Home Town Hero was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

active in the early 2000s. Founding members

Aaron Bruno Aaron Richard Bruno (born November 11, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, who is best known as the founder, lead singer and last remaining original member of Awolnation. He is a former member of the post-grunge band Home Tow ...

and Drew Stewart began playing together while attending Westlake High School, where their early project was known as the Ice Monkeys. They were greatly influenced by the success of Southern California punk bands of the early 1990s and the

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

aesthetic popularized by bands like

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

and

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

. With the later addition of bassist Todd Burns and drummer Ray Blanco the band re-christened themselves as Insurgence. As Insurgence they began playing famous California venues, including

The Roxy Theatre The Roxy Theatre (often just the Roxy) is a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, owned by Lou Adler and his son, Nic. History The Roxy was opened on September 23, 1973, by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler, along with ...

and

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed "the Whisky") is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boul ...

. When the band began work on their

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

EP they again changed their name, this time to Home Town Hero. In 2000 and 2001, Home Town Hero joined the

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

, where they attracted the attention of

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Maverick Records Maverick was an American entertainment company founded in 1992 by Madonna, Frederick DeMann, and Veronica "Ronnie" Dashev, and formerly owned and operated by Warner Music Group. It included a record label (Maverick Records), a film production ...

label. The band's eponymous major label debut was heavily promoted by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, and their single "Questions" received significant airplay in major American radio markets. "Questions" was also included in the video game soundtrack for ''

Legends of Wrestling II ''Legends of Wrestling II'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City, published by Acclaim Entertainment, and released on November 26, 2002 for both the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It was later released ...

'' in 2002. Home Town Hero split up shortly before releasing their second LP, ''Bitch City'', in 2004. The album did not get a physical release, but was freely available to download on the internet. The track "Robbers" was selected by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

for the soundtrack to their ''

MVP Baseball 2004 ''MVP Baseball'' was a baseball Video game, game series published by EA Sports, running from 2003 to 2007 with five games produced. In 2003, ''MVP'' became the official successor to EA's long-running ''Triple Play series, Triple Play Baseball'' ...

'' video game. Vocalist

and guitarist

Drew Stewart Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

went on to found

Under the Influence of Giants Under the Influence of Giants (sometimes abbreviated UTIOG) was an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California. They released their major label debut album in August 2006, which was a number one hit on the Top Heatseekers chart. ...

under the

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

label in 2005, then to

Awolnation Awolnation (stylized in all caps) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed and fronted by Aaron Bruno, formerly of Under the Influence of Giants, Home Town Hero, and Insurgence. The band is signed to Better Noise Music, formerly being s ...

. Ray Blanco is now drummer and songwriter of The Bangkok Five (Universal Records, execution style 2006, Sony, Long Live Crime 2008, Indiemedia, Inc 2010). A&R, writer, producer and partner of Fundamental Music. Business Development and Entertainment Alliances at Indiemedia, Inc. Owner and executive producer at Generator Productions. Owner and partner of The Lowtide Lounge beach bar in Esterillos Oeste, Costa Rica.

Discography

Albums

*''Home Town Hero'' (2002) *''Bitch City'' (2004)

References

{{Authority control American post-grunge musical groups Musical groups from California Musical groups disestablished in 2004 Warner Records artists