Noise Levels: Staying at Home

Saturday, August 9, 2025

Staying at Home

ORIGINS: Sydney, NSW

GENRE: Post-Hardcore

YEARS ACTIVE: 2001-2005

MEMBERS:

Adam Lees - Vocals, Guitar
Karen Tran - Bass
Nick van Breda - Drums

RELEASES:

These Moments Minutes (2001)

1. Sun Comes Up
2. Brighter Frame
3. A Lesser Half
4. Three Square Meals
5. Isn't This Where?
6. Out the Carriage Window
7. The World Ends
8. Few and Far

Split with Seconds Away (2002)

1. Submarine Diary
2. Harbour
3. Jettison

Split with Stockholm Syndrome (2003)

1. A Martyr Apart

Reaction Heroes (2004)

1. Air, Water and The Grave
2. Lining Silver
3. The New Chapters
4. Oh Five Hundred
5. Pinpoint Pupil
6. Chiswell Green
7. Pacific Street Sweeper
8. Dendrite
9. Stained Glass Swing
10. Axis and Atlas
11. Stopwatch
12. A Monologue in Two

Never Take Me Alive (2005)

1. Never Take Me Alive
2. This Muscle Speaks (Demo)
3. Limelight
4. A Martyr Apart

Boundless (2006)

1. Gil Elvgreen
2. Frowned All Day
3. Splintering
4. Muscles Better and Nerves More
5. Carryover Champ
6. Boundless
7. Tell Me Sweetness
8. Suburban Undead
9. The Quiet Chemist

SUMMARY: Starting in 2001, Staying At Home established themselves as a unique and inventive three piece in the landscape of Sydney's underground music at this time. The band toured quite relentlessly on Australia's East Coast and eventually signed with Set Fire To My Home Records. In 2004 they released their first full-length album Reaction Heroes and toured across Australia, playing shows with Sum 41, Gyroscope, Pilot to Gunner, After The Fall, and Sparta. Things became strained for the band in 2005, at which point they decided to call it a day. A posthumous album Boundless was released in 2006, and the band reformed for a one-off reunion show in 2013.

SHOWS:

Hornsby PCYC, Hornsby - 29th September, 2001 [All Ages]
Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, Newtown - 2nd February, 2002 [All Ages]
Hornsby PCYC, Hornsby - 29th June, 2002 [All Ages]
Hardcore 2002, Addison Road Community Centre, Marrickville - 5th July, 2002 [All Ages]
Channel Cafe, Penrith - 14th September, 2002 [All Ages]
St George PCYC, Rockdale - 28th September, 2002 [All Ages]
Green Square, Zetland - 4th October, 2002
Green Square, Zetland - 11th October, 2002
Vic on the Park, Marrickville - 8th November, 2002
Northern Star Hotel, Newcastle - 21st November, 2002
Bonapartes, Fortitude Valley (QLD) - 22nd November, 2002
Moshpit Music, Brisbane (QLD) - 23rd November, 2002
Club 77, Sydney - 28th November, 2002
The Clubhouse, Glebe - 7th December, 2002 [All Ages]
Club 77, Sydney - 7th December, 2002
Green Square, Zetland - 14th December, 2002
Bar Broadway, Sydney - 5th April, 2003
Woden Youth Centre, Canberra [ACT] - 16th May, 2003
Hornsby PCYC, Hornsby - 18th July, 2003
Hornsby PCYC, Hornsby - December, 2003

