Modern Baseball: Heartbreak in the Digital Age (ft. Jonah Birenbaum)

Play ball! In the latest episode of Columbia House Party, hosts Jake Goldsbie and Blake Murphy are jointed by Jonah Birenbaum (@birenball) to discuss Modern Baseball's debut album, Sports. A little too on the nose to have a sad baseball writer discuss an emo band called Modern Baseball? We don't think so. Find out more about why neither the hosts nor guest can remember much from their formative MoBo concert experiences, why the band's lyrics resonated so well with the guys in their early-20s, and whether Blake tells Jake that The Region qualifies as "a town that said reckon all the time" on this week's podcast.

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While you're there say hello to @BlakeMurphyODC and @JGoldsbie.If merch is your thing, be sure to check out the store: http://bit.ly/chpmerchOr reach out to the show and say hey: [e-mail]

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See you next week for another episode of CHP.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Dyl.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I want to start from the top, maybe like a
do over replace the voices in Jake's headphones with the
new episode of Columbia House Party. Jake, what's up man?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Not much?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
You're getting creative?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, I mean look. And then the the fact that
we actually did have to this was the rare to
take intro because there actually was an issue with with
you being able to hear me in your headphones. This
is lining up to be a perfectly bad podcast episode,
but I'm excited for this one me too.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
This is a uh this is a band that uh,
it's one of those bands that I I like, but
I find very interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well I find more interesting than I like.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
I should say, Okay, that makes more sense. This is
also a band that I am recording this from home
in the region right now. And before we came on
to record, my brother asked which band we were recording,
and I told him, and he made fun of them
because they were one of his best friend's favorite bands
and he does not like having to listen to them
all the time. This is not the only brother music

(01:26):
banter you're gonna hear on this episode. We're gonna have
a guest a little later on who also has an
attachment to today's band through his brother and has a
legendary story about this band and his family's lore should
be a fun one. Thank you to everyone who's listening,
whether you're a new listener who comes for today's guest
or gets tricked into thinking this is a sports episode

(01:48):
and not a music episode, for an episode that is
about the intersection of baseball and sadness, and we have
the perfect guest for that coming up in a little bit. Today,
we're talking about So one of my personal favorite albums
and one of my personal favorite bands. This is an
album I ranked at number six on my All Decade
list when we did that bonus episode for our Patreon supporters.

(02:11):
This band also had an album that came in at
number eighteen on my list. So needless to say, this
is this episode is a bit of a selfish one
on my part. One of my favorite bands of the
twenty tens. It's also a pretty influential album at that
time in the genre, or at least the subgenre that
they went down, and as we'll find out, a gateway

(02:31):
from kind of the indie scene back into the modern
emo scene for a lot of people. You and our
guests included Jake. So today we're talking about the debut
full length from Modern Baseball Sports.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Ah, you reckon.

Speaker 5 (02:44):
You grew up in a town that's said reckon all
the time, all your time, so vile you and I
little rooms here and there stretching, man, I swear to
God never leave.

Speaker 6 (03:02):
Well here goes nothing now, I mean everything, because crossed
every morning after a.

Speaker 7 (03:07):
Night sit wondering if it will ever be.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
But I guess I'm.

Speaker 6 (03:13):
Doing just by testing yourself, says with a smile of
winky face, open to get the same.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
But I won't fucking wait.

Speaker 6 (03:24):
You know when you stop, lad, we got to wait
till this town that she supported.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
And though it kills me to say, if you get stuck.

Speaker 8 (03:38):
Oh, I'm just gonna dream Sucker on the corner of
now and broad away with that new success love me
and shrouding her vide.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
In the statchup breeze.

Speaker 6 (03:52):
My arm just started screaming, Well if she just never breaks.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
Racking all the time.

Speaker 9 (04:06):
Wus you though?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
That song is called Sea Sucker, And we would now
like to say hello sucker to I guess. And who
better to bring in and to talk modern baseball than
the scores senior MLB writer, The Sad Baseball Boy, Jodah
Beerenbaum Jonah, what's up man?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
What's up?

Speaker 7 (04:27):
Boys? Thanks for having me, Thank you for coming on. Oh,
it's my pleasure. This this, this episode is going to
touch on my two favorite things, modern baseball and innui
and sadness and fetishizing your own sadness. I guess that's
more than two things.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
But nevertheless, I can't believe Jonah already came through the
gate talking about how much he loves sadness.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, and also he screwed up the count, so we
can check off a third box there with self loathing
and you can add that to your list. Jonah, we kid,
Jonah's Jonah has rounded into.

Speaker 7 (04:58):
It's an extensive list.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, a happy domesticated boy with a new pup.

Speaker 7 (05:02):
How's the pup doing, John, She's doing all right, she's adjusting.
She's a rescue and from what we can glean just
based on her behavior, she had a pretty rough past.
She spent the majority of her life in a shelter,
so she's never really been domesticated or bonded with humans
for that matter. So everything is sort of new for
her and frightening, but she's coming along. She's made quite

(05:25):
a bit of progress in the four weeks that we've
had her, and you know, it's nice to see, you know,
whenever she has like even a mini breakthrough, it's extremely.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Gratifying, domesticated after a lifetime of not connecting well with humans,
You and her boat.

Speaker 7 (05:38):
The parallels were too obvious for me not to adopt her.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Where did you guys adopt through?

Speaker 7 (05:43):
We got through an adoption agency called Pause Across the Water,
which was founded in twenty seventeen, so they're relatively new,
but they routinely go across the border, whether that's in
New Mexico or into the Caribbean, to bring back some
dogs that are being sheltered in those countries and then

(06:04):
adopt them out to forever homes in the Greater Toronto area.
And our experience with them was nothing but positive and
really can't say enough about them. Really.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Well, there you go.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
So if you are looking to either support an organization
like that or to possibly adopt yourself Pause Across the Water.
For those of you who don't know, Jonah is a
very very excellent baseball analyst over at the Score. You
can follow him on social at Beer and Ball. Jonah
is also one of mine and Jake's kind of pre
eminent concert going friends. I would say Jonah is probably

(06:39):
number two to Jake in terms of the people I've
seen the most concerts with maybe even a one A
one B situation. Certainly, Jonah, you and I have road
tripped more.

Speaker 7 (06:49):
Yeah, we've hit up Buffalo. We've taken our talents to
Where else have we gone?

Speaker 2 (06:55):
I don't know, it might just be Buffalo, but yeah,
didn't even get Triple A game in there.

Speaker 7 (07:01):
Come on, yeah, I mean you go to Buffalo. That's
enough road trip for a lifetime.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
We are We did not see modern baseball in Buffalo.
We saw the front bottoms in Buffalo, but we actually
modern baseball has a Blake and Jake origin story. Part
part of this podcast origin story is that was one
of the first shows Jake and I saw together mobile
with Joyce mannor the of game seven.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Of the two we kind of saw baseball.

