Seasonal Shift

Major Leagues

Major Leagues have only been in existence for little over a year, but have already ticked off some lifetime goals. Endless Drain, their sunny second single, took the airwaves by storm, featured prominently in many end-of-year best of lists around the country, and saw them collect support slots for the likes of Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils and Violent Soho. Now comes the release of the band's debut EP, Weird Season, however, which bassist Vlada Edirippulige feels is a perfect representation of the evolution of the band thus far.

“We have really got a push out of Endless Drain, but I don't think we realised what would happen when we put that out as a single,” Edirippulige admits. “[Final track] Creeper was one of the first songs we wrote as a group, