Auckland hip-hop act Home Brew have successfully, in equal parts, both transfixed and shocked parts of New Zealand in recent years. Their debut album was perhaps the most anticipated and positively received local release of 2012.
The trio of Home Brew are led by Tom Scott, with Lui Gumaka and beatmaker Hazbeats (Haz Huavi), and are joined onstage by a full live band. They established themselves off the back of a series of digital EPs they gave away for free on Bandcamp, along with some very entertaining home-made video clips posted on the internet, promoting their music and generally getting up to mischief while avoiding getting arrested.
Home Brew’s debut digital release, the Home Brew Light EP came out in 2007, with music produced by Soulchef and mastering from Chris Macro (Dubious Brothers). They followed that up in 2008 with the Last Week EP on vinyl and digital, featuring production from the crew’s Hazbeats.