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Noel Goff, Allan Ray, Kelly Taylor, Ryan Steinwedel and Kyle Seitz

Native Band

by Molly Dickinson | Jezebel magazine | December 29, 2011

Sharing from-scratch muffins and coffee in the sunny upper room of Virginia-Highland’s otherwise bar-dark Atkins Park tavern, Atlanta-born-and-bred Homefront is exactly that—at home. “We’re the only band that plays here,” says co-vocalist Kelly Taylor, whose husband is part-owner of the place. Atkins Park is not exactly set up for shows, but the unofficial house band requires little more than a few square feet and some outlets to command attention. They play sort of front-porch music, after all—the sway-in-place, beer-in-the-bottle, join-in-if-you-know-it kind best heard in close quarters.

Taylor, the sole streak of estrogen in the five-member group, is also the only tea drinker. As she orders, you can just hear the smokiness beneath her Southern twang, a polished rawness that lies neatly against co-vocalist/guitarist Kyle Seitz’s sure, soulful baritone—like butter on bread. Together with Noel Goff on drums, Ryan “Noodles” Steinwedel on guitar and bassist Allan Ray, Homefront makes easy alchemy of classic-to-indie rock, folk, jazz, somber blues and buoyant electronic influences, refining a sound they’re loathe to label but eager to call their own. “Pop Americana,” like Homefront itself, is catchy and nostalgic and seems to stick. Ray, resident music collector and connoisseur (“He breeds guitars,” is how Goff puts it), concedes that particular label is “probably not that terrible.”

Technically in its infancy, Homefront coalesced in late 2010 and, with all members at age 30 or younger, the bandmates have at least as much music making ahead of them as behind them. But there’s a lot of history here, and it shows—not only in the elbow-to-elbow banter around the six-top, but also onstage and in their recordings (their first EP, “Keep it Simple,” debuted in August). Seitz, Goff and Steinwedel have been playing together for nearly a decade, performing variously under such banners as Swiftwater Rescue, Almost Blue and Lost City. Taylor began taking guitar lessons from Steinwedel in 2008 (she also plays keyboard for the band), which soon evolved into songwriting sessions. Steinwedel took the songs to Goff and Seitz, and they all started jamming together with Ray, who has known Taylor since high school. Taylor christened the group—they wanted something comforting, familiar and unpretentious—and, soon, Homefront was booking the likes of The Earl, Smith’s Olde Bar, 529, and gigs on SCAD radio and 11Alive.

“It’s the most dynamic project I’ve played in,” says Seitz, who could be referring to the group’s patent musical and social chemistry, its eye- and ear-catching four-man, one-woman makeup, or its as-yet uncodified brand of homegrown rock—with some synth and smoke woven in. In any case, it’s worth pulling up a chair.

Homefront plays The Atlanta Room at Smith’s Olde Bar on Jan. 28, and Atkins Park in Smyrna on Feb. 11. reverbnation.com/homefront