Vic on the Park, Marrickville - 9th January, 2004
Vic on the Park, Marrickville - 10th April, 2004
Northern Star Hotel, Newcastle - 6th August, 2004
Annandale Hotel, Annandale - 13th August, 2004
Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale - 14th August, 2004
Panthers Leagues Club, Penrith - 15th August, 2004 [All Ages]
The Green Room, Canberra (ACT) - 18th August, 2004
Karova Lounge, Ballarat (VIC) - 19th August, 2004
Barwon Club, Geelong (VIC) - 20th August, 2004
Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne (VIC) - 21st August, 2004
Annandale Hotel, Annandale - 2nd September, 2004
Church Bar, Canberra (ACT) - 4th September, 2004
Metro Theatre, Sydney - 11th September, 2004
Hi-Fi Bar, Melbourne (VIC) - 12th September, 2004
Goo, Melbourne (VIC) - 16th September, 2004
Enigma Bar, Adelaide (SA) - 17th September, 2004
Barwon Club, Geelong (VIC) - 18th September, 2004
The Arthouse, Melbourne (VIC) - 19th September, 2004 [All Ages]
Red and the Black, Brisbane (QLD) - 22nd September, 2004
Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle - 23rd September, 2004
Oxford Tavern, Wollongong - 24th September, 2004
Vic on the Park, Marrickville - 25th September, 2004
Panthers Leagues Club, Penrith - 26th September, 2004 [All Ages]
Gaelic Club, Surry Hills - 1st October, 2004
Next, Melbourne (VIC) - 23rd June, 2005
Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne (VIC) - 24th June, 2005
Enigma Bar, Adelaide (SA) - 25th June, 2005
Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle - 30th June, 2005
Spectrum, Sydney - 7th July, 2005
Oxford Tavern, Wollongong - 8th July, 2005
Utopia Records, Sydney - 9th July, 2005 [All Ages]
Embassy Hotel, Penrith - 10th July, 2005 [All Ages]
Spectrum, Sydney - 4th August, 2005
Church Bar, Canberra (ACT) - 5th August, 2005
Sound and Fury Records, Sydney - 7th August, 2005
Melbourne Uni, Melbourne (VIC) - 13th August, 2005 [All Ages]
The Arthouse, Melbourne (VIC) - 13th August, 2005
Enigma Bar, Adelaide (SA) - 14th August, 2005
Gaelic Club, Surry Hills - 20th October, 2005
Bar Broadway, Sydney - 18th November, 2005
Black Wire Records, Sydney - 1st March, 2013 [Reunion Show]

ORAL HISTORY:

ADAM: I started seriously listening to punk rock at the tender age of 13. My first love was Bad Religion and I bought every single release available. I then quickly made the cross to more political bands - oldies like Dead Kennedys, Crass, Subhumans, and also Propagandhi and I-Spy. I became vegan and was inspired to start writing punk music and lyrics.

Adam Lees, Staying At Home website, 2002

NICK: Adam and I both went to Asquith Boys High... I was in Year 8 and he was in Year 10. We were in a high school musical production of South Pacific. I was heavily into my dad's record collection (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc.). I never had any money to buy music so I hadn't realised there was this whole other world waiting for me. Adam was singing in The Shirkers at the time and had just started learning/teaching himself guitar. He was always carrying it around. We had rehearsals for South Pacific a couple of times a week and there was a lot of downtime. Him and I just started hanging out and playing songs together. He introduced me to punk rock. He'd make me mix tapes, which I'd listen to all the time. I think the first tape he ever made me was a mix of Assorted Jelly Beans, Blink 182, Screeching Weasel, and a bunch of other Fat Wreck Chords bands. We'd sit in the playground every lunchtime writing and singing songs together. I was always singing harmonies, having grown up on a steady diet of The Beatles and Beach Boys - it came easy to me. We had a band, Rocketboy, that was a fast pop-punk kinda thing but also kinda mathy. We didn't record anything or even play any shows but it definitely laid the foundations for Staying At Home. After Adam finished high school we saw a lot less of each other so Rocketboy was over. We remained in touch though. One day, I had a spare ticket to see Frenzal Rhomb and Mad Caddies at Manly Youth Centre. I knew Adam was probably feeling miserable as his girlfriend had gone overseas so I called him and offered him the ticket. He came along and we spent the night catching up, talking music and not really paying much attention to the bands. He told me he'd been writing songs again and had met this bassplayer at uni named Karen. He asked me if I'd be interested in playing drums. I had nothing better to do so I jumped at the chance.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: Becoming a musician just snuck up on me. I started singing in bands in high school and started playing guitar when I was about 16. I sang for a couple of shows and on the first demo of The Shirkers but I was young and didn't get to write any lyrics or music for the band. For a number of reasons, it was best that we parted ways. I was getting better at playing guitar and songwriting so I wanted to start my own band and play my own songs. Around this time I'd met Nick at school and got him listening to some punk rock. I got him as obsessed with Propagandhi and melodic punk as I was. I kept writing after high school but had become slightly disillusioned with the whole band lark by then.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), Bombshellzine.com, 2005, and Staying At Home website, 2002

