It's been four years, but Aussie indie charmers Ball Park Music are set to tour Australia this winter with an 11-date run.
With the group's next studio album 'Weirder & Weirder' slated to drop in early June, Ball Park Music will headline concerts in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Perth, Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle, Hobart, Darwin, Cairns, Canberra and Melbourne – and they're bringing along some friends."We are so excited to have King Stingray, Teenage Joans and Rat!Hammock joining us on this tour," BPM says.
"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!"
Late last year, Ball Park shared the first taste of 'Weirder & Weirder' with Hottest 100 track 'Sunscreen'. Last week, they dropped a second single from the album 'Stars In My Eyes'.
"This song has two sides," frontman Sam Cromack says discussing writing 'Stars In My Eyes'. "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."
Although the past two years has thrown challenges at everyone, Ball Park Music decided to find the positives within all the chaos to record 'Weirder & Weirder'.
"While the sh.t-show that was 2021 unfolded we tried to take advantage of it best we could," Sam says. "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."
'Weirder & Weirder' will be released 3 June, 2022. Pre-order it.
Tickets to BPM's tour go on sale from 9am EDT on 8 March. More information.
Ball Park Music 2022 Tour Dates
Fri 3 Jun - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)Sat 4 Jun - NightQuarter (Sunshine Coast)
Sat 11 Jun - Astor (Perth)
Thu 16 Jun - UOW Unibar (Wollongong)
Fri 17 Jun - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney)
Sat 18 Jun - Bar On The Hill (Newcastle)
Fri 24 Jun - Hobart Uni Bar
Fri 1 Jul - Discovery (Darwin)
Sat 2 Jul - Tanks Art Centre (Cairns)
Sat 9 Jul - UC Refectory (Canberra)
Sat 16 Jul - Forum Melbourne* sold out
Sun 17 Jul - Forum Melbourne* new show
Fri 22 Jul - Spin Off Festival (Adelaide)