Speaker 9 (07:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Look, it was the day of Game seven of the
twenty sixteen NBA Finals and we had to drunkenly get
the tall boys to see blocked by James. How could
you miss it? So we did get Joyce Manner in
and then kind of modern baseball while we watched the
game at the back of the bar and then left.
But it still counts, I mean part of the.

Speaker 7 (07:49):
Sorry Blake in that I also only kind of saw
modern baseball because while my body was present at that
show in Seattle, my mind was elsewhere.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
So I tease this off the top about the brother
connection here. Generally, in this segment, what we do is
we asked the guests why they wanted to talk about
modern baseball. I'm going to save that for our next segment.
And Jonah, I just want for any of the audience
who doesn't know Jonah and doesn't know what going to
shows with Jonah is like run us through the modern
baseball concert that is now legendary in the Beer and
Baum family.

Speaker 7 (08:20):
Yeah, it's a part of Beer and Baum lore that
I think everyone else would would like to forget, but
I will never be able to forget it, which is
ironic because I can't remember it. But my brother, my
middle brother, who's three years my senior, he lives out
west in Whistler, and for a while there each summer,
myself and my parents would head out west, usually somewhere

(08:44):
on the west coast of the United States to meet
up with him and have like a mini vacation. So
in July of twenty fifteen, incidentally, literally the weekend before
the Blue Jays overhauled their roster by trading for David
Price and Troy to Lwitsky blah blah blah, we visited
my brother and we met up in Seattle, and it
just so happens that on the Friday nights that we arrived,

(09:06):
Modern Baseball was playing a show with Symbols Eat Guitars
at the Super Cool Venue in Seattle. So my brother
nab tickets. My brother and I have a lot of
overlap in terms of our musical taste, and we were
super stoked, and it was our first night there, and
so we decided to you know, imbibe as you know,

(09:27):
friends do concertgoers do. And you know, we might have
had one or two or in my case, seventeen too many.
And you know, I have like the faintest recollection of
Symbols Eat Guitars is set because they were opening through
the second opener I believe in, and Modern Baseball was headlining,
and by the time Mobo hit the stage, I was
so far gone, not too far gone to post a

(09:49):
coherence Instagram photo with a typo free caption. But at
some point, either towards the end of their set or
after their set, I wandered off from the venue. And
that's where my memory of the evening stops. I woke
up in our hotel room, covered in vomit, and the

(10:09):
next morning my brother had to fill in the details
and regale me with this horrifying anecdote of how I
wandered off and these strangers found, these kindly strangers found
me in like a ditch and took my phone from me.
I was completely incoherent and you know, covered in vomit
and really in a state of major disrepair. And they

(10:31):
called my brother, who then you know, trek through the
streets of Seattle to come find me. He has absolutely
you know, no knowledge of the streets of Seattle or
the topography or you know, he had never been there
before in his life. And he came and rescued me
and brought me home, you know, gallantly, back to the
hotel where you know I was. I promptly passed out

(10:52):
and woke up to a very uncomfortable conversation with my
parents and all time hangover, and I, you know, it
kind of you know, put a bit of a damper
on the Blue Jays weekend because they were in Seattle.
I guess that's the detail that I omitted. We were
there to see some Blue Jays baseball in their second home,

(11:15):
if you will. But yeah, so I couldn't really comment
on how modern baseball set was, but I can tell
you that that was a night that forever, I think
tarnished my image, you know, at least to a certain degree,
irreparably in my parents mind. And it's it's a night
that you know, they can ever lord over me because

(11:39):
you know, I wasn't eighteen or nineteen. I was probably
like twenty four at the time, so you know, a
little bit too old to be in engaging in those
kinds of shenanigans and getting obliterated to that degree. But nevertheless,
I will endure law school to win them back. That's
my only path to redemption. It's like that, or become
a doctor, or you know, just pop out a few

(12:03):
kids or something that'll probably you know, win some goodwill
at least for the next couple of decades.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
You do have a lovely partner, so I'm sure there,
I'm sure you got points back for that, hopefully the
miracle of that show being I don't think that was
one of the nights. So, guys, Jonah is famous for
at concerts posting series of Instagram stories of himself screaming
the words along with songs, and it's it's amazing. It's
like all of us who know Jonah get really excited

(12:30):
when Jonah's going to a show because we know we'll
get some of those and probably be in them ourselves.
So that's great. My favorite Jonah concert story is and
this is like the me and Steve friendship origin story,
the night Jonah that we went to see Front Bottoms
do two albums back to back and then went to
hop Along after and like one song and to hop
Along you just disappeared. I think you, yeah, I think you.

(12:54):
You like scrambled to Scott Lewis's place to get an
extra ticket from him or something, and then made it
to the second venue and then made it like one song.

Speaker 7 (13:04):
Yeah, I made my presence known at the Horseshoe and
then got the hell out of there.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Listeners, that is your introduction to Jonah. We're gonna give
you an introduction to modern baseball after this, all right,
So we punted the first usual segment and talking about

(13:31):
why we wanted to do this album, why it means
a lot to us and Jake and Jonah, you guys
have pretty similar connections to Mobo and what they meant
to you over the last ten years or so. Mine's
a little more straightforward. I just came across them and
really liked them. The timing just kind of lined up
where the upsides from the Wonder years around twenty ten

(13:52):
had kind of reinvigorated my interest in the scene, and
things like this were back on my radar after a
couple of years of being more of a hip hop
guy or just sticking with my older music. So you know,
they were They're a pretty natural fit for me. Like
I said, they're one of my favorite bands, and I
had two or three of my favorite albums of the decade.
So a little more straightforward there, Jake, for you, this

(14:13):
is maybe not a band that you would have had
expected to like ahead of liking them, Is that fair
to say?

Speaker 4 (14:19):
Yeah, I think they're a band that sort of, in
a roundabout way, have ended up being very important to
my musical taste rather than them themselves as a band.
The next album after when we're talking with today, the
one that came on twenty fourteen. I think that, along
with Home like No Place There Is by the Hotelier,

(14:41):
kind of brought me back into liking and listening to
emo and pop punk after a long time sort of
not listening to that kind of stuff or not taking
it seriously or pretending I didn't like it or whatever.
But I remember that started getting like, sounds so shitty,
but like quote unquo quote cool music press I'm putting

(15:01):
in giant air quotes, which music like that at the
time wasn't really getting and it made me check it
out and ended up being like, oh, this is great.
And so I think, while I don't listen to Modern
Baseball a ton and I wouldn't say they're one of
my favorite bands, I would not like a lot of
my favorite bands today, I think without Modern Baseball, if

(15:23):
that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I think, Jonah,
if I remember our earlier conversations correctly, that's a similar
story to you, where you were like kind of a
nineties guy, and you were, of course the drummer and
the Regrettables who sound like a Pearl Jam cover band,
and modern Baseball were one of the bands that brought
you back kind of toward this and I know you
and I have bonded a lot over the wonder years

(15:46):
in the front bottoms over the years, but Mobo were
kind of your gateways, gateway back, I guess as well, right.

