Ball Park Music

It’s crazy to think that one of Australia’s most loved and respected bands hasn’t undertaken a headline tour of Australia in over four years. In that period, the band will have released two full-length albums, their highly acclaimed self-titled ‘Ball Park Music’, which debuted at No. #2 on the ARIA Album Chart in October 2020, and their just announced forthcoming long player ‘Weirder & Weirder’, due for release on Friday 3rd June 2022 on the band’s own Prawn Records. Coinciding with their new album release date, Ball Park Music are excited to announce they’ll be heading out on the road…….and they’re taking some of Australia’s best new talent with them for the ride!
Ball Park Music, ‘The Weirder & Weirder Tour’ will feature Melbourne band RAT!hammock performing at all shows with Darwin outfit King Stingray and Adelaide duo Teenage Joans sharing the other support duties. The tour kicks off in the band’s hometown of Brisbane at the Fortitude Music Hall on Friday 3rd June before heading off to all capital cities, playing some of Australia’s most iconic venues. For one glorious night in Sydney, Friday 17th June, the entire four-band line up will rock out the Hordern Pavilion. Fans can register here for ticket pre-sale which starts on 9am AEDT Friday 4th March with general on-sale on 9am AEDT Tuesday 8th March.
“We are so excited to have King Stingray, Teenage Joans and Rat!Hammock joining us on this tour. We’ve been admiring their music from afar for a while now, we can’t wait to share a stage with them on what’s going to be one hell of a tour. Whilst we’ve jumped at every live opportunity that’s presented itself to us over the last couple of years, there is nothing like headlining your own tour. We’ve missed that shared experience of live shows with the fans, and we can’t wait to do that again…with a few new tunes in tow!” Ball Park said on the tour announcement.
BPM have already delivered two delicious slices off ‘Weirder and Weirder’. The first came late last year with the release of the summer single ‘Sunscreen’. Swinging into the new year, the song entered triple j’s Hottest 100 at No. #21, representing an impressive 12th entry in the prestigious countdown for the Brisbane band. New single ‘Stars In My Eyes’ is as much emotional as it is nostalgic. “This song has two sides,” Sam Cromack said on writing the song. “One side looks to the past: did I ever have stars in my eyes? Was that romantic version of myself from yesteryear experiencing something real? The other side looks to the future (which is getting increasingly hard to do). This side wants to be told one thing, even if it's a lie. It wants to be told yes. Yes, there is romance to life. Yes, you should bother to dream. And yes, you still have stars in your eyes. It's a kinda sad, but kinda hopeful song.”
Since the release of the band’s critically acclaimed debut ‘Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs’, Ball Park Music have secured no less than five consecutive Top 10 ARIA Album Chart debuts. ‘Weirder & Weirder’ will only further help cement BPM as one of Australia’s favourite bands. The album, once again, was recorded and produced by the band in their Brisbane studio (Prawn Records) and mixed by 5x ARIA Award winner Paul McKercher.
Frontman Sam Cromack on recording ‘Weirder & Weirder’: "While the shit-show that was 2021 unfolded we tried to take advantage of it best we could. Jen got stuck in Brisbane (again) and eventually decided to just move back (a huge delight to us). We worked on the record on-and-off for the whole year. We'd moved into a new studio; a little timber cottage in The Valley, which was once part of Brisbane's first Italian restaurant, Mama Luigi's. A new home really helped breathe new life into our music-making. This is probably the most time we've spent all together, day-in and day-out, just making music together. We really threw it all at the wall for this one.. we wanted more instruments, more people, more voices, more experimentation, more, more, more. It's a twisted but hopeful lament about growing up in an otherwise strange world."
As the world emerges from the craziness of the past two years or so, what better way to celebrate than with “Australia’s friendliest band”, Ball Park Music. A new album, a national tour…life, although undoubtedly a little weirder, is indeed returning, and its good!