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Home was a rock music outfit active from 1986 until 1991, based in Albany, NY. Along with live performances, the band also produced two recordings. The first was a 45 RPM EP titled ''Dirt,'' and the second was a full-length album, abbreviated "Kittycat," that was realized on vinyl, cassette and CD. The full title of the record was in fact, ''Kittycat Kaka Kave X,'' where ''X'' was printed on the sleeve as ''Cassette, CD,'' or ''Record.'' A number of personnel changes were incurred over the span of the group's life, though three members were present throughout: Bob Lukomski, Michael Neff, and Robert Seals. HISTORY Seals and Neff attended the same college in Rochester, NY. After graduation, the two maintained contact and eventually joined up in Albany to play music. Robert owned a pink Fender Precision copy bass, and Michael had a painted acoustic guitar. With various recording equipment, they started making tentative "music." At the same time, Bob Lukomski was making music with Robert Ballinger in their band, ''The Mole.'' Their performance at local restaurant gave Robert and Michael the idea of inviting Bob to sing in their nascent group. Meeting at an apartment in Albany, Bob became especially charmed with the arrangement when Robert's cat Hajji urinated on Bob's new backpack. This defining event became a hallmark of Home's later awkwardness. First performing at Albany's ''QE2'' for a Christmas benefit hosted by Tom Lindsay, the band's live career was stamped permanently with a simple pre-show ''faux pas:'' during sound check, an apparently drunk sound engineer seemed to suddenly disappear, prompting Robert to remark in his mic, "yo sport!" in an effort to attract the ailing soundman's attention. The resulting commotion left acrimony and desolation in its wake, but charmed the booking manager. Acquiring some more equipment, including a Fender ''Coronado II'' guitar, Soundcraft ''Series 1'' live sound board, Alesis reverb, Drumtraks drum machine and a TASCAM 246 cassette Portastudio, the group proceeded on their ad hoc way towards making pop-rock music. The name ''Home'' was proposed from the participant's varying degrees of domestic tranquility. The lack of a more suitable monicker codified the label. After working up a few catchy riffs, captured on 4-track, a visit to a real studio was indicated. Taking their tapes to Arabellum Studios, the group were able to transfer some drum sounds to 1-inch 8-track, and began dubbing tracks for what would become their first EP, ''Dirt.'' Human Drummer The use of a drum machine was less an esthetic decision than a practical one - the band members didn't know any drummers that might be a good fit for the music. Eventually, the novelty of creating drum patterns turned to tedium and sameness. Ross Archer was the stage name of a drummer in another local band, and through some combination of events, he became the drummer for ''Home.'' Ross was very enthusiastic about the band's ideas for cover songs in the live performance context, especially Devo's ''Uncontrollable Urge'' and ''Magic Carpet Ride,'' by Steppenwolf. The increased flexibility of a human drummer enabled the band to adapt a number of covers into their live act, keeping the band members entertained, if perhaps not audiences. Classic pop tunes such as ''These Boots Are Made for Walkin'' and ''Windy'' became strangely new when mashed through the band's obviously limited musical abilities. Personnel Changes Ross remained the band's drummer through the recording of the group's only full-length LP, ''Kittycat.'' As Ross was finishing graduate studies, the rest of the band became restless and interested in experimenting with other musical elements. Ross left the group on reasonably good terms, and the founders soon hooked up with another guitar player, Eric Jones. Jones' roommate was also a drummer. This combination was tried during the summer of 1990, but never gelled as hoped. Hajji The band members became aware of another interesting local drummer. The band approached the charming and loose-styled ''Hajji,'' and asked him to play in Home, which had by this time achieved some local notoriety. Hajji was skeptical at first, but soon relented, leaving his band to join Home. Hajji remained with the group until its demise. Hajji also played with Bob and Robert in their subsequent project ''People,'' and continues to work with Bob in various music projects to this day. After working for some time with Hajji, Home entered the recording studio again to capture the sound of the band more accurately than was possible from their cassette-based home recordings. The results were eventually converted to digital form, and draw an interesting picture of the band in mid-life. Closure The last stage of the band was unusual in that it was marked by a fairly consistent sonic style, as opposed to the more eclectic approach characteristic of the early and mid-periods. The rhythmic center had shifted to well-connected bass and drums, sonic interest provided by guitars, and more interesting lyrical ideas, which with a solid musical underpinning, allowed Bob to successfully experiment with a wider palette of vocal deliveries. Unfortunately, the output from this era was only captured on 4-track cassette; the lo-fi nature of the recording is not always well-suited to the music, but nonetheless imparts a certain charm on it. Home disbanded in the fall of 1991. Subsequent Work Robert, Bob and Hajji started a new band, ''People,'' in the winter of 1991. Robert, Bob, Michael and Thom Lail were a loose collective called ''Port Industrial Quartet'' through the nineties. Bob, Thom and Hajji continue to play together as ''Lukomski/Majer/Lail.'' Bob also composes music of his own. MUSICAL STYLE Home employed a typical rock orchestration of drums, bass, guitar and vocals, with occasional use of synthesizers, percussion and other acoustic instruments. Studio recordings in particular were an opportunity to experiment with interesting instruments, including an Early Kurzweil sampling synthesizer, Mellotron, Korg BX-3 and a variety of acoustic and electric guitars. However, the only member of the band with any musical training was Bob, who, in addition to singing with church choirs his whole life, also studied music in college. Michael had played guitar and mandolin for a number of years, and while a natural and intuitive player, is essentially self-taught. That left responsibility for the bass to Robert, who combined the primitive, melodic, distorted style common to other post-punk bassists, particularly Peter Hook of Joy Division/New Order, with that of (also self-taught) prog-rock bassist Chris Squire of Yes. The groups initial sound relied on the mechanical but consistent tempo of a drum machine and the technical skill and rich baritone of Bob's voice to provide a recognizable framework for the other elements to wander in and around, often outside of pleasing harmonic patterns. Bob helped correct some of the more jarring examples, but live performances could sometimes be marred by the players' technical shortcomings. The resulting music was typical of the rock of the day: three-to-five minute songs employing traditional pop patterns of verse, chorus, hook, featured melody, and well-defined, clear vocal. As the group evolved and became more technically competent, their performances gradually incorporated more opportunities for improvisational elements. TECHNICAL DETAILS The members of the group were - and continue to be - interested in the technical aspects of sound creation and recording. Bass Bob's participation in ''The Mole'' left him in possession of a serviceable Peavey bass amplifier with a 15-inch loudspeaker, a Rickenbacker 4001 bass, and a Sennheiser 421 microphone. The Rickenbacker bass soon became Robert's main instrument. When a Boss chorus pedal was added, along with the Peavey amp's characteristic overdriven sound, the basic bass sound for the life of the band was formed. Though at various times augmented with a Moog Taurus synthesizer, the buzzy, wavy, chordal tone rarely changed. Guitar The band's first guitar was a Fender ''Coronado II'' purchased used at Drome Sound for $209 in the summer of 1985. That guitar seemed to evoke particular disgust of the live sound engineer of the band's first performance. INFLUENCES Early influences included a variety of postpunk and art bands from the 70s and early 80s, particularly ''Cocteau Twins,'' ''Echo and the Bunnymen,'' ''Eno,'' and ''Throbbing Gristle.'' RECORDINGS EXTERNAL LINKS Homestijl MySpace Page Bob's MySpace Page Lukomski/Majer/Lail MySpace Page |
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