be one of the thirteen bands featured in ''Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands 10 Compilation'' alongside Mayday Parade,

My Favorite Highway My Favorite Highway was an American pop rock band, originally formed in 2004 by cousins Dave Cook and Will Cook in the city of Fairfax, Virginia. While still unsigned the band recorded and released two EPs and one full-length album, selling over 1 ...

, and

Karate High School Karate High School was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 2004 by frontman, multi-instrumentalist and producer Paul McGuire. On March 21, 2006, the band released their debut album, ''Arcade Rock''. Karate High School's se ...

, on the same day that the EP was released. They'll also appear in ''Beyond heBlue'' featuring Four Year Strong, Hit the Lights, Every Avenue and more on October 3, 2007. The band will play more concerts but will break up in 2007 for unknown reasons.

2008-2015: Other projects and reunion

Joseph Crawford was the drummer for the band Spark Is a Diamond after Matt Hall left, the band's previous drummer. They were also signed into the same record label at one point until signing into Pluto Records in 2008. Once Hometown Anthem broke up, Joseph Crawford, his sister Kim Crawford and their two friends formed a new band called "The Tonight Life" in 2008. They'll make music for 5 years and just like their previous band they broke up on May 2, 2013. Dominick Gaglio and Joseph Hughes formed a new band called "I Am Fighting" in 2010.{{Cite web , date=2011 , title=I Am Fighting , url=http://iamfighting.com/ , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110502004404/http://iamfighting.com/ , archive-date=May 2, 2011 , website=I Am Fighting On September 26, 2015, Hometown Anthem reunited for a one-off reunion show in 10th Street Live, Kenilworth, New Jersey with Aspen It Is.

Musical styles and influences

Hometown Anthem is seen as an alternative rock, indie rock, indie pop, pop punk, pop rock, and

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

band. They were influenced by many bands like Blink-182, Bright Eyes,

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (musician), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, ...

Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They h ...

, New Found Glory,

Smashing Pumpkins Smash may refer to: People * Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler * Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above. * DJ Smash, DJ and music producer Art, ...

, The Doors, From Autumn to Ashes, The Starting Line, and more.

Band members

* Joseph Crawford - Lead vocals (2005-2007) * Dominick Gaglio - Lead guitar (2002-2007) * Stephen Dufresne - Back guitar (2002-2007) * Joel Cuozzo-Gonzalez - Bass (2002-2007) * David Rodrigues - Keyboardist (2005-2007) * Joseph Static Hughes- Drums (2002-2007)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Don't Hold On to What You Hear'' (2005)

Extended plays

* ''The Malice Series'' (2004) * '' If We Could Dream'' (2006)

Guest appearances

* ''Punk the Clock'' (2004) * ''Drive-Thru Records and Purevolume.com: Bands You Love, Have Heard Of, and Should Know'' (2005) * ''Emerald Moon Records Sampler'' (2005) * ''Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands 10 Compilation'' (2006) * ''Beyond heBlue'' (2007)

References

External links

Myspace
2002 establishments in New Jersey 2007 disestablishments in New Jersey Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Alternative rock groups from New Jersey