Nicke Borg Homeland

Serving as the vehicle for solo output from Nicke Borg, frontman of Swedish sleaze rockers Backyard Babies, Homeland took shape once the Babies entered indefinite hiatus in 2009. Having fully embraced the rock & roll lifestyle across two decades, Borg chose to abandon that path. Social Distortion's Mike Ness provided the model by quitting drugs and channeling country music influences into a solo album, prompting Borg to follow suit. The 2010 EP Chapter 1 emerged as a primarily acoustic project drawing heavy inspiration from Johnny Cash and Steve Earle, thereby reaching an entirely new audience. Concurrently Borg began writing pop songs, and the visibility gained when "Leaving Home" advanced to the 2011 finals of the TV song contest Melodifestivalen and achieved massive hit status prompted collaborations with multiple writers on his debut full-length album, Chapter 2, issued in 2011. That release sustained the acoustic focus while incorporating side trips into country rock and cowpunk. Following two years of touring and composition, Borg resurfaced in 2013 with the single "Making Out with Chaos," an ultra-catchy melodic hard rock track that recalled the feel of earlier Backyard Babies material. Later the same year came the second Homeland full-length, Ruins of a Riot, which maintained a comparable direction.