Meet The Welcome Home, the band behind UGA Football’s hype video

The Welcome Home started out as your average, college-town band. Comprised of students from UGA, they have been playing music together in the Athens area for roughly the past year and a half. However, as of late, they have had more attention than ever before.

In October of 2015, the band released its first EP entitled “A Land Outside of This.” It became popular among many students and earned them enough renown to have one of their songs, “Welcome Home,” featured on a football team hype video that aired in front of 90,000+ in Sanford Stadium before the Georgia Vs. Georgia Southern game.

Band members include Ryan Steffes (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Ethan Langston (Bass/Vocals), Lane Langston (Lead guitar), Alison “Ally” Brady (Keys/Vocals) and Alec Parrish (Drums). The Tab UGA had the opportunity to sit down with Ryan to ask a few questions about the band and their success.

When did you all meet?

Well, freshman year I met Ethan and Allie, and I knew that they were interested in music so we started playing together. We started playing songs that I wrote under my own name, Ryan Steffes. Fairly quickly we realized that we should form a band and start writing our own songs, but we still needed a lead guitarist.

This is when Lane, Ethan’s younger brother, entered the picture. To be honest, I didn’t really know much about Lane to begin with, but he came in and wrote some awesome riffs, so we all agreed he should definitely be a part of the band.

And last but not least, we met Alec through Athens Church. Ethan was on the worship team there and would help out from time to time, and so we offered for Alec to start jamming with us and his style fit in really well with ours. Next thing I know, he was our drummer and “The Welcome Home” was in full form.

What was your first gig like?

Oh Lord, it was incredibly goofy. I played a whole bunch of small random stuff with Allie, but the first gig we ever played with a full-lineup was at a place called New Earth, which actually is now called Livewire. This was before Alec and Lane entered the picture, so we had Ethan on bass, Allie on keys, a friend of mine from Atlanta who filled in on drums and me with lead vocals and guitar.

It was super random and thrown together too quickly. I think all of the songs we’ve played are actually songs that have all been thrown out now. It was probably very obvious we had just begun to play together. It was fun to play with a full band for one of the first times, but I’m definitely proud of our progression.

Where did the band name come from?

First off, let me say this: coming up with a band name is super hard. We really wanted to have a name that not only sounded cool, but also meant something. A lot of bands have great, really cool names, but ultimately those names are meaningless.

Anyway, it really just came to me that what we’re trying to do as a band is create an atmosphere where everyone is welcome, where everyone is loved as who they are and no one feels judged. I guess you could say we try to be counter-cultural to a lot of the music today that is completely lacking in hope. We really want our music and our image to invoke a sense of home, and we wanted our name to reflect that.

What did it feel like to sit in Sanford Stadium and listen to your original song be played in front of over 90,000 people?

It was for sure one of the more crazy experiences of my life. I have desired to share music to a large audience for basically my whole life, and this was the first time I had ever been given the opportunity to do it.

Could you imagine sitting in that huge stadium, and listening to a song over the PA system that you wrote in your bedroom? It was one of those moments where I just sat back and thought, “This is why I’m doing what I’m doing. This is why I couldn’t stop making music if I tried.” It was just such a surreal moment. I was speechless.

If you could offer one piece of advice to anyone starting a band, what would it be?

Don’t rush it and know who you are before going into it. If your identity becomes the band, then it’s not going to go smoothly, so know who you are as a person and know who you are musically. You have to know that sound that you like.

In addition to that, be careful about who you let into the band. Its one thing to just play music together, but it’s really special when the people you play with and their desires for the band align with yours. Definitely makes cooperation in all areas a lot easier.

Have you ever been recognized on campus by someone you didn’t know?

Actually, yes. It was not a fan-girl situation, but it has happened once. It’s funny that you ask that because all my friends will always joke around when they see me and yell: “Dude! Are you Ryan Steffes from The Welcome Home?”

So, when it actually happened, I just heard a voice behind me asking if I was the dude from The Welcome Home, and I thought it was someone I knew messing with me. When I turned around though, I had no clue who this person was. I was so caught off guard that I kind of awkwardly was like, “Um, yeah! That’s me!”

What do you like most about the band?

Definitely our professionalism. Everyone takes the band very seriously. I don’t mean to say we don’t have fun with it, because we definitely do. I just mean that we know what is our best and what isn’t.

Our music is our trade and we are really striving to perfect our craft. We want to do the absolute best we can, and I really appreciate how everyone in the band is willing to put forth the time and effort to ensure that we sound our best.