KAREN: Adam and I met at uni (College of Fine Arts, UNSW). He was wearing a Kid Dynamite shirt and I said, "Cool shirt" (I was, and still am, a huge Kid Dynamite fan). And after chatting we realised how much our music tastes overlapped. I had been learning how to play bass guitar in my bedroom for years all through high school, and practiced for hours on end, when I probably should've been studying. I had never really played in a band other than a few random school band projects. Adam said he'd been writing music and was a singer/guitarist and that he knew of a drummer from the area - Nick - and that we should all jam. And that's kind of how Staying at Home was born. It all just kind of felt right, right off the bat. Maybe 'cause it was the first time I really played music with anyone outside of school band, so I didn't really have a point of reference. But I truly felt we all clicked together from very early on.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: The band came together thanks to a first lecture, a fear of the unknown, a Kid Dynamite T-shirt, and a chance meeting. Me and my new friend were then sitting on the floor of my first apartment, cheap instruments in laps, Karen writing down every note and section of every song. Next we enlisted an old high school friend who I played with in a bad pop punk band that never set foot off that high school's grounds (thankfully)... We formed in April or May 2001.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), Bombshellzine.com, 2005

KAREN: The name came from two nerds sitting in a design history theory lecture scribbling out ideas for a band name. We decided on 'Staying At Home' over the one that encapsulated our evil scheme to cause harm to our lecturer.

Karen Tran (Bass), Bombshellzine.com, 2005

ADAM: Karen and I were in a lecture after deciding to jam on some tunes... scribbling joke band names in our notebooks instead of notes, such as 'Destroy Arianne' (one of our more annoying lecturers was called Arianne). I was a nerd and a hermit, verging on both neurosis and agoraphobia, I would say. I hated the 'scene' (it's nothing but shows!) and harboured a distrust of people in general. I am troubled. Karen could empathise - we spent the whole year at uni sitting by ourselves, whispering bitter and unnecessarily brutal character assassinations instead of indulging in the bustling social atmosphere many students enjoyed, and so the name 'Staying At Home' was born...

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), Bombshellzine.com, 2005

NICK: We had our first jam at Noisegate Studios in Castle Hill. I remember there being this weird awkwardness when we all met. We were all anxious introverts and I could tell Karen felt weird about playing in a band with a kid who was still in fucking high school! That awkwardness in the room lifted as soon as we started playing. Adam and I were still locked in with each other even though the songs were a completely different style to what we'd played before in Rocketboy. Kaz's bass playing was really fucking unique and it just fit perfectly.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: We started practising some stuff - I had written a bunch of melodic hardcore tunes but it was sounding sort of like a cross between Propagandhi and 88 Fingers Louie. I don't know... one of the songs had those whole Sp&zz breakdown in it, and yet another one sounded like The Promise Ring. I was in the midst of changing musical tastes. After a few practices our sound progressed further away from the fast melodic hardcore origins - we eventually had to reject some of the earlier songs because the difference between them and our newer songs was too great.

Adam Lees, Staying At Home website, 2002

KAREN: One of the first songs we wrote was called 'Three Square Meals' (which ended up on our first EP, These Moments Minutes, that was released on Humble Pie Records), and I remember sitting on the floor of Adam's Hornsby flat and playing this riff that I had been messing around with on the bass, in my phase of playing the bass like it was a guitar, and we were listening to a lot of I Hate Myself at the time - which is very evident when you hear the song, haha. Adam just took the riff and turned it into the whole song, and I was in awe of how he laid it all out the way he did. A lot of our songs came about that way, either with a seedling of a riff that just grew into a whole song, or the marrying of a bunch of different riffs from Nick and Adam. A lot of the songwriting process seemed really organic and came together quickly. Adam was a pivotal part of fleshing them all out.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

