Back In The Game

Sam Cromack sounds relieved. Initially, it's hard to imagine what reason he'd have to be distressed. Since formation, his band Ball Park Music have progressed at an astonishing rate. Their 2009 debut EP Rolling Around The Floor, Laughing Ourselves To Sleep was embraced by triple j from the outset. More recently, albums like 2012's Museum have brought them profound critical and commercial success.

Except, Sam Cromack's 2012 looks different to that of his fans. Where onlookers saw a band release their second successful album in as many years (the band's debut Happiness And Surrounding Suburbs having dropped in 2011), enjoy a number nine debut on the ARIA Charts and sell-out venues across the country, Cromack saw a band dealing with the aftermath of losing direction, over-committing and spinning out of control.

“There was definitely a point where we thought about giving it up completely,” the frontman says candidly. “It was just after a big tour, we had only just started to think about working on the second album and I just sat down with the rest of the band and told them, 'I feel burnt out, physically and financially; creatively, I just feel stifled and a bit bored – we need to undergo some changes'. And, you know, we did that.”

The past 12 months have seen Ball Park Music both implement and deal with those alterations. In some instances, they were professional. Last year saw the band split with their management company Mucho Bravado, for example. Other changes were more artistic – Museum seeing the band partially ditch their initial reputation for bratty pop songs and start to wrestle with a more experimental and existential approach.

“It was tough – but I feel like it was worth it. You know, you work on something so much, you just end up thinking, 'Fuck it, if I'm not enjoying this, what's the fucking point?'” Cromack questions. “You know, 'What do I have to change to actually make this enjoyable again?' I feel the band's pretty happy, at the moment. I'm definitely in a much better place than I was twelve months ago, let me put it that way.

“I'm just trying to play it cool about the management thing. You know, I have a legal obligation not to disclose shit. And I don't want to, anyway. These things happen. It's just unfortunate that, as an artist or musician or whatever, you conduct your business quite publicly,” he says. “It's not like getting fired from McDonald's or whatever.”

2013 is shaping up to be a different year. Having effectively established his band on a national stage, Cromack is currently thinking about how to maintain that arrangement without compromising that sense of fun and joy that initially drew the band into their professions.

“Yeah, it's a funny position to get to, really. We've done two albums now, toured Australia lots, had some fun and success, I'm feeling a bit more in control – and it makes you stop and go, 'Right, what do I actually do with this thing that we've made?'” he reflects. “'How am I going to continue to make it entertaining and fun?' It's obviously great to spend a lot of time with four people that I really like and to make music with them.

“But, I think we need to continue to set challenges for ourselves. We're starting to think about the next record. Even though records are weird and redundant and don't make any money in modern music, I still spend all my time thinking about them,” he laughs. “The prospect of doing it again is fun. I still have that stubborn musician streak where I believe I can make some sort of artistically heightened work that will change everyone's lives.”

Cromack's always been ambitious. While earlier singles like Rich People Are Stupid and iFly suggested a slacker-savant, Cromack's lesser-known solo work as My Own Pet Radio has always shown his true colours. Cromack's two self-produced solo albums span from hip hop to lo-fi pop to avant-garde experimentalism. A compulsively prolific writer, he even wrote and recorded an unreleased third album between Ball Park Music's two long-players.

“Yeah, it's fucking tragic. I finished that in November, 2011. So, it's been sitting on the shelf for a good year or more. I think what's going to happen is a handful of tracks are going to be re-worked for the next Ball Park album,” Cromack reveals. “Because I love the songs and I want them to see the light of day in a way that's going to give them a good life. Then, I just need to wait twenty years for the actual album to become a bit of a cult thing.”

Cromack seems determined that Ball Park Music's next album reflects that ambition. After spontaneously exploding the band's sound with Museum, the frontman seems intent on exploring a more considered approach with the group's third album. Instead of tearing back into the studio after their current tour, Ball Park Music will spend the next 12 months developing and exploring their new material. They're looking for precision.

“We've always had a belief that our sound needs to be constantly expanding,” Cromack says. “And my bandmates are constantly surprising me like that. You know, just when I think we've taken something as far as it can go, they'll come up with something that will take it even further. We're demoing at the moment and I think they're even wilder than I thought they were. I'd love to really screw with people's heads but you need the tunes.

“I wouldn't rule out us ever taking that spontaneous approach again but, really, I can't see what making another album in the way we made Museum would actually accomplish – outside of us being able to stand there and go, 'Oh, hey, everyone, look at us, we did it again',” the frontman laughs. “Museum was fine and that was an awesome challenge; to try and get that done within a year. We're still really proud of that record.

“But, I think this time we're looking at being much more perfectionist and setting ourselves a much longer timeline and try and get the material really perfect. I know every musician is trying to do that all the time but I'd really like to take that extra step this time around. You know, release an album with our ten best tracks, that have managed to stick around for a year, that we believe are the real winners.”