Speaker 7 (15:53):
Yeah, very much so. They sparked a reawakening for me
because I was a huge emo guy in early adele
since I remember listening to Follow Boy and Panic at
the disco ad nauseum in my brother's room, playing Madden
on GameCube and then you know, you proceed Cube buddy,
kind of an underrated console. But I digress, and as

(16:15):
you know, I proceeded further into adolescence. You know, you
drift away from that because it's perceived as on cool,
and you know I did gravitate away from that and
more towards you know, that archetypal ninety stuff, Pearl Jam
like you said, Oasis, Tragically, Hip, Counting Crows, and eventually
more like indie alternative stuff like The Weaker Ends and
The Whole Steady. But Mobo and this album specifically really

(16:37):
helped reintroduce me to the genre in my early adult years.
And yeah, they were a Gateway drug into you know,
my current affinity for the front bottom is a wonder yours,
Mom Jeans, Prince Daddy, the genre at large, and you know,
I think that they ushered me into a period in
my life where I was okay enjoying emo music on

(16:59):
a bad actually unapologetically, and Sports was instrumental in that
and was one of the albums, if not the singular
album that really kicked off, you know, a sort of
a new period in my music consumption and musical evolution.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
I think we're going to see too as we go
through this, And maybe Mom Jeans are the exception to
the list you gave because they've had some kind of
I don't know, I don't know if problematic is too
strong a word, but they've had some strange interactions with
the rest of the scene. But I do think that
we're going to see that modern baseball had an influence
not just on people like the two of you who

(17:37):
were kind of lapsed from the genre and music that
sounds like this, but they were I think pretty pivotal
in if you're trying to bridge the gap from you
know where Blink one eighty two and bands like that
in the early two thousands started turning the perspective around
and looking inward, and obviously Blink one eighty two did
that in a very self deprecating way, and then bands
like Followup Boy did that kind of in a very

(17:59):
sarcastic way. You know, Mobile were one of those first
bands that really approached kind of these relationship issues and
these friendship issues with like an actual analytic eye inward
and kind of exploring the self side of that. So
I think, you know, as we dive into some of
the lyrical themes on sports, we're going to see some

(18:19):
of that, especially as we get into some of the
if we get into some of the quotes for the
band and themselves and stuff like that. So let's talk
about the band, and just a note off the top
here that if you look up older modern baseball stuff
and the album credits and things like that, one of
these singer songwriters and band members, one of the founding
band members will be credited as Brendan Luken's. They now

(18:40):
go by Brenn and use them pronouns. So if we
say Brenn or they, that's who we're referring to. Moving forward.
So back in Maryland, Brenn and Jake were originally an
acoustic duo. Then they met Sean Huber and Ian Farmer
decided to form a band. Although Sports is largely just
Brend and Jake, because they had recorded a bunch of

(19:02):
the stuff. Some of the songs on Sports are actually
originated as Brend solo stuff, which we'll talk about in
a little bit. Farmer was originally helping engineer the recordings
at Drexel University and then eventually shifted to joining the band. Sadly,
there is not a great backstory to the Modern Baseball name.
They just saw it on a book owned by Jake's father,

(19:25):
a book called Modern Baseball Techniques, which, sadly it is
very very tough to find if you go to Sophie's Floorboard,
which is a great resource for music like this. They
have uploaded like a ZIP file of it, but sadly
it appears to be an instructional guide and not a
spiritual baseball book like The Art of Fielding or a

(19:45):
Zen Wave of Baseball or The Way of Baseball. It is,
unfortunately literally Modern Baseball Techniques. Techniques would then become a
compilation title for Modern Baseball later Jonah in addition to
covering baseball so excellently for the score. You also play
some baseball, played some baseball at a decent level. Have
you ever opened up modern baseball techniques to work on

(20:07):
your pitch repertoire or your stance at the plate or
anything like that.

Speaker 7 (20:10):
I can't say that I have, But incidentally, I do
wonder if the techniques outlined in that book are now dated,
just because you know, baseball and baseball analytics have evolved
so much in the last decade that I wonder if
some of the methodologies outlined in there are now obsolete.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
They'd have to be. There's probably a section on how
to properly bunt when the real answer now is don't
absolutely all right. So, as they're getting going, they played
a lot of small shows around the Philly basement scene,
which was populated by other bands like The Menzingers and Kayitana.
They were again recording Sports on Drexel's campus, and a
lot of the writing was done by Brenn. Initially, that's

(20:50):
per Jake. There really isn't a ton on the band's
background because they got a debut out pretty quickly and
then saw near immediate success. However, before Sports, they did
release a split with Marietta called Couple's Therapy, which included
this song. It's pulled out here, don't come now.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
I am in bed.

Speaker 6 (21:12):
I've Sackedifi style chances of a street red as a
result of again here in.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
The same bags time for thirteen years. But you know this,
I said it before. There's a lot of things I
said before.

Speaker 10 (21:24):
There's lots of things be kind of men and brushed
it off. You always brushed it off, basing down the hallways, stairs,
mental notes up, quick repairs and gaps in my story

(21:44):
for tomorrow morning.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Of why I was up at this hour.

Speaker 10 (21:47):
Oh me, when I have sheltern up my own and
when they have sheldren up their own, I'll spit. It's
a few of my dumb ass high school dever with pride.
But when my freezing Loyland approached that sly, grinny little ship,
I knew the.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
Truth in every foul sound. I had a fitting just
two nights before good I was not and I shun
it's clear to you, what's it? No one wasn't clearer
it of the MEA six day one. I loved him.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
I'm not fucking hang it up.

Speaker 10 (22:33):
I told you I loved you, just outside your mom's place.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
You laughed, and you felt bad as we sat there
red faced.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
I felt like you good bitch, so I told you
to get out.

Speaker 5 (22:47):
But I guess.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Brendon was right fame because who was laughing?

Speaker 10 (22:51):
Now?

Speaker 6 (22:52):
I told you I loved you just outside your mom's place.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
You laugh then you felt bad as he sat there based.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
And if there is any question about the genre to
which modern baseball belongs, that should clear it up. At
least on this album. They are an emo band. I'm
not sure where on the emo tree they fall, whether
it's Midwest or Emo revival or Emo pop or whatever.
But how you can listen to that guitar and those
vocals and not think emo? I'm not sure. Had you
heard that before, Jonath.