NICK: We played our first show in September 2001 at the Hornsby PCYC with Worse Off, Cheapshot, and Dot Dot Dot. There were a couple of other bands. That night we were offered a spot on a run of shows with the same lineup in Melbourne.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KAREN: Our first live show was in 2001... it was at a Hornsby PCYC basement show, maybe with Meataxe, Gorebash, Dot Dot Dot... maybe even Fistfull? My memory is foggy on that one, haha. I remember we played a Go-Go's cover, 'Our Lips Are Sealed'. It was probably about 6-7 after we'd started rehearsing.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: After months and months of practising we played our first show at Hornsby PCYC on the 29th of September in 2001. People said they could hear a strong Braid influence (they are my favourite band so I guess that's inevitable) and some people said we remind them of Conation (there's no powerviolence in our music but I guess it's just the mix of melody and screaming). I hope we predominantly sound just like us.

Adam Lees, Staying At Home website, 2002

NICK: Our second show was Jonny Optional's birthday party at the Gladstone Hotel in Chippendale, then we were off to Melbourne by the end of the year. We never really looked back.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

From Timeout, December 2002

ARTICLE: The trio are influenced by underground music but have a unique style and they said that people 'shouldn't expect any Top 40 stuff'.

Timeout article, December 2002

KAREN: Some early memorable shows would be - our first tour of Melbourne, where we played at the Arthouse alongside Far Left Limit and Dying Breed. It was such an incredibly experience, playing out of state for the first time. Another memorable show was when we were the opening band for Resist Records' Hardcore 2002... it was wild. We were just these nerdy suburb kids playing kind of heavy, kind of twinkly post-hardcore punk - next to the likes of Mindsnare, Numb (from Japan), etc. Not sure the crowd knew how to take us, honestly, haha. Other memorable shows were the ones at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre and the early days of the Green Square, where we would be loading in and setting up while the strippers were finishing up their sets!

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: The DIY concept is important to us - it's just about being honest and contributing and not losing sight of the fierce community aspect that should be intrinsic to the punk and hardcore scenes. The fact that anyone can just start a band with what they have and organise shows and make CDs and distribute zines, start small labels and distros... I think it is the concept of creativity and community that is important, as much as doing it yourself. The sense of community is what separates punk music from every other type of music - it's not what the music sounds like as much as how it is approached and distributed, and how people are included in that. All Ages shows are an essential part of this. All shows should be All Ages - you can drink anywhere, anytime, but all people should be allowed to listen to the music and come to the venues.

Adam Lees, Into the Silence, 2002

KAREN: Our first EP was recorded at Zen Studios. I was so nervous, not wanting to fuck up playing or forget any of the songs. I also felt like the sound engineer was just annoyed at us the whole time, 'cause we were a bunch of young dumb kids with no idea of what we were doing, going in there with shitty equipment 'cause that was all we could effort, haha. But in the end I was very proud of what we made, given the circumstances.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

NICK: The approach to recording was pretty much to just scrounge enough money to pay for a couple of days recording at Zen Studios with Geoff Lee. 'Jaded Geoff' we called him. I don't think he had much respect for us at the beginning (and nor should he have). We clearly had no fucking idea what we were doing. At least, I didn't. I was playing my dad's kit from the early '70s. I'm pretty sure the skins hadn't been changed since the early '80s. I didn't know you should change them for recording and, even if I did, I wouldn't have had the money to do it. We had written 9 songs by that stage but had already scrapped one. We wound up recording 8 songs, which was released as an EP called These Moments Minutes. The songs are kind of all over the place genre-wise. We were still in the process of developing our sound but a couple of those songs stayed in the set for most of the band's life.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: My lyrics reflect my immediate emotions - mainly to do with my relationships and interactions with people. It's about venting loneliness and melancholy and paranoia and neurosis - the silly, insecure things that really affect me and shape my thoughts and feelings, just as they affect every single other person. Hopefully other people that feel isolated and upset by things will be able to relate to the imagery and sentiment in the lyrics. This band is the most important thing to me - it's always on my mind. Most of my creative energy is channelled into writing music so it is a necessary extension of me, in order to express myself the way I want to. It's also the thing I most enjoy. It is my catharsis, my hobby, my diary, and my means of communication.

