There’s something about a band having its record release show on top of a parking deck that is satisfyingly punk rock. Give some musicians an outlet, and lo and behold, you’ve got a crowd gathering on different floors. That’s Homeostasis in a nutshell. The Greenville, NC, four-piece didn’t just stumble into this DIY ethos; they built it from the ground up, starting by silk-screening merch for other bands before deciding they could do this music thing, too.
That debut album, Push, is the product of a band that learned everything on the fly and isn’t afraid to keep going. They’ll be the first to tell you that their first single was rough around the edges. But in comparison, Push is a fully realized eleven-track record, drawing inspiration from acts like Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, and Stone Temple Pilots in a way that would make the late great Steve Albini nod with approval.
What’s something you’ve been listening to lately?
Josh (vocals/guitar): A lot of Steve Albini at the moment. Big Black, Shellac, and I still put on Sonic Youth every now and then.
Ivan (bass): I’ve been listening to a lot of The Garden. I love them, especially their album Kiss My Super Bowl Ring. That’s my favorite.
Ryan (accordion/trumpet/vocals): I haven’t listened to much lately, but recently I’ve been listening to a lot of The Strokes.
Timm (drums): I’ve been listening to a lot of Neck Deep. They’re a pop-punk band with a good, positive energy in their sound, so it’s been cool listening to them.
When you were first getting into music, who was the first artist or band that you obsessed over and claimed as your own?
Josh: The Beatles, for sure. My dad put on Sgt. Pepper when I was 12 years old. I’d listened to Green Day and stuff like that occasionally, but I was never really captivated or enamored with an album or a band until I heard Sgt. Pepper for the first time. It really changed the way I looked at music.
Ivan: For me, it was Daft Punk‘s Discovery album. I remember when I first heard it in sixth grade, I felt like I was floating. From that point on, it just kind of branched me into a bunch of other stuff.
Ryan: I listened to a lot of different stuff growing up, and nothing really stuck until college. That’s when I heard the Japanese city pop artist Tatsuro Yamashita. I loved his music and went out and sought out all the albums I could find. It’s just hard because a lot of it isn’t on streaming services.
Timm: For me, it was blink-182. I’ve actually seen them three times. I got to see them pretty much at their peak right when they first dropped Dude Ranch, then again at Warped Tour when they had their first record, and most recently when they had Matt Skiba with them.
When did y’all start learning or picking up instruments and playing in bands?
Josh: For Ryan, Ivan, and me, this is our first band. Personally, it was The Beatles that made me want to pick up the guitar, so that’s about 14 or 15 years now. But as far as being in a band, this was it.
Ivan: The only experience I had prior to this was playing guitar at church. Mainly Latin American styles like mariachi, sereno, and huapango. It wasn’t until this band that I actually picked up the bass.
Ryan: I played trumpet in seventh and eighth grade, then didn’t pick it back up until about a year and a half ago. When they started up the band, I really wanted to join, but I wasn’t familiar enough with any instrument to improvise and come up with parts. So that’s really when I started back up with trumpet and started learning accordion at the same time. I’ve just started picking up guitar too, so I’m coming up with new lead parts.
Timm: I’ve been in a couple of little bands here and there and filled in for a few friends’ bands when members couldn’t make it. But this right here is by far the best group I’ve ever gotten to jam with, hands down. These guys are all very talented.
When did the band officially come together?
Josh: It was May 2024, right at the end of college for Ryan and me. Ivan and I had played with the idea of forming a band before, but it never really came together. Then I overheard someone at our local comic shop in Greenville mentioning that they were looking for bandmates. Ivan and I hadn’t really entertained the idea in, like, a year, but I jumped at the opportunity, and we got in touch with Timm. Our first practice hit off really well. He thinks and acts like us.
Timm: Literally on the first day of practice, I showed up dressed as Beavis from Beavis and Butthead. [laughs]
Josh: Ryan joined a couple of months after the official band formed. It was originally just a three-piece with me, Ivan, and Timm. We tried a bunch of different configurations and brought in other vocalists, but Ryan ended up staying. By spring 2025, it was pretty much set in stone that it was the four of us.
In that six-month period from the end of 2024 to spring 2025, were you all starting to work on songs and build a set list?
Josh: It was an amalgamation of things. At the time, I went through a pretty major spine surgery, so I was dormant for a month or so and barely able to play. But one thing we were really thankful for was having a set practice at least one day a week. We balanced everyone’s schedules because we all have day jobs, and we just kept building up a discography big enough to play out. It was early that year when we were working on our first single.
