2015 has given us the highs of music and even the lows. From Justin Bieber dropping his highly anticipated fourth studio album, Purpose, to One Direction announcing they’re off on a ‘temporary hiatus’. With the world’s biggest boyband disappearing into the wilderness, it’s fair to say that we need a new boyband to fill the void where One Direction once were. Recently crowned our ‘Best New Artist’, we believe that Irish boyband, HomeTown, have potential to take camp in all of our hearts.
HomeTown are a six piece boyband, made up by Dayl Cronin (22), Ryan McLoughlin (21), Dean Gibbons (21), Cian Morrin (21), Brendan Murray (19) and Josh Gray (18). Before the band was formed, thousands of hopefuls went through an ‘X Factor’ audition process to be in the band, ran by household name, Louis Walsh. With the success of his previous boybands, Westlife and Boyzone, he wanted to start afresh and get back into being a manager after leaving The X Factor back in 2014.
The boyband shot to fame with their debut single, Where I Belong, with it’s catchy melody and tune that makes you want to sing along, went straight in at #1 in Ireland on December 5th, 2014. Their second release, Cry For Help, another catchy and upbeat song from the band, did the same in March this year. HomeTown recently released their third Irish single, The Night We Met, which was co-written by none other than One Direction’s, Liam Payne. All in all, it’s safe to say HomeTown are popular in their native country.
Despite the band being together a mere 18 months, HomeTown have achieved more than your average boyband. Their list of achievements include two national tours in Ireland, two number one singles, a top 5 album and sold out headline gigs in Dublin at Vicar Street. As time goes by, we expect the list to get longer and it’s no doubt that HomeTown have the capability to make it far in the music industry.
HomeTown kicked off their career across the pond in the UK this year. They supported the likes of The Vamps and McBusted, singing a mixture of their own music and catchy covers by Avicii (The Nights), WALK THE MOON (Shut Up and Dance) and LunchMoney Lewis (Bills). They even interpreted their own dance moves into their set, taking us back to the old boyband days where there was matching outfits and synchronised dance moves. The band released Where I Belong in July and worked with singer/songwriter, Jamie Scott, to put together their debut album that they released in Ireland at the end of November. The album charted at #4, just behind some of the world’s most renowned artists in music. It was announced earlier this year that they will join The Vamps and embark on their 2016 tour, visiting the largest arenas in the UK. With plans for more singles and even an album release for next year, we can expect to see a lot more of HomeTown.
The band don’t go a day without interacting with fans, which in this day and age is a must since so many artists in the industry started out on social media platforms. Once a day, a member of the band will spend half an hour to an hour on their Twitter band account interacting with fans by tweeting, following, retweeting and liking their tweets. All six members have quirky and humorous personalities that will make you fall in love with them instantly, not to mention they’ve all got distinctive vocals that tell each of them apart! If this was a talent show, they would have our vote and we believe they would have yours, too!
If you want to get to know these boys more, you can find them on Twitter, Snapchat (@athomewithht), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and VEVO. They update regularly and have recently uploaded a Christmas cover of ‘Oh, Holy Night’ that you will find on their YouTube channel along with all their covers.