Adam Lees, Into the Silence, 2002

REVIEW: These Moments Minutes was released as a demo on CD originally but I think it was pretty obvious that it was good enough to be a properly released record and it seems Humble Pie Records thought so too. Staying At Home combine rocking melodies, sort parts, and technical powerviolence-type stuff to make a pretty unique sound. It all comes together perfectly with great songwriting and tight musicianship. The lyrics are sincere and well written, my favourite being 'The Lesser Half', which is kind of like a lyrical masterpiece with the way it fits the music and what it says. If you Staying At Home around, they are hell shy so sing 'The Sun Comes Up' at them really loud and watch them turn red! Good fucking shit!

Review of These Moments Minutes by Luke, ScreamingBloodyMess.com, 2002

REVIEW: The first full length from this powerful post-punk rock trio. Musically, they remind me of Garden Variety. It's hard to staple these kids to any particular genre or sound. Amazing musicians. They are a breath of fresh air for Sydney.

Review of These Moments Minutes by Joel Anderson, ScreamingBloodyMess.com, 2002

REVIEW: Heartfelt melodic hardcore with great singing... I'm reminded of bands like Texas is the Reason, although Staying At Home throws in some harsher Jawbreaker style elements every now and then. Varied songwriting and a good recording make for a nice introduction to this Australian band.

Review in Heartattack Issue 36, 2002

At the Arthouse with friends

KAREN: Taking the band on the road was always the best of times. I couldn't quite get over the fact that people outside of the Hornsby area liked our stuff, let alone in whole other states. I didn't know it then, but some of the best times of my life would be had on those 10 to 14 hour car rides with our equipment crammed into every crevice, only eating potato chips and white bread! We were always grateful for every time we got to play our music on a stage, any stage, no matter how big or small, in front of anyone that took the time to come and see us.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

NICK: Our first trip to Brisbane wasn't long after our late '01 Melbourne tour. We were very much a touring band from the start. Our first trip to Melbourne we caught the train. Our first Brisbane trip, though, saw Adam's dad drive us. It wasn't very rock and roll, haha. I was the only driver in the band at the time and was still on my Ps so a hire car was out of the question. I think our second trip to Brisbane was with Seconds Away and we all piled into the one Tarago for that. After that, we were renting vans with someone else's licence as I was still under 25. We did a lot of kilometres in those few years.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: This one time on the road I said something thoughtless that hurt Karen's feelings, then something thoughtless that Nick didn't notice, then no one said anything to me, and that hurt my feelings, and Karen didn't tell me I hurt her feelings until three days later when she exploded and punched my skull, only after she drank the rider, made out with all the groupies, and Nick stayed in the hotel room with Josh and smoked too much mad chronic.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), Bombshellzine.com, 2005

KAREN: We played a lot of shows with Seconds Away - did a bunch of tours in Melbourne and Queensland with them. Before we officially started the band we were all huge fans of Seconds Away, and would go see them as much as we could when they would play around town. After we recorded These Moments Minutes, we approached them and gave them a demo, and then we started opening for them a bunch. I think after that the conversation started about doing a split EP together. I remember being on cloud nine about it all because they were such a huge influence on us at the time and to be able to play shows with them as well as collaborate on a release - it was mind-blowing.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: These Moments Minutes was originally recorded as an 8-song demo and we never really expected it to get picked up and released. Adrian from Humble Pie had it mastered - it's really a document of us exploring some different ideas in our early months as a band and so the songs are very important to us. The new stuff has moved on from it a bit and I guess we've found our sound a bit more since. The newer songs tend to be more melodic and structured but still a bit skewed. The stuff we're working on now will hopefully combine the more spontaneous energy of the first CD with the melody and structure of the material we just recorded for the Seconds Away and Stockholm Syndrome splits.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), ScreamingBloodyMess.com, 2002