Speaker 7 (23:35):
No, I hadn't, but it gave me serious early Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Oh yeah. The lo fi but clear kind of vibe
to it. It's it's good stuff. So from there the
band got connected with Eric Osman, who was at that
point their manager, and then decided to create the independent
label laime Ou Records in Philly, basically just to release sports.
He funded a three hundred copy pressing with money he

(24:03):
had made as a barista, and then After Sports was
successful down the line, he just kept the label going,
So they're now the home of Slaughter, Beach Dog, Thin
Lips and Horse and a bunch of other bands. They
even released a compilation in twenty fifteen as a label
called Strength in Weakness that sums up I think both
the label and this band's approach to music and storytelling.

(24:26):
So as they were going through this process with Sports,
as I mentioned, Brenn was also working on a side
project around the same time. It was called Dude, the
Love of Your Life Has Some Serious Issues. He released
it for free on Tumblr and it included an awesome
song called how Do I Tell a Girl I Want
to Kiss Her that you may remember we talked about

(24:46):
on our Little Peep episode because Little Peep sampled that
song for his song Kiss, and the song also samples
clips from Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. Once again,
if you were curious if this band qualifies as an
emo band, a sampled Eternal Sunshine up The Spotless Mind.
Also on Dude the Love of Your Life Has Some
Serious Issues were two songs that eventually made it onto

(25:07):
Sports called The Weekend and I Think You were My
profile pick. Once We're gonna talk about the Weekend in
a little bit more detail shortly because it's one of
Jonah's favorite songs. But let's get into sports. So this
album starts off and Jonah, I don't know if the
writer and you will be bothered by the first song's
title the same way that I am. So the first

(25:29):
song on the album is Redo, and then there is
another song called Redone, which is in the middle of
the album. And as much as this album has a
great album closer, I feel upset that Redo and Redone
are not the opener Encloser. Does that bother you, Jonah?

Speaker 7 (25:44):
I mean, it would have made for a beautiful symmetry,
but it doesn't keep me up at night.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Wow, all right, thanks, thanks for building off my point
you to ask. This is why so many of the
lyrics on this album are about you know, your friend's
big dicks.

Speaker 7 (26:01):
But that doesn't apply here.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
It doesn't apply here. Oh boy, this are you going
to go through this entire segment only talking in lyrics?

Speaker 7 (26:09):
I mean I kind of just counted on you to
turn me into lyrical goo.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Goo Yeah yeah, that's a deep sign. Yeah, Jake, you
can just like yeah, Jakie can just like go grab
dinner or something.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
Oh, I've been reading about stuff on my phone this
whole time anyway, So don't want to tell me.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
So, Joanah. I guess what we want to talk about
off the top is and I think Redo sets this up,
and it also sets back a number of callbacks later
throughout the album. What we're talking about here is kind
of unrequited love in the digital age, specifically where our
pensiant for thinking too much and being in our own
heads is exacerbated by the fact that if you want

(26:52):
the object of your thinking and your anxiety can be
omnipresent because we have, you know, so many resources avail
to us to drive ourselves crazy. I'm looking at and
thinking about people. Is that kind of what helped modern
baseball hit for you? That it's just this not to
make a pun about their name, but it's a very
modern approach to kind of the romantic problems of your

(27:15):
young twenties.

Speaker 7 (27:16):
Yeah, I think so. They're in a sense, I guess
the patron saints of being terminally online and seeing that
seeing the ramifications of that, particularly with respect to their
romantic endeavors, really be negative and backfire. And how you
know that conduit, and that source of connection can also

(27:37):
be sort of an inescapable prison, especially when you're terminally online,
which you know is a is a theme that they
really revisit constantly throughout this album, and it seems to
be the case for them, And yeah, I think, you know,
so much of that resonates, especially because you know, in
two thousand and twelve when this album came out, you know,
I was you know, just about to graduate from university

(28:00):
and was very much in the nascent stages of being
a terminally on, terminally online dude, and you know, seeing
perhaps at the time not recognizing sort of how at
times insidious it can be and how harmful it can be,
especially when you know you're trying to get away from something.
But yeah, absolutely, that's that's definitely an entry point that

(28:21):
I was like, oh, yeah, these guys, these guys get it.
This is absolutely resonating with me.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
And I think, you know, the fact that you were
coming out of university at that stay you're not too
far removed from high school and some of the you know,
I guess less mature feelings about this kind of stuff.
You use the term off the top jokingly, and it's
one of our favorite kind of BoJack moments is fetishizing
the sadness, and I think there is a little bit
of that here. They do challenge it a little bit,

(28:48):
but earlier on in the album there is not that,
and I think that's most clear and kind of how
the perspective develops over the course of this album is
I think most present on one of your favorite tracks,
Tears over Beers. When I was just a boy.

Speaker 10 (29:07):
We'll call at fifteen or so, I found myself annoy
by a syndrome of sorts in my bones.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
That girl lives next to me, right next to open.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
She found herself or tears.

Speaker 10 (29:25):
She realized if she wanted conversation, She's kind of luck for.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Three more years.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
When I moved.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Away from home.

Speaker 10 (29:51):
One hundred miles or so, I knew a change had
grown inside by awkwardly.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Law limbs and bow lees.

Speaker 10 (30:02):
That girl who's next to me, which is friendly and
thoughtful and quite afully.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Pretty, but she has to say it's a mean head.

Speaker 6 (30:14):
The monologue on why Brad ran away, she said, all
I get over floors for meat again matters.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Just all I can say is no more so I.

Speaker 10 (30:25):
Where I can away from viewing your friends Lincoln tears
over beds once again.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Lincoln tears over beers once again. You Lincoln tears over
beers once again.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
That song is like if you if you were to
say to me, what song reminds you of Jonah, that
would be like top three.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Just like yours over beers.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
It just sounds like it just sounds like a Jonahs song.

Speaker 7 (30:54):
Can let describe much describes my life from twenty thirteen
through twenty eighteen?

Speaker 3 (30:59):
Can hear you screaming it on Instagram?

Speaker 2 (31:01):
And So, I think a lot of what we want
to talk about with this album is, you know, how
they challenge some of these kind of typical tropes of
I guess maybe not masculinity, but just like how they
challenged some of the tropes of unrequited love. And I
think that in Isolation, this song is maybe one of
the less mature songs on the album because it does

(31:23):
veer a little bit into the rom com teen movie
trope of nice guy thinks he should get the girl
instead of the jock. But by changing the perspective course
the course, it kind of explores that dynamic a little
bit more Jonah. So I'm wondering, I mean, foremost, why
is this one of your favorite songs on the album,
and I think you agree with Jake that it kind

(31:43):
of is a good snapshot for you. But also, you know,
do you where do you see this in kind of
the overall theme of the album for you?