Timm: We did a god-awful single. It was terrible. [laughs]
Josh: It was really bad. But we released it in March 2025 as a four-channel recording with a mic on guitar, a mic on bass, vocals, and one overhead on the drums. It’s about as good as it sounds. But that’s how we were able to shape what eventually became the final album.
Going from that four-channel first single to recording this record, what was your process for leveling up on the production side?
Josh: We actually had the means to record with multi-channels. I just didn’t know how to do it, and I was kind of lazy. But after listening back and getting incredibly embarrassed by it, it kind of wakes you up and makes you say, “Okay, let’s actually try something we’re all proud of.”
Ryan: There were a couple of times where we had something recorded that felt like our best work at the time, and then months later, I’d listen back and think, “We can do better than this.”
Josh: I always went back to two records that I found captivating. There was The Offspring‘s Americana and SNFU’s Something Green and Leafy This Way Comes. The snare recordings, the kicks, everything just blew me away. It was kind of like a guidance sheet for what I wanted it to sound like, or at least as close as possible to the idea in my head.
Of course, we had our own methods and techniques. Some tracks, I didn’t even know the importance of micing a kick, as embarrassing as that is.
You reference a lot of bands in your press kit as touchstones for your sound. When you were working on this record, were there any surprising influences or deeper cuts that maybe crept in unexpectedly?
Josh: I have unholy fixations on either local acts or under-released, underrated records. I know these guys all listen to their own collections, so it’s nice to present a song and have them bring their own attack to it. But I think being part of the local Greenville scene really helped us because we got to see a bunch of different acts and see what other people were thinking about and how they present music.
We have good friends in the scene — Shrug, for instance. Seeing them live for the first time, I remember hearing it and thinking, “Man, I’m jealous.” Or when Ivan and I saw Process // Sleep and Dim at Alley Cat. We’re friends with them, but we hadn’t properly heard them until then. That was kind of an eye-opener, especially Dim, because I’d never really listened to screamo or skrams-type music before that.
But most of these songs have different derivations, as some were written when I was 16 and others when I was 24. I also really love twee pop like Tiger Trap and Go Sailor. I incorporate a lot of their style choices because I get so fixated on certain sounds.
What’s your perspective on Greenville and the local music community, and how has your relationship with the North Carolina scene developed more broadly?
Josh: It’s very dynamic — everybody has a different approach to it, and I think that’s what makes it so exciting.
Ivan: There are a lot of acts here that are really awesome: Shrug, Glowing Practice, Honeyjacks, The Paper Skulls, Misery Twin. What I find most interesting about those shows is that even when they try to do a goth night or an indie-alternative lineup, you don’t really have a lot of similarity between bands. Each one has their own unique voice, which we love. We welcome different sounds and ideas.
Ryan: I think one thing I really love about this community is that everyone is familiar with each other. Everyone’s played with each other at least once. It’s a very strong community. Everyone knows each other and genuinely tries to help one another.
Timm: Also, a big shoutout to Jeff at Alley Cat. I mean, if it wasn’t for him and his passion for music, I don’t think any of us would have really had a shot to do what we do. Anytime you see him, he’s full of joy and happy about the next show or event. He’s always open to giving anyone a chance and making sure they get the attention they need.
Ivan: He’s got such a collection of musicians and artists he knows and has contacts with. He’s booked so many locals and is just the man.
Josh: I also want to mention that we started out as printmakers. We were doing silk screening for other bands, just for fun. And then we kind of realized that we loved watching people perform and thought, “We can do this too.”
Now that the record has been out for a little while, are you looking to book shows for the summer? What are your plans for the rest of the year?
Josh: Play wherever we can. Anywhere, anybody that’ll take us. We’ve started taking DIY into our own hands. For our debut show to promote the album, we played at the top of a parking deck on the ECU campus. We got there, found one outlet that worked, and just went for it.
Ryan: We were also a little scared we’d get arrested. Watching every car that drove up was like “Is this the part where the flashing lights appear?”
Timm: Our friend Pierce from Shrug was actually walking up the parking deck and he was like, “Dude, I could hear you from below me.”
Who are some of your favorite local or North Carolina-specific musicians that you’d want to shout out?
Josh: We love Shrug. That’s probably the band we’ve played with most on bills. They’re good friends, but we also genuinely liked the band before that. We love playing with them.
Ivan: Misery Twin is awesome. Same with Combo Guard.
Timm: On the Spectrum, we’ve played with them twice now. And Tom Dangs, he’s awesome.
Ivan: The beats he makes on his computer and his whole persona are just really fun. I’d say he’s a unicorn in the scene. He doesn’t play too often, but when he does, it’s certainly a show you don’t want to miss.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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