NICK: As we developed, we went from being a melodic/post-hardcore band with strong emo influences to an emo band with strong melodic/post-hardcore influences. The songwriting became a bit more self-aware and the songs weren't as fast as our early stuff. We were kinda hard to pigeonhole so we played on so many different bills. We'd be playing a Blurters show one night, then an Us Vs Them show the next. We even played fucking Hardcore 2002 with Prom Queen and Mindsnare. It wasn't too long before we made friends with Seconds Away. We played a bunch of shows with them and teamed up for a split.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KAREN: We came up in the peak of the Myspace/Livejournal and messageboard era and used that to the best of our abilities to promote our shows and releases. The internet definitely helped but, unfortunately, I didn't take enough note of the metrics at the time to really know how successful our internet marketing was in comparison to just plain ol' flyering and telephone posters, etc.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

BIO: Staying At Home are a melodic mathy rock band whose sound draws from the fevered punk rock energy that marked their earlier material, combined with interesting and powerful, quirky rhythms and melodies that characterise the band today.

Band Bio, Staying At Home website, 2004

NICK: Tom Deplorable was always there at shows slinging records and supporting bands like he always has. The idea of two very different sounding bands doing a split together was appealing to all of us, so that's how the Stockholm Syndrome split came about. I'm very grateful for Tom supporting the idea and putting it out.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KAREN: We signed to Set Fire to My Home not long after we released the split EP with Seconds Away and the split 7" with Stockholm Syndrome. I think it was 2003, which was when we started working towards putting the album Reaction Heroes together. After we signed to Set Fire to My Home, we really started to take off and things felt big for us. It started to feel like we were reaching a wider audience; people at our shows truly seemed invested in us and it felt like we were doing something special. At the time it didn't feel difficult at all to sustain the increased level of activity. We were just so hungry for almost any and every chance to get out there and show the world our shit. Looking back on it, I don't know how I had the energy to be doing full time uni, trying to work a part-time job, and playing multiple shows almost every weekend for a few years!

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

Revolver (Street Press), 2002

NICK: Luke Logemann's label Set Fire to My Home Records got on board in late 2003. It was after our split with 7" with Stockholm Syndrome. Luke threw himself into debt and sent us to Adelaide to record what would become our debut album, Reaction Heroes. Once that came out, things kicked up another level. The first couple of years we kinda said yes to everything that came our way. After Reaction Heroes we were a lot more selective and strategic with the kind of shows we played. We then started getting much bigger local tours and international supports, which was cool.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KAREN: In regards to recording Reaction Heroes, we spent two weeks in Adelaide in the summer of 2003/2004, staying in a shitty cockroach-infested motel, and recorded with Ian Miller during the days. It was a wild time, but honestly I was so proud of what we accomplished and how it ended up sounding. I still listen to the album on a regular basis because I just love how it sounded. It was such a great recording experience. I think it really elevated our self-image as well - just going through that experience, learning so much, and then being able to take that little album out on the road with us. It was truly an incomparable life experience for me.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ARTICLE: Sydney's Staying At Home launched their debut album Reaction Heroes at the Vic on the Park mid April with Sans Chavelle and Stockholm Syndrome. Unfortunately, Stockholm's set was cut short by a fight that broke out which ended up with one too many punches thrown for all the wrong reasons. Keep it together kids!

Unidentified Magazine (Blunt?), 2004

ADAM: We all grew up on punk but liked to keep ourselves interested/challenged. The bassist and myself are anxiety-ridden question-junkies, and the drummer doesn't give a shit and smokes a lot. I write the bulk of the raw Staying at Home music - a lot of it is influenced by Braid, Cap'n Jazz, Fugazi, Hey Mercedes. More recently, our pop melodies have had elements of Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, or Elvis Costello coming through.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), Bombshellzine.com, 2005

REVIEW: Staying At Home have established a devoted following that hangs on their every note and word, as is the case at this show. Melodic yet hardly what you'd call straight ahead, there's a well considered intricacy to songs such as 'Chiswell Green' that makes them unique, and sees the audience pleading for an encore. A solid showing from one of Sydney's finest.