Speaker 7 (31:53):
I mean, I think it typifies one of the major
things of the albums, which is just inadequacy and and
to the point of of almost being, you know, resentful
of of everybody, you know, the girl who's next to me,
but also the meat head behind her. But you know,
I do think that they do show, you know, some
some self awareness as well. But I mean, one of

(32:15):
the reasons that it's so you know, one of my
favorites is that it's just so damn catchy right off
the top with that strumming guitar and and this is
one of the few tracks on the album where Jake
sings lead, and I just think it fits so well
all the elements, and you know, again it it is catchy,
But ultimately it's the lyrics I think that make it

(32:37):
so significant to me. It's just that, you know, at
this point when I when I stumbled upon this album,
you know, I was just going through a breakup as well,
and you know, you you can't resist the feelings of inadequacy,
at least to a certain degree, even if you know
you're you're culpable for for that breakup, but you just
sort of, you know, at least when you're twenty two

(33:00):
years old or whatever and immature, you think it's often
you know it's about you and you didn't do enough,
or you you failed the relationship in some way. And
while you know that's not necessarily there's obviously, you know,
more nuance in real life, but there are obviously things
that you know in this song and in these lyrics
that really hit home, and between the hook of the

(33:22):
chorus and the upbeat, you know sort of intro and
and verses. It's just it's a winner. It's just the
most memorable one. And I actually think it was it
was our mutual friend Andrew the zoob zuber who like
sent me the link to this single, and and I
believe it was this song that actually got me into
modern baseball and really back into the genre.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
The one non followup boy, non ladies.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
I refuse to believe that Zoom's got anyone into a band.
It's never It's never happened.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
No, I'm glad you point out the catchiness of the song, Joona,
because that is you know, a lot of times we
dig deep on the albums we love and we get
into you know, why it meant a lot to us,
or what we took from the lyrics, or how the
band progressed songwriting wise or structurally or whatever, and sometimes
you know, it is as simple as like, oh, it's
a really catchy song, and yeah, the lyrics hit. But

(34:13):
you know, especially the first time you're going to listen
to a band, you're not gonna like like it has
to hook you out of the gate. And I agree
that this is the best song if you were going
to be if you were going to try to hook
someone else on modern baseball and give them a feel
of what this band is all about. I think it's
Tears over Beers or See a Sucker, which we played
off the top, and Tears over Beers just like it

(34:35):
builds and flows more naturally as kind of a i'll
say lead single that they weren't big enough to have
lead singles at this point. The Weekend was the only
song that got a video, I'm pretty sure, but that's there,
So I want to pull out something else. You said, Jonah,
and it's in terms of this kind of feeling of
inadequacy and really questioning a lot of not only yourself

(34:56):
and who you are, but the decisions that you've made.
And I think that lead eating the album off with
Redo to take us back to their sets that up well,
and what that song is almost literally about is you know,
seeing someone as a reado or wanting a second chance,
either with them or with the next person. And I
think that's something that this album explores through a number

(35:18):
of songs, but really with Redo and Redone are the
big ones where it's present is you know there is
Again there's a lot of introspection on this album and
kind of challenging your own feelings, and I think that
over the course of this album, what they establish is
that it's pretty unfair to project your own growth onto
someone else like that, and you do have to, you know,

(35:42):
take the risks of being vulnerable. And we'll talk about
kind of the themes the album ends on, which which is,
you know, the potential payoffs of that vulnerability, but you
have to come to that vulnerability in an earnest way
where you accept that this is a new thing and
it might go differently, rather than this idea of a

(36:02):
redo where hey, you know, you're supposed to be my
second chance and it's gonna be the same, but I'll
just be able to fix it this time. Is that
Does that make sense to Johnah?

Speaker 7 (36:12):
Yeah, The thing about Redo to me is that, like,
even though nominally it's about trying again, you know, I've
always felt that that chorus sort of reaffirmed how you know,
the the the annuiti that they're feeling is is kind
of unescapable. And even how even as the narrator in
the song is trying to resuscitate his his lust for
life in the wake of you know, a breakup or whatever,

(36:36):
he just ends up falling into that familiar sinkhole of
listlessness and just says sort of screw it to the
whole emotional slash thought exercise, you know, when he says,
halt that I'm thinking way too much at night, when
he's you know, after saying, try to forget that your
bones will dismantle. So I've always felt that that was
interesting too. So it sort of complicates the notion of

(36:56):
a clean start over too, which is you know, very
fitting given the other things on this album.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah, and you know, I do want to talk more
about your that running theme of inadequacy, and I think
another one of your favorites on the album does a
good job of that. And that is the weekend No.

Speaker 6 (37:11):
I see cool comment collected making my way to hipster
with glasses was a little more than just nerve racking.

Speaker 9 (37:23):
Kind of just counted on her to turn me into
good grace whatever. And then it went a smout this
Saurabin said a little while I expect you to to
to say, the day.

Speaker 7 (37:37):
Was sly remarks like he's so cute and whatever you want.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
So the white jacket fit. The friends I came with
did perfectly.

Speaker 11 (37:52):
No trying to my body like sad your movie silly
night dreams kind of cats. By the end of the hours,
there was more than just a little smile on my face, covered.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
And custard and cookies and cream. It's gone by Annalie,
but all has said, you gotta smile that I can
like this town and we might need it because it
gets dark around here, real dark around here. Must a

(38:33):
myle friends.

Speaker 6 (38:34):
Fucking gone stamp on the weekend, but that doesn't A
fly here.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Doesn't apply.

Speaker 10 (38:45):
Here.

Speaker 7 (39:07):
Yeah, and much like with tears, over beers as much
as the lyrics really you know, thematically and lyrically different.
It's just such a catchy song and this is anthemic
and it really sort of typifies the the you know,
sense of community that you know, it was so big
for modern baseball, and you know, you just when you

(39:29):
hear this song, you just think about a crowded bar
singing you got a smile that can light this town
and we might need it because it gets dark around here.
And I think this one is kind of a breath
of fresh air and a light and what is lyrically
and overwhelmingly dark album because it underscores how deep and
meaningful friendships and sometimes just one person can shift your

(39:50):
entire perspective. So it feels almost a little bit restorative
without you know, obviously imbuing you with too good of
a feeling, because it's still you know, and baseball album.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think that's that's a good way
to put it. JAD have thoughts on these two songs
that we played or just kind of I mean, it's
not like you haven't been a single guy with some
unrequited love or trying dating online in the early two
thousands as well.

