Adaptation: The Musical: The Home Team

In the wake of stay-at-home orders, The Home Team knew they had to do something both to keep afloat financially and to stay in touch with their fans. Thus, their Patreon — a new way to interact with their audience in the absence of live shows — was born.

Adaptation: The Musical: The Home Team January 15, 2021

Dan Ray

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Vocalist Brian Butcher talks to the audience during a February 2019 show at Hard Rock Cafe. // Photo by Nicole Hagens

The music industry was one of the first hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and musicians have been forced to adapt. In this mini-doc series, “Adaptation: The Musical,” we talk to Seattle musicians about how they’ve migrated to a new, online ecosystem. In this episode, we chat with pop-punk project The Home Team.

When stay-at-home orders came down, The Home Team didn’t have to change their plans much: They’d already decided on taking the year off touring to write a new record. But in the midst of developing new ways to write remotely, they quickly realized quarantine wasn’t going to be the blip on the calendar we all hoped it would be. They knew they had to do something both to keep afloat financially and to stay in touch with their fans. Thus, their Patreon — a new way to interact with their audience in the absence of live shows — was born.

Watch our mini-doc with The Home Team below to see how they changed their writing style, what they’re doing with their Patreon, and when they’re planning on dropping new music.