Prepare to enter a new dimension! Ball Park Music’s upcoming ‘Trippin’ The Light Fantastic’ tour is going to inspire the way we watch gigs, or is it?
Forming in 2008, frontman Sam Cromack explains that the group of five actually had no intention of becoming a band, they just happened to be in the same class. “We were all at uni and we got thrown together as a part of a class we were taking,” he says. “Our teacher was just like 'you're a band'. So we all had to play together as an ensemble as a part of a class we were taking.”
The Brisbane indie-rock-pop group consists of Sam, Jennifer Boyce, Paul Furness and twins Dean and Daniel Hanson. All Queensland University of Technology music bachelor graduates, they’ve produced two EPs and released their third album, ‘Puddinghead’, in April of this year.
The upcoming tour named after the second single off the album is set to be ‘revolutionary’. With a recent press release declaring this tour to be their most innovative performance yet, fans are in for a real surprise. Ball Park Music concert-goers are going get to see all five band members perform as moving, three-dimensional objects. Holograms, projected onto the stage in 3D without any need for visual aid.
They claim that it will be so close to reality, audience members will think they're experiencing the band performing live in the flesh. “It will incorporate glasses for all the of the audience to wear,” Sam says.
On top of a holographic projection that is more than realistic, audiences will also get to see an out-of-this-world light show, more mindblowing than their previous shows. The idea for the tour Sam says came about in a similar way to their last tour theme, taking an idea and altering it for their amusement. “When Jay Z and U2 did the ‘360’ tour, and the stage would spin around and people could see all 360 degrees, well we followed that up with the ‘180’ tour, which was supposed to be a piss-take as well.
“‘Cause every fucking gig is a 180 degree experience. So for this tour, we thought 'what can we say again' ‘cause we thought it was funny the first time,” he laughs.
The recording process of ‘Puddinghead’, which is essentially Shakespearean for ‘fuckwit’, was done solely by the band themselves. Renting out a dirt-cheap house in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, the band worked four to five days a week for nine months to complete the record. “We wanted to do it all ourselves so we could have more time to work on the record,” Sam says.
“Because recording is expensive in a real studio, so by renting a house and getting our own gear it meant we could spend more time there and explore a few more options when making the record. It was really good, I liked recording that way, I think we'll definitely self-produce the next record whenever it appears. I think it was a good sort of bonding activity too, we all had to be responsible for the place, keep it clean and look after all the gear.”
Though they’ll continue to self-record, Sam says that next time they won't rent a house. “I think we've reached a point where it just feels like to rent a house for that long is bit of an unnecessary expense. I think we can manage just going between our houses. Like we could do some drums over at Daniel’s place and then we can take those files over to my place because I've got a bit of a home studio set up here.
“So just patch it together as we go; if we need we could book a room and do some live recordings there. Technology has really changed and a lot of those options are easy.”
Writing most of the songs himself, Sam says their music is still a collaborative process. “I usually come to the others with the tune and the words and the structure and usually I have an idea of what kind of vibe it's going to have,” he says. “[Sometimes] one of the band members will call me and say 'I reckon we should do a song kind of like this, I reckon that would be awesome'. I'll keep that in the back of my mind and if anything pops up sort of along those lines then we'll try that out.”
Sam says the group all hang out as friends, but after a tour they tend to retreat back into their own lives a little bit. He also admires Jen, the only girl in the group, for touring with a bunch of boys. “I think if I was the only male on a touring party of ten females that I would feel somewhat isolated sometimes. It's a really male-dominated culture, and Jen has hung in there. I always try to be sensitive to that.
“I think Jen feels like she's a secret spy on behalf of all women of the world. She knows so much about how males function, she could totally write a book because believe me, she knows. I think we forgot a long time ago that she wasn't one of us,” he laughs.
Currently having a bit of an identity crisis, Sam wants to push the band to its limits in the future. “I think we're three albums in and we've essentially made a shitload of indie-pop songs and I think more than ever we're just busting to kind of fuck what everyone thinks and just indulge. I want to make something that's a bit scary and challenges what everyone thought about our band.”
The band have long run of dates starting September 12 in Hobart. Click here for the complete list of dates. They also play the Caloundra Music Festival on Friday October 3 and Beyond The Valley Festival, Phillip Island, Tuesday December 30.
