Brisbane's Ball Park Music have spent the better part of two years writing, recording and performing with no end in sight, releasing two acclaimed albums — Happiness And Surrounding Suburbs and Museum — and playing seemingly every venue in Australia at one point or another. Finally, they've announced The Thank Ewes Tour, their last road trip for the foreseeable future.
I spoke to frontman Sam Cromack about his frustrations with the music industry and what he plans to do with all that time off.
The Thank Ewes Tour is obviously intended to thank fans for their support of the last album, Museum. Are you sick of talking about that album yet?
[Laughs] Well, we had to talk a lot about the album when it initially came out and we did press for the tour. But I don't think we did so much to the point where we got sick of it. But yeah, the album has drifted into the past pretty quickly. I think that's the same for a lot of musicians. Even on the day an album comes out, they're often sick of that record, because their timeline is so different to the listener's timeline.
The songs on Museum were written and recorded nearly a year ago now, so a lot of stuff has been written in the meantime, or at least my mind's been elsewhere in the meantime. I think we only reflect on those songs when we do tour and we get to play them. We can't just go on tour and play a bunch of ideas I have lying around, because no one will give a shit.
How have things changed for you guys since the release of Museum? Are you getting mobbed on the street now? What's it done for the career of the band?
I don't think Museum has necessarily been any sort of ground-breaking record. It's sort of been on par with our first record, in terms of sales and exposure and blah blah blah. I think our band, between the two records, has just grown at a steady pace. I don't know, it's hard to gauge. I wouldn't necessarily attribute any of our recent success to one album or anything in particular. We've just kept chipping away at what we do, and I'm not sure if that's ground-breaking at all.
I think we're just kind of an okay band that keeps plodding along and writing. Our fanbase is just growing at a proportionate rate. I don't get mobbed on the street or anything. I do have times where certain elements of 'success' sort of creep up on me, and I guess it's weird when I stop and think about it, but in many regards I'm still the same old person.
Last time I spoke to you, the business side of music seemed to be getting you down. Industry stuff that used to excite you, because of the newness or the novelty of it, was becoming a chore. What sort of stuff, in particular, was bothering you?
Well, the whole thing is still a bit of a drag. When you start out you just feel so romantic about music, and you fantasise about becoming this musician that just wakes up and jams with your friends and records with your friends and goes on tour and plays music for your fans. You don't see it for what it is, which is a business.
I think I was just naive going into it, really. We've learned so much. I guess a lot of frustration and disappointment starts to creep in because music, at least at the level I'm at, is not the lucrative thing it's made out to be. My relatives and family friends will meet my sister or my mum and dad and say, 'oh, your son must be loaded!' It's far from that.
I think we'll continue to chip away at it because we love what we do and it's not about money, but I think that difficulty that's just borne from the financial side of things forced us to give a shit about the business side of things, which is just... I don't know. It's just a bit tedious.
Do you try to be less involved in the business side of things now, or is it just a necessary evil?
I think I've struck a sort of balance. It's taken a while and there's a lot of discovery going on, but I think, where I'm at now, I have a good balance. I spent a lot of time learning about how these things work. That was interesting, but really hard. But now that I have my bearings a bit more in the industry, I think that's really beneficial. I think I can hold myself a bit more confidently when I'm talking to people who work in the industry.
Speaking of which, you guys have signed a management deal with One Louder and Stop Start. Where does that fit into the Ball Park Music plan, for lack of a better word? What do they have to offer?
Well, after we split with our last manager, we obviously began looking for some new management. We just talked to, you know, a bunch of people, and went with what felt right. We got the opportunity to talk about how we felt and what we expected and what we'd like, and just, you know, open up a fresh dialogue with someone and find what we were looking for. I guess Bill [Cullen] and One Louder and Andy [Bryan, Stop Start] were the winners of that competition.
When you split with your previous management, was that just a case of... did you feel like you'd reached your ceiling with them, in terms of exposure, or was it a different thing altogether?
Well, not necessarily. I have a legal obligation to not really discuss the events of that. But, you know, it certainly was never a case of us sitting around thinking, 'we're massive, we're important, we need an all-star lineup'. Things just sort of... I don't know, things change over time. It just wasn't working as well anymore.
Sure. Last time we spoke, you'd started getting feedback from American audiences on some of your songs. Is that at the front of your mind? Breaking into those international markets?
The international market is definitely something that's on our mind. I'm not sure the US is a major priority for us at this stage. We have had some good exposure over there, in some form or another. We've had some decent radio play and appeared on some television shows, or, you know, our music has. But it's such a massive place.
Once we start to discuss that sort of stuff with our team, it doesn't take long to realise that the US is not the easiest market to crack into. There are other, more practical, more sustainable, ones to try. I'm sure we will at least visit the US and try to make some ground there, but I don't know if there's any massive future there.
You guys are usually touring all the time, whereas The Thank Ewes Tour will be your only headline tour for 2013. What do you plan to do with the rest of the year?
For me, it feels kind of funny that we're even touring again. I just feel like I've done so many laps of Australia now, I can't believe there are people who'd still want to come see us play. So that's an exciting prospect, to know we won't have as many shows for the back half of the year. Like I was saying, we'll start to think about some overseas shows, and when we're not doing that, we plan to just chip away at the next record.
We've already started writing and rehearsing and demoing for that, and for me, that's the most enjoyable part of being in a band, writing and making music with my band mates. That's where I feel most at peace.
Ball Park Music play the following dates with Eagle And The Worm and Jeremy Neale
Fri Jun 28 — The Tivoli (Brisbane)Fri Jul 05 — The Forum (Melbourne)
Sat Jul 06 — Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Thu Jul 11 — HQ (Adelaide)
Fri Jul 12 — Metropolis (Fremantle)
