Old friends, House & Home and Suntitle, released their new EP, “Split,” on January 26.  Consisting of four songs, two songs from each band, the EP is full of hard-hitting drums, fiery riffs and powerful vocals. To talk about the record, the bands sat down virtually to share details of how it came to be.

The idea for the record came naturally between the bands.  “Neither of our bands had done a split before, it’s just a cool thing to do with our best friend band,” Pat Williams, a singer and guitarist in House & Home, explained.  Matt Stumpf, drummer for House & Home and Suntitle, felt it was very well aligned, “I don’t remember coming up with the idea but… Suntitle already had three songs, and House & Home was about to go into the studio and record two songs.” He added, “I think it was just like ‘if Suntitle puts one of these songs out now, and then two other songs, and we just have a four-song split, we get promotion from both bands and help push it a little harder.’”  Each band had two songs that they were sitting on and waiting to release, so the EP ended up being the ultimate solution.  

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The two groups are intertwined, having known each other for years. “You meet people that you just kinda click with sometimes when you play shows, and this one turned into a solid friendship for a long time,” said Pat with a smile

For every record, the music is crafted by meshing emotions, ideas and sounds and turning them into something special. Reflecting on the creative process for this EP in terms of House & Home, Pat shared, “We didn’t have any preconceived ‘we wanna write a song about XYZ’... in this case, it was kind of just whatever we were feeling.  It doesn’t make it any less significant in my opinion.  It was just very much a capture of that moment in time of where we were at mentally.”  

Joe McGarvey, singer and guitarist in Suntitle, added, “Yeah, the songs that we wrote, I wrote with a bunch of old members of Suntitle at the time. By the time the songs were done, it was really just what I wanted the songs to sound like because I was the only one left by the time we finished those songs.” He elaborated that the songs from Suntitle in the EP are riffier, harder and faster than songs in the past.

The songs from House & Home in the record were, according to the band, developed in two very different ways. Pat noted, “We would just kind of piece things together and see what worked and what didn’t. One of the songs, ‘At the Bottom,’ was written that way and it worked.”

He explained that “Cellophane” was made differently. “Our producer, Will, set us up in his studio and we were all playing live together and that’s how we wrote ‘Cellophane,’” he said. It made a huge difference, and I think that we learned the way that we write best is all playing together and feeling it out. Organically, bouncing stuff off of each other, sharing the same energy in the room.”

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When asked about their favorite songs on “Split,” the bands admitted that they loved all of the songs on the record. “I’m proud of both of the songs for different reasons,” Pat said. “The knowledge of how ‘Cellophane’ happened is cool to me… it was like a ‘hell yeah we did it’ moment when we all bounced back and made something we were so excited about.” He then remarked, “I don’t know if I can say I like one more than the other, I’m excited about both of the songs.”

Joe agreed that it’s hard to choose, “I really like all of them,” he stated, noting that  Suntitle’s song, ‘Better Roses’ is his favorite.  “We recorded it in the group of songs but ended up releasing it as a single.  When I wrote that one, it was my main song.” 

The two bands don’t have any plans set in stone to work together in the future, but they assured that it’s definitely something they’ll do again. Matt explained, “It’s not the first time that the bands have overlapped… nothing is planned right now, but it’s something we can do whenever.” Joe agreed, nodding, “When Suntitle brings new songs to the table, the first person I go to is Pat.”

Pat concluded, “Even if we don’t have plans to collaborate… We’re always advising and listening to each other’s stuff.  Rooting for each other kind of thing.” 

Both bands have a busy year ahead of them.  House & Home are touring with Standstill on March 7-10, hitting Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Wilkes-Barre.  Pat also mentioned that they are working on, “a whole lot more tour dates that are not announced yet.”  Suntitle will be busy touring-wise later in the year.  

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