Speaker 4 (40:17):
Yeah, I think that they are sort of what Jonah
was saying, They sort of speak to a lot of
that time for me. But I have to admit they're
not a band. I don't know why, but they're not
a band that I ever really paid attention to their
lyrics so much, maybe because I never did like a deep,
deep dive on them, but it was always I always
found that they're set, and maybe it's because of like

(40:39):
where I was in my sort of musical journey, so
to speak. I was found that they're a rare band
for me. Were like the sound and the music was
more impactful to me, and I was always struck by
how similar, like just from where they were drawing from,
Like especially they're very obvious Weaker Than's influence, which, as

(41:00):
we've talked about before, are obviously one of my favorites,
and then hearing that in sort of a more emo
pop punk frame was kind of like, oh, okay, I'm
I can get behind this, But I know they were
never a band that I ever really connected to, if
that makes sense, even though I did, I do and
did like them, so the the sort of deeper thoughts
and deeper meanings of their songs never I haven't really

(41:23):
given them much thought. I suppose as I might, as
I might have for other bands saying similar things.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Well, let me throw a lyric at you and just
see if this resonates. Then off the song at Chloe,
where the song is literally about, you know, sitting there
on your phone or on your computer post breakup and
looking at the other person's stuff and knowing they're looking
at your stuff. And there's the line, now that you
saw my tweets, you know that I'm home, which is
you know, that's that's the tough thing, right, Do you post?

(41:51):
Do you not post?

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Of course?

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Do you post through it? There's posting through.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
And signing in and out of MSN, yes, but but
this is just.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
That I'm tweeting so you know I'm around. And then
there's also of course I think you were in my
profile picture once, which is really driving that home. And
then as strong as the album is thematically and as
much as Jonah and I connect with it in that regard, Jake,
I do think you have a point that it is,
you know, also just a good album musically, like Jonah said,
with the catchiness, there's also they play around with or

(42:21):
I think maybe because it's their debut. They're not really
restricted by anyone genre. So there are some tracks on
here that are pop punk tracks. There are tracks you
could classify as kind of Midwest emo. There's some kind
of indie folks stuff where they get to show a
bit more musicianship and the vocal talent at play with
both singers, as well as some harmonizing that comes in

(42:41):
from Adrian Gold, who has released some solo stuff and
also in the band cat Napps. So I want to
play one more song off this album to kind of
just highlight the different directions that they went with some
of these songs. And this this is a song called cook.

Speaker 10 (42:56):
I'm suckin.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
My problems in hand.

Speaker 10 (43:01):
I've got a pretty good hand, i'd say for these
new cast gets cracked the same. The first few stones
are the worst, The falling unnoticed and scare you for
more than they're worth, and all at once you will

(43:23):
not hear your own words.

Speaker 9 (43:28):
Maybe it's just my life, but I gotta spotless record.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Oh Baby, it's harder to stay and we got it
all wrong.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
From the start.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Baby, it's all in the cars, just an excuse you playing.
Oh maybe it's all hell in our horse maybe I
tell no what I'll say.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
But anyway, so I like Cook a lot because I
think to Jonah's point about some of the songs on
this album or the album as a whole, being restorative,
I think that's kind of where it starts to pick
up for me. Oh, by the way, the songs with
Adrian Gold harmonizing Our Playball and the Profile Pick Song,

(44:21):
which are both really good. So Cook to me is,
you know, there's this message about literally pulling yourself out
of the drain spiral, with the idea being that yes,
sometimes it can feel like death would be better than
the process of dying, but there is this allure of hope.
And while I joked about Redone not being the closer

(44:41):
because it would bookend the titles nicely, the album builds
to Cohle's as a closer, which I think is a
lovely way to wrap up Jonah's point about the restorative
nature of what they're grappling with over the course of
this album. And that song ends the album basically to say,
just to find out in the and I'll never stop
falling in love, I'm all right, and I'm always getting better.

(45:04):
We'll let the fire burn high because we like it
that way. We don't mind the burn, we'll never let
it go out, So I think, I mean, to me,
that's kind of You've walked through the steps of a
breakup over this album basically Where, and even on Lookout Where,
over the course of like a one minute song, it
goes from oh, I'm post breakup and I'm moving forward

(45:27):
and miss me now that this is over to Okay,
well I said that I was always looking forward, but
my head's on a swivel, and then the song ends
like in a blink of an eye with no, I'm
going to get you back, And I think that this
whole album kind of goes through that but ends in
a healthier place where to me, Cole's ends on a Yeah,
this stuff's tough, and you're gonna have to put yourselself

(45:47):
through more of this, but you know, those ups and downs,
and the especially the ups, or even the allure of
the ups is kind of why you keep pushing Jonah.
Do you take that away from this album as well?

Speaker 7 (45:59):
Yeah, I do, And I think it is a testament
to the fact they were just so damn young when
they put this album out that you know, they still
had tons of optimism in spite of all the heartbreak
and stuff. And you know, I think that it got
harder for them, especially as Brend delved deeper into their

(46:20):
mental health problems, to maintain that ultimate glimmer of optimism.
But very much, you know, even though this album vacillates
between you know, tremendous hopelessness at times and then you
know feelings of you know, maybe this could be okay,
ultimately that it's it's you know, something that that you

(46:40):
know wasn't necessarily a consonant throughout their you know, brief discography,
but it's it's definitely present here, which is you know,
really nice for sure.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
And Jake, again, I know you didn't go through a
ton with this album lyrically, but does Cook stand out
to you at all? Or does Cold stand out to
you at all as a as an album closer or
do you have a thought on the album structured at all?
Before we get into kind of the reception, not.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
Really structure, I will say Cook is my favorite song
on the album.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
Oh good, I'm glad I included that one though.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
Yeah, I think it's I think it's a good sign
of sort of where they would go on the next one.
Which is sort of my intro to them, and I
think it was sort of a more interesting musically song
structure wise, not really, I've never really looked at it
from a concept perspective before, But I do agree with
you that it should have been book ended with Redo
and Redone is my big structure note because like just

(47:31):
for the time, like it has to be.

Speaker 7 (47:33):
Yeah, I believe that I read somewhere either Bren or
Jake commenting that Redone was supposed to mark a demarcation
thematically in the album where they commit to sort of
a different outlook. Now I may be misquoting or entirely
fabricating that, but I could have sworn I read that
somewhere that Redo was sort of, you know, focusing on

(47:55):
certain elements, but then Redone they shifted their perspective, or
at least tried.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
To see if that. If that's the case, I love that.
If that's true.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
I mean, yeah, I don't know that I agree with it,
just because the back half then is only five songs
and one of them is Lookout, which very much does
not fit that theme. I also, I always just weirdly
thought so in See a Sucker, which we played at
the very start of this episode, there's the line I
reckon you grew up in a town that said reckon
all the time, and then on redone there's the you

(48:24):
stole my heart like I stole your hometown lingo and
I I just those two lyrics pair together to me,
but they're out of order in the way they appear
in the album. So maybe that is the case. I
certainly agree that Cook see a Sucker Playball and Cole's
like definitely fit a second half that things like that.
Maybe Lookout is supposed to be kind of the the
moment of lapse to drive home that this stuff isn't linear.