Review of Vic on the Park Show by Rod Hunt, Kerrang, 25th September 2004

BIO: Staying At Home are a band that is worth so much more than what people expect from a biography... It's just the music you've got to listen to. And once you have, you'll know - they'll have their own thousands screaming and they won't even need a bio for you to know who they are and what they're about. The band has been a mainstay of the Sydney hardcore and rock scenes for the past three years, becoming known and respected for their diversity and DIY attitude... They've marked themselves as one of the few bands that can fit on any bill.

Band Bio, Set Fire to My Home, 2004

Review of Reaction Heroes, possibly from Blunt, 2004

REVIEW: Staying at Home's first ever full-length is finally here. Reaction Heroes is 12 tunes packed with passion, melody, maths, and some of the most interesting songwriting you'll come across all year. Produced by Ian Miller at the Soundhouse (Blueline Medic, Thinktank, I Killed the Prom Queen, etc.) Studios in Adelaide, it is out through Set Fire to My Home Records. The band are on tour through April with Pilot to Gunner from the USA.

Review of Reaction Heroes, Blunt Magazine, 2004

Review from Kerrang, 2004

PRESS: Just when you were beginning to ask yourself whether they are tired or not, it seems Staying At Home are ready to announce another tour. Still reeling from the success of their runs with Gyroscope, Pilot to Gunner, and After The Fall, the band is gearing up to head out on their national Reaction Heroes album tour. Starting early September, the band will kick off the tour in Sydney at the Annandale Hotel before continuing around the majority of the country, stopping off only in the middle for their two-date support of American band Sparta. The band's reputation is growing by the minute with praising reviews ("Australia's best post-hardcore band?" - Kerrang) and their technical but punchy anthems have been gaining Triple J airplay. And with their amazing film clip for the new single The New Chapters almost ready for release, things are only looking better and better for the band.

Press Release, Bombshellzine.com, 2004

ADAM: We're kind of repelled by sameness, we want to do something fresh. There are a lot of cookie cutter bands who copy the same thing. I'm saying things that have been said before but it's too simple it sounds like everything else and you're just going to rely on cliches, so I like playing with words. There's nothing I hate worse than when there's a really awesome song and the lyrics are blase. You've heard it before and it's not saying anything new to you.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), Kerrang, July 2004

Kerrang, July 2004

ADAM: One show that plagues me the most was one of the biggest shows we ever played, and therefore it's the most embarrassing. We supported Sparta in Melbourne at the Hi-Fi. We'd played the Metro with them in Sydney the night before and flew to Melbourne first thing in the morning, and we were a shambles. Nick was basically catatonic, which is never good for a drummer, and slept through Sparta's sound check pretty much until we went on stage. The thing that kills me is that I had also lost my voice. When that happens I just lose it completely and I play like shit. I always complain that my voice is sub par; but this was seriously like squeaky, off-key barks and pubescent wailing. Makes me cringe just thinking about it... it was in front of nearly a thousand people. Why?!

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), CTW Issue 12, 2005

KAREN: My favourite place to play is Melbourne - there's always a fuckin' party to be had in that town. But my favourite venue to perform at is the Annandale Hotel in Sydney. Knowing that you're sharing the stage of legends... it's an awesome feeling.

Karen Tran (Bass), Bombshellzine.com, 2005

ADAM: One of my favourite shows was our last 2005 show in Canberra at the Church Bar... Talk about a vocally supportive bunch! Singing along to the songs, cheering, dancing. I think the only times we've been cheered for an encore were in Canberra. Good kids.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), CTW Issue 12, 2005

NICK: After we recorded Reaction Heroes, we flirted with the idea of bringing Jonny Optional in on second guitar. He was (and still is) one of our good friends and someone who we thought could slot in easily. The idea didn't last very long though. We didn't even get to the stage of jamming together.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: We talked about the extra depth and fullness a second guitarist would bring but I also think Staying At Home is a three piece. It's dynamic and our energy has evolved that way. Adding another person to the mix would be risky. It would have to be the right person.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), ScreamingBloodyMess.com, 2002

KAREN: We don't really hang out with each other outside of band related activities any more, like we used to at the beginning. We used to hang out all the time but it got to the stage where, because we'd been doing so much touring and working so hard, we forgot about the fact that, underneath it all, we were friends. There was a strange period earlier this year when we all realised that. Relationships got quite strained. But I think we've established where everyone sits with everyone else now.

