Chasing That Dragon: A Conversation With This Homemade Conspiracy
Interview ★ Kenzie Gay ★ @kenzwrites ★ 6 Minutes
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Social media is an utter goldmine for finding new, underground artists and it’s about time we recognize that. In my short three years as an entertainment journalism, I’ve discovered so many new artists through platforms like Tiktok and Instagram. The most recent act on this ever-growing list is a group known as This Homemade Conspiracy — or THC, whichever you prefer.
Composed of Chandler Price (guitar), Dylan Hall (vocals), Nick DePalma (guitar), Tyler Petzke (drums), and Mitchel Dickson (bass), the members of THC recently took some time to chat about the band, next steps, and their Midwest roots.
Who are some of the band’s biggest individual musical inspirations? Are there any that listeners might not expect?
We have such a wide variety of inspirations but I think that makes our input into writing that much more unique. Some of those inspirations range from Guns N’ Roses to Sleep Token. Coldplay to Black Sabbath or Alice In Chains to Alanis Morissette. I think collectively we have such deep appreciation for all sorts of music that we can find something we like from almost all genres.
What is the backstory behind the band’s name?
The band name came from everyone getting assigned to come to the next practice with a list of names we thought were cool. This felt like one of those pivotal moments or milestone that really solidified the idea that “We are a band now”. I always had it in my mind that a band with an easy acronym was the way to go and THC felt like it just worked.
It was Tyler Who brought “Homemade Conspiracy” to the table and I quickly added “The”. Making “The Homemade Conspiracy”. We sat with that for about a week and then felt like saying “The” didn’t work as well and switched it to “This Homemade Conspiracy”. I think we all fell in love with that name and really felt like it had some sort of energy to it. So we’ve been This Homemade Conspiracy since about February of 2022.
You guys hail from Plymouth, Indiana. How has Indiana or the Midwest at large shaped your style and sound?
We all love the fact that we all come from Plymouth. There’s a little bit of hometown pride for some reason. On paper there’s really nothing special about Plymouth but over the past few years we have personally seen the love and support pour out of this town.
Personally, I came across you guys via Tiktok: specifically, a video of you covering Devil Like Me by Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Covers seem to be a hot button topic in the industry. That being said, what makes a song worthy of becoming a This Homemade Conspiracy cover? How do you decide which songs fit your style even if it’s just for social media purposes?
I think the first thing we consider with playing and posting a cover is if Dylan can sing it! Then usually its just a song we vibe with and think we can do it justice. We don’t really play songs we don’t vibe with even if it would be an easy hit with a song that’s popping off on Tiktok.
If each member had to describe the band in one word, what would it be?
Chandler- Nonstop
Dylan - Tenacious
Tyler - Thriving
Mitchel - Weed
Nick - *Could not be reached for comment*
Your debut single, Fever Dreams, released last Spring. Can you go into detail about what that milestone meant for the band?
Dylan: We were celebrating finally having a song out. We finally felt like a real band I guess. I don’t know what I felt like. I felt cooler like fuck yeah we are really doing it. It was a song that started in a paint booth. It was a riff that we all had our hands on ever and it was the first song we all agreed to put out.
Chandler: It was a long process that took way more out of us than I think we originally thought it would. We shopped around and recorded that song with different producers and finally the 3rd time we got it. It was a surreal experience the first time we heard it recorded properly. We’ve only heard it live while we played it in a room together and to hear it with a little more “studio sauce” was quite the experience. Being able to type our name into Spotify and see our profile pop up was something we wanted from day 1 but it took us way too long to get there. We looked at all these other local bands and they always had that edge over us. When we finally put that song out we finally felt a little more part of the scene.
What do you think your music says about you that you wouldn't say in a conversation?
I think our music lets us emote just a bit more than we normally would. We are all for the most part pretty reserved and keep to ourselves but with the music you get to kind of have an open conversation about things that are normally saved for those intimate talks you have with friends when the party dies down and its just a few of you left talking about life. And then you have the songs that let you say “Fuck you” to someone without the consequences so that’s nice sometimes.
What role does each member naturally fill beyond their instrument?
Nick brings the rock and roll and the after party and the good vibes. That guy doesn’t know a stranger I swear. Mitchel is he calm reliability. He’s great at being told a task to do and making it happen. Dylan is the social media guy. He’s the one on top of trends and making the extra effort outside of shows and practice to have an online presence.
Tyler is the transportation guy. He pulls the trailer and loads that trailer every show. He’s the one you can count on driving home after loading and playing all day. I (Chandler) am the band leader. I take care of the “business” side of things. Between booking shows and hiring sound techs and collecting checks. I always thought being in a band meant playing guitar. But it turns out it’s a lot more filling taxes and chasing down checks.
How do you stay creatively motivated in an industry that often rewards constant content over thoughtful art?
Dylan: It’s pretty fucking hard right now, not gonna lie. I hate that question
Chandler : It’s such a tricky balance. You want to spend time writing songs and perfecting your art but you also want to showcase that art to as many people as possible so you need the follows and likes online. Our philosophy has always been to capture people with something they know and connect to like a cover song, so that way they stick around and check out our original material.
The cool thing with creating content though is that it can still showcase who we are as people. When we make content that isn’t a cover it usually starts off as an idea and by the time we are done its completely different. It always seems to take a turn and we crack ourselves up and figure if we found it funny someone else will too. Our goal is to always make something we would watch or that we would find funny so nothing ever really feels forced or out of character.
What's one question no interviewer has ever asked that you wish they would?
I wish I had an answer for this but I’ve racked my brain and can’t think of anything. I’d make a shitty interviewer.
What’s next for This Homemade Conspiracy?
As every local band ever says “Big things coming!!!” Seriously though we are always chasing that dragon. There’s always the next challenge to over come and always the next step to take. We aren’t very good with having downtime. It stresses all of us out to not have the next thing planned. It feels like a big machine the needs oiled regularly.
There’s always a backlog of originals we are writing or new cover tunes we are working on or shows we are booking. We’ve got a lot of fresh material we’ve written that we are hoping to be back in the studio this fall and have something to release shortly after that. Its some stuff we are really pumped about and has a tangible energy to. Its a bit of a vibe change but still very much THC.
