In an era when pop-punk isn’t always looked upon that highly, cialis at least one band has made it look pretty cool, and that band is Philadelphia upstarts Modern Baseball. They’ve endeared themselves to fans over two full-lengths with tales of awkward exchanges, over-caffination, and getting called out for not being DIY enough by kids at basement shows.
After sharing the stage with fellow Philly standouts the Menzingers and The Wonder Years, the band is hitting the road for their most extensive headlining tour to date, and they’ll play a sold out Paradise on Sunday. We talked to bassist Ian “Slugworth” Farmer prior to their show in Margate, Florida, where he was hanging out behind the venue with some “weird looking ducks and pelicans.”
What we learned was not only that the four-piece is having a pretty good time on the road, but that they’re also the product of an unbelievably supportive underground scene in Philly, as well as…. Drexel University’s Music Industry program.
Allston Pudding: I’ve seen you guys 3 or 4 times recently and the crowds have gotten bigger each time, but the one constant is the fact you guys always look like you’re having the greatest time ever on stage – are you really good actors, or are you enjoying it that much?
Modern Baseball: That’s really our main goal with this band. We were already best friends before the band, and we’re literally having the time of our lives, and things couldn’t be any better. So the smiles you see are really genuine.
We love every aspect of this band. It takes a lot out of us – especially since Nick (Farris, MB’s drummer) and I are in school and there really isn’t much free time – but it’s absolutely 100% worth it in every way.
AP: It seems like you’re constantly touring – how do you balance that with school?
MB: Well Nick and I are both at Drexel in Philadelphia. Our original plan was to never take off any school because we were dead-set on finishing and getting it over with.
And then The Wonder Years hit us up about a tour in March, which happened to conflict with two terms, since Drexel is on trimesters. So we originally turned it down and they came back and were like “are you sure?” and we were like “ummm…. maybe we can work this out”.
Nick and I were pretty good at school when we were in high school, so we brought a bunch of credits in and worked our butts off early on before the band started to take time and effort away. When we got the itch for touring, we went to our advisor and said “hey, is there any way we can go to school during these terms, and not these terms, and still graduate?” And she was like “yep, and here’s how you can do it”.
So we’ll graduate in March of 2016, which is only two terms late, even though we took off four terms.
AP: I realize that when it comes to the type of music you play – there’s no stronger scene than Philly – what was it like coming up through there?
MB: It’s really an amazing city to live in – for music reasons and non-music reasons. We all grew up in New Jersey and Maryland and came to Philly for school. So the first year we were here, we were completely blown away by the house shows, which were something I hadn’t even conceived of before that – like “what? These bands just play in your house, really? And they’re bands that I listen to? What’s going on?”
There was this organization called DIYPHL that basically kept a calendar of all the house shows that were happening, and they found that the first year we were there in 2011, there were 73 different houses that put on shows. And that’s not including any legitimate venues. So it was never hard to get on a bill.
AP: So here in Boston we have our house venues, but they don’t necessarily last that long before running into issues – is Philly just more accepting of house venues? Do the cops ever show up?
MB: I mean – that pretty much never happens, because…. the cops have much better things to do than break up house shows (laughs). And the people who run these shows know how it works – how to keep it low key. People stay civil – no one goes burning down the neighbors houses or anything.
AP: With such a great scene, I have to imagine there are a few great bands that we haven’t heard of – do you have any favorites?
MP: Yeah…. There are so many good bands in Philly right now and I love this question because I can answer differently every time. The one I really love is The Weaks – basically the perfect combination of Weezer and butt-rock. And then there’s another bands that’s killing it right now called Three Man Canon – and their new record is incredible – it’s out there in a very good way.
If you don’t already have tickets to their show on Sunday, check out Modern Baseball’s latest record You’re Gonna Miss It All – which is easily one of the best pop-punk releases of the year.