Karen Tran (Bass), Blunt, 2005

One of the '25 Local Bands for 2005' listed in Blunt, 2005

KAREN: We've been together for almost four years now and it feels like we're still trying to get people to notice us. Our music isn't particularly radio-friendly, apparently... I always thought it was, actually, but Richard Kingsmill (Triple J Programming director) told our label that the song 'The New Chapters' wasn't radio-friendly enough... and if he doesn't think it is, I don't really see us being embraced by the mainstream. But I've come to terms with that and I don't mind now because we're making music with integrity and some people will always support us for that. Our stuff is a lot more textured now. The new stuff that we're playing and that Adam is writing reminds me of Queens of the Stone Age or Jawbox.

Karen Tran (Bass), Blunt, 2005

NICK: We were pretty close-knit for the first three years but then kind of drifted apart towards the end. We were spending so much time together as the band... if we weren't playing slows, the last thing we wanted to do was hang out. It all ended when Karen made the decision to leave the band. She was kicking serious goals in her job as a graphic designer and it reached a point for her where she could no longer do both. Adam and I were pretty bummed as we wanted to keep going but there was no way we were gonna do so without Karen. We hastily recorded the album Boundless (released posthumously), played some farewell shows, and that was it.

Nick van Breda (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KAREN: It was about 2005 and at the time I felt maybe, creatively, we had grown apart. We all wanted to try different things musically, just to explore other styles and play with other people. Both Adam and Nick went on to do very successful projects for quite a number of years and I did a short sting with The Riot and The Trauma.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: One practice Karen piped up out of her usual meditative corner and said 'I don't think I want to do this anymore'. At first Nick and I were pretty shocked but I think it woke us up to the fact that we were totally going through the motions and the fun had definitely seeped out of the band bit by bit. We immediately knew we didn't want to continue the band without Karen, a third of its foundation. We are all really sad and worried about existing without Staying At Home, with it having been a strong focal point for our lives for four and a half years, but we know it's the right thing to do. It was relatively mutual. We'd started getting the sense that, for all our efforts, we were sliding back. We got too caught up in the money side of things, which is almost a necessary evil when there are album debts and tours and whatever that build up over a band's lifespan.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), CTW Issue 12, 2005

KAREN: I moved away from playing music to focus on martial arts and my design career. Looking back, Staying At Home was one of those life experiences that I can undoubtedly say shaped who I am today, even though it was just five years of my life. It made me who I am today and I'm so damn proud of what we were able to accomplish in that short period of time. I have two Staying At Home tattoos on me, to represent how important the band is to me, and I always look back on it with a magical fondness.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ADAM: I was writing way more songs than I could use in one band and I didn't want them to go to waste so I started both Lightweights and Oh Messy Life before Staying At Home had dissolved. The sound of Staying At Home was becoming more and more streamlined and precise, and we were less and less willing to deviate from that sound. I'd found myself writing songs in styles that didn't seem to fit our idea of what a Staying At Home song should be.

Adam Lees (Vocals, Guitar), CTW Issue 16, 2006

KAREN: The 2013 reunion show came about because, at that time, I had already moved to L.A., and was planning a trip back to Sydney to see my family. So what started as a "wouldn't it be funny..." conversation between Nick, Adam, and I, ended up coming to fruition! We ended up practicing via video calls for a few weeks and then once I got into town we rehearsed pretty heavily until the show. It was an incredible experience, just to see all those people crammed into that shop space that Blackwire Records had on Parramatta Rd, singing all the words to all our songs that we hadn't played for years, was so special. I'll never forget it.

Karen Tran (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Fistfull, The Riot and the Trauma, The Shirkers, Rocketboy, Oh Messy Life, Lightweights,