(48:48):
But that's an interesting thing. I didn't come across that
in my research, Jonah, but I will. Uh, that's a nice,
that's a nice.

Speaker 7 (48:53):
I may have made it up.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
No, no, it makes sense. And if you made it up,
who's gonna fact checker? You don't have a fact checker.
Daniel Days not coming on this podcast.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
That'd be a good episode though. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Yeah, it's CNN right after prove it though, And I
don't know if they're gonna do that.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
We're gonna talk about how this album was received, and
we're gonna talk a little bit about You're Gonna Miss
It All after this all right, So the aftermath of

(49:28):
this one's pretty straightforward. They only released the one music
video the weekend they did their first bit of touring
and played a few festivals. In twenty thirteen. They moved
to Run for Cover records for You're Going to Miss
It All, which came out in twenty fourteen. That's generally
regarded as the bigger of the two albums, and as
Jake said, it's where he got more into them. I

(49:49):
had it just behind Sports on my all decade list,
So there's not It's not like it's a bad album
by any mean. It's kind of a coin flip between
these two. So I guess I'll ask Jonah, why did
you prefer to do Sports You're Gonna Miss It All?

Speaker 7 (50:01):
I just think it had a bigger impact on me.

Speaker 8 (50:03):
You know.

Speaker 7 (50:03):
It was, like I said, the album that really reintroduced
me to the genre, and while You're Gonna Miss It
All maybe stronger overall. I mean, the first three songs
are absolutely killer, but you know, I just think that
Sports was slightly more meaningful for me personally. So it
was just purely selfish reasons.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
And then Jake to the other side of that. Was
it just a timing thing for you with You're Gonna
Miss It All?

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Or is there you know?

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Are your favorite Mobo tracks off of that album?

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (50:35):
Both, I guess, Uh, definitely a timing thing, like I
missed Sports completely when it came out and then went
back to it much later. But yeah, I think You're
Gonna Miss It All is definitely my favorite of the
three records they put out. I definitely think it's the strongest,
as Jonah said, especially the first you know three four

(50:56):
tracks and then your Graduation.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
I think are all great songs? Fine? Great? Is such
a strong like opening punch. I actually they're really good
at opening.

Speaker 4 (51:06):
Tracks in general, because I think Wedding Singer is one
of the better uh modern baseball songs as well. But yeah,
I think You're gonna say all was It's just it's
the only one of theirs I go back to frequently.
I would say, I think it's a really well made record,
and I think they sort of the perfect encapsulation of

(51:27):
their sound that a lot of these bands from this
era sort of have like that one record that it's
kind of like, this is what this band sounds like,
this is what you need to know about this band.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Yeah, that makes sense, And I'm gonna play a song
that I think fits that. And that song is rock bottom.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
See yeah, I'm making out. I can hear you guys
on a cass.

Speaker 6 (51:48):
Shut up and make out something already waiting.

Speaker 9 (51:53):
After reading that's that song your friend that started losing
all my confidence? So lasting diet No, sooner I'll be bailing.
Then you you ask me if I gotta leave and die?

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Was shed out? I could say no, My head is
on the birch of next morning.

Speaker 6 (52:27):
No amount of best friend or pizza you could help
this from hurning.

Speaker 9 (52:31):
And now I'm starting to use yet shit less hoping
the song goes well.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
Then we highlight the fact that my nose was a
coffee in garlic. The fight outside this morning.

Speaker 10 (52:45):
Are getting to me.

Speaker 5 (52:46):
I gotta go.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
I got the worst walk spos. Then you you ask
you if I gotta leave and die with shed?

Speaker 9 (52:54):
I to say no, But where so thought up at
the moment, and I just the second chess.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Tomorrow We.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Sa Joe and I believe that's another one of your
favorite Mobo songs, Is it not?

Speaker 8 (53:24):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (53:24):
Yeah, absolutely, it's a good one.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
It's a good one, so you're gonna miss it all
was bigger success. They subsequently toured with The Wonder Years.
Then they got their own headline Nod, which, as we
mentioned off the top, came with Foxing playing alongside them.
They then released Holy Ghost in twenty sixteen, which is
more of a traditional kind of Midwest emo turn good
album that I didn't love as much initially because I

(53:49):
wanted a repeat if you're going to miss at all,
but to go back to Holy Ghost is very strong.
This is around the same time that Jake and I
saw them, and around the same time that Jonah saw
them and disgraced, dishonored his family. Holy Ghosts also has
or the Holy Ghost era of modern baseball also has
a bit of a legacy in terms of I do

(54:09):
think all three of their albums kind of pushed the
genre and pushed a lot that was going on musically.
But it's also they're also credited with around that time
helping to not only attack the idea of mental health
struggle head on, but also making their concerts safer spaces
for that. And that's more than just creating the space

(54:32):
to talk about those issues. It's also to create physically
safe spaces at their shows. So you know, they had
safety hotlines at all their shows for harassment or discrimination.
They had gender neutral bathrooms. There was an article in
The av Club by David Anthony in twenty sixteen called
a Philly pop punk band is changing music by giving

(54:52):
a shit about its fans, in which he writes, listen
to Holy Ghosts, and it's clear that there's a healing
quality to its Our fans flocked to the band because
the performances have become the version of therapy. Modern Baseball
doesn't just weave mental illness into its songs. The band
has found ways to extend its compassion to its live shows.
Mobo transforms rock clubs into safe spaces, opening a dialogue

(55:13):
about struggles that would typically be consigned to subtext. You know,
there's also more from the lyrics side. Greg Barnett of
the Menzinger's told Days it's really cool when bands like
Modern Baseball can be that voice for people who struggle
and show them, hey, it's okay to feel this way
and think this way, and we're here to help. It's
working and attitudes are changing. So I actually think that

(55:34):
Jake that Mobo Joyce show that we went to was
I think the first time I can remember there being
like a message at the start of a show of like, hey,
be cool to each other and if someone's not being cool,
here's how to safely get help and make this space safe.
And it was I'm pretty sure the first time I
can remember seeing gender neutral bathrooms at a show as well.

