Modern Music

To play its Friday night show at the Haskell Civic Center, alt-rock band Homebrewe is traveling all the way from Albany.

Albany, Australia, that is.

As part of the band’s first-ever visit to the United States, the gentlemen (blokes?) of Homebrewe will arrive in the Big Country as the ultimate fish out of water.

“People (in Texas) probably think we have kangaroos in our backyard,” guitarist Casey Grogan said in a phone interview from Down Under.

The band’s original backyard, in fact, resides in the southwestern tip of Australia. And for a while, it didn’t seem like the group would ever make any noise beyond that corner of the world.

Grogan and his brothers Kohen (vocals, guitar) and Dylan (bass) started playing rock music together as teenagers. Their aspirations led them to play around Australia’s pub scene, which is about as merciless and terrifying as it sounds. The youngest of them was only 16.

“It’s very scary for a bunch of young guys getting started,” Casey Grogan said of the group’s early gigs. “But the challenge made us better.”

For better or for worse, the group stood out from the regional crowd. After focusing on covers, like most other pub bands, Homebrewe started penning and performing originals. They drew inspiration from pummeling rock groups like Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Foo Fighters.

On a good night, they made enough to buy a jug of beer.

Together with drummer and “best mate” Rory Keys, the group started making headway in Perth (a five-hour drive northwest of Albany), where the music scene proved more fertile and welcoming of fresh voices.

The group eventually recorded and released a debut album, “My Own Nemesis,” which got Australian magazines buzzing, and garnered enough attention in the States to pull them overseas for a quick tour.

Since the dates were set, Casey Grogan has been busy researching and preparing to experience as much as possible on his first U.S. visit.

On his and the band’s to-do list: attending a baseball game and chowing down on some buffalo wings — Grogan takes a moment to confirm that “buffalo wings” is the correct term.

Clearly, he and the rest of his bandmates still have plenty of things to learn.

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