It's 5.45am in Edmonton, and Graeme MacKinnon is halfway through an overnight shift at his TV station job, mainlining coffee and listening to The Plugz on headphones. "Hopefully, I look just busy enough so no one bothers me," he says. "And I can get by doing the bare minimum before I head home to sleep."

That balance of dry humour, burnout survival and DIY graft pretty much sums up Home Front. Built from decades of grassroots punk spirit, the band – Graeme and longtime collaborator Clint Frazier – make music for those who've felt the sting of collapse but still want something to move to. Their latest album is a bold leap into synth-driven punk urgency, where grief sits side-by-side with hope and the groove never lets up.

"We wanted to explore the different corners of our spirit guide record collection," Graeme says. "On the straight-ahead punk stuff, we wanted to attack them differently." He points to 'Young Offender' as an example. "It started with a Ramones vibe, but then we thought, what if we bring in a hard EDM, Prodigy thing to the first half, then burn into straight punk." For 'Kiss The Sky', it was all about making the bass line bounce. "I was playing along to stuff like 'Rock The Casbah', 'Nice' n Sleazy', Gang Starr, just trying to get the funk right."

The result is lean, muscular, and emotionally loaded. Tracks like 'Light Sleeper' and 'Eulogy' are wired with tension and grief, but built to move you. "For us, ultimately, this is music that comes out of loss and heartbreak and failure," Graeme says. "But I hope people have a good time listening to us. You can get rowdy, you can get emotional, you can do whatever you want. Maybe with all that freedom, we all take a second to reflect on all our fallen brothers and sisters and friends who may have slipped away".

'Eulogy' in particular hits hard. "In these turbulent times, we recognise death comes for us all," they explain. "But it's the recognition of someone's lasting impact that leaves its imprint on us. We all have scars, but we wear ours proudly as we move forward into the haze".

The first pieces of this new chapter started falling into place in mid-2022, not long after their first live shows. "We came back from Vancouver, and Clint and I went straight into the rehearsal space. The song that came out of that became 'Watch It Die' – and it ended up being the title track too." Graeme gives credit to The Jam's 'Setting Sons' for getting the gears turning. "That baby was on heavy rotation. Paul Weller's lyrics really hit me hard and inspired me going forward."

Sonically, the band had a clear brief. "Our producer Jonah Falco said this record should be seen as a progression, not a sequel. Definitely not a remake of 'Games Of Power'." Tom Ellis from Static Shock put it more bluntly. "You probably don't want to make an album that's just twelve versions of 'Nation'."

Working mostly in Edmonton home studios, the process was equal parts techy and chaotic. "I bring in a song and show Clint. If he's into it, we build it in Pro Tools, then send it to Jonah for notes. Once it's oven-ready, we hit the big boy studio with Nik Kozub." The result is layered, focused and anything but safe.

The world outside is falling apart. That's the reality Home Front write from, even if the end product is packed with groove. "It's hard not to let the madness creep in," Graeme says. "We're just trying to make sense of our existence in the face of such awful stuff." He holds on to hope by narrowing his focus. "I know I can wake up. My limbs work. I've got heating. Food. Records. These small things remind me I don't have it bad. That perspective gives me the tools to have a good day. To laugh. To play music."

Anger plays its part too. "Sometimes I fight back against depression or anger by using music as a punching bag. Like an escape. Like therapy." He compares it to a Sammo Hung kung fu flick. "The master tells him vengeance is the secret to being a great student. Maybe that's not exactly how I do it, but I get it."

Home Front are unflinching in their politics. "We've always been an anti-war, anti-genocide, pro-peace band. We stand with the people of Palestine. We stand with Canadian Indigenous communities fighting for basic human rights like clean water. One takeaway from our music is to make a safe space where our community can come together and find a better way to a new future".

For them, community is more than a buzzword. It's the whole reason to keep going. "Community is the transferring of energy. You put something out there, and someone sends it back in a new form. Could be music. Could be support. But we need people to feel alive. Their fearless spirit gives us that juice."

So what do they want from this record? "I'd be super stoked if it lands, since we worked hard on it. But I'm not gonna concern myself with where it takes us. I'll let it take us. If it leads to a collab with Egyptian Lover or Mark Mothersbaugh, I'll be happy."

One last thing. "The youth are gonna inherit the earth. Let's give them a better tomorrow."

Home Front's album 'Watch It Die' is out 14th November.