(55:55):
Did that stand out to you guys at all when
you saw Mobo Jo And I know you might not remember,
but Jake, so I guess I'll kick that to you first,
since you might recollect that night like better than jun.

Speaker 4 (56:07):
Yes, and no, I think that they like they're not
the first band that I've seen do like the hey
take care of each other, don't kick each other in
the head spiel before a show, But I do think
to your point, especially around like gender neutral washrooms and
making it a welcoming space for everybody rather than just like,

(56:28):
don't kick people in the head, I'm not sure that
the first band I've seen do that, But I do
think they sort of are at the forefront, both because
they are sort of at the forefront of this punk
pop punk emo revival, of which this is obviously a
big thing at concerts along with you know, bands like
Pop and camp Cope and lots of bands that actually

(56:49):
seem to care about their fans. But I do think
because of their stature in the scene at the time,
it was very important for them to do that, and
it certainly makes me appreciate them more and like them,
and also ironically some ironically, the first time I saw
them at a show, someone actually tried to backflip into
the crowd to CrowdSurf and ended up hitting their head

(57:10):
and they had to stop the show and bring an
ambulance and it was kind of crazy.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Actually, yeah, that's that's surprising to hear anyway. So to
kind of round this or close this part out on
I guess a more dour note, although although you hope
it's for the positive. So Brand left the band in
twenty seventeen to focus on their mental and physical well being.

(57:35):
The band kind of worked on separate things. Brand on
some solo stuff, Jake on Slaughter Beach Dog, which feels
at least a little bit mobi adjace. I don't like
it quite as much as Mottern Baseball, but I have
spun those albums and they're not bad. In February twenty seventeen,
Jake posted a Facebook message saying that while the band
champions mental health, they'd been ignoring their own and that

(57:55):
they were taking it indefinite hiatus for that purpose. They
also linked out to the Buddy Project for anyone else
needing help with those things. So that's kind of where
Mobile's legacy's at now. It doesn't sound like there's an
imminent end to that hiatus or anything like that. There's
been no even really rumblings of it. So that's where
we're at with Modern Baseball, and where we're at on

(58:17):
this podcast is now we gotta rank some favorite songs
off of this one. So Jonah, do you have a
top two, three, four off of sports? Did you do
a whole expand his own power rankings of these? Where
are you? Where are you taking us? In terms of rankings?

Speaker 7 (58:32):
Man? I found it extremely difficult. So I think I'm
taking the coward's way out and just picking a couple.
And there's I think for me, there's a clear top
two in tiers over Beers and the Weekend. But I mean,
there isn't really a bad song on this album that
I'm inclined to skip over. I love the acoustic efforts

(58:54):
like I think you're in my profile picture once. Especially
you know, as you mentioned with the harmonies with Adrian Gould,
it's so superb, so gut wrenching and Chloe. I mean,
not only is it catchy as hell, but it is
so willing to be, you know, hyper literal and really
explicate what it's like being that terminally online dude who's

(59:15):
going through something difficult romantically and sort of how pathetic
it can be at times, and they don't shy away
from that. And you know, I love that track so much,
and see a Sucker so good and I Reckon You
grew up in a town where they said reckon all
the time is such a killer, indelible, unforgettable lyric And yeah,
I know I'm sort of cheating right here, but ultimately, okay,

(59:36):
you're just I'm sorry. I'm listening to every song, but
I'm gonna say my favorites, my favorites Our Tears over
Beers the Weekend and you know what, I'm going to
keep to those two. They're they're in the top tier.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Yes, Jake, what about you?

Speaker 5 (59:50):
Man?

Speaker 2 (59:51):
And I know you say cook is your favorite off
this album?

Speaker 3 (59:53):
Do you have a two?

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Three?

Speaker 10 (59:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (59:54):
I would say Cook redone, and probably The Weekend would
be my top three.

Speaker 8 (01:00:00):
Hmm.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
We're an interesting interesting spot here in terms of mixtape choice,
I would say, I think See a Sucker is my
my top one, and then I would have it probably
Cook and from their Tears over Beers. So I guess
you know, from here, we have to pick a song
for the mixtape, and sometimes Jonah, that just ends up
being the one we all agree is the best. Sometimes

(01:00:20):
we want it to be the one that best snapshots
the conversation we've had. It can be kind of whatever,
and we tend to defer to the guest. In this case,
which song that we've talked about today, do you feel
is the best representation for the podcasts mixtape?

Speaker 7 (01:00:36):
It's got to be Tears over Beers. I know that
it can be you know, a little you know, I
don't know if cheesey is the right word, but on
the nose, yeah, it's It's definitely on the nose, and
it typifies them, I think in perhaps not the most
flattering way, but at the same time, it's a banger
of a song and it touches on so many of

(01:00:58):
the themes that they explore. You know, thoroughly and that
are central to their band, and I'm going with that one.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Any objections today, not at all? All Right, tears over beers,
going on the mixtape. You'd also follow Jonah at beer
and ball on all your socials excellent, excellent mob writer
over at the score. We also want to thank producer Dylan,
who you know, anytime it's a three man episode, it's
gonna be a little tougher. He's got to edit out
that one part where Jonah was really mean to me
and didn't take the bait on a topic te up.

(01:01:29):
And then that whole time when Jonah was only speaking
in lyrics, which you guys are gonna think is only
the three minutes that make the episode. There was like
forty five minutes where Jonah refused to say anything but lyrics,
which is what Jonah does. That twenty much coming on, man,
this was great.

Speaker 7 (01:01:44):
It was my pleasure. Man, Thanks for having you boys.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Yeah, that in Seinfeld references.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
That hasn't stopped though.

Speaker 7 (01:01:49):
My goal is to make it to fifty without ever
having an original thought or articulating something that wasn't already
previously written by someone else.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
It's a good thing you're a baseball writer.

Speaker 7 (01:01:58):
Though I was gonna say, please, please don't like put
any of my articles into like a plagiarism detector, because
you know, please remond edit that part out too.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Yeah, yeah, edit that part out. Look if you don't like,
If you like Jonah's baseball writing, that's great, and we
encourage that. If you don't, there's company in the comments
at the score so you can you can head in there.
And Jonah's favorite Instagram activity other than posting himself singing
at concerts, is posting the negative feedback he gets on

(01:02:31):
his articles. But this is the issue when you have
the best takes, is that only an elite class of
baseball analysts can understand the tape, right.

Speaker 7 (01:02:37):
Jonah, precisely. I aim to make it as inaccessible and
esoteric as possible so that you know, I can weed
out the normies.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Real head zone. All right, guys, thank you so much
for listening. Thanks again to Jonah'm predduced still, and to Jake.

Speaker 8 (01:03:33):
Please try to fish.

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
This is the part of the night where I get
delusional and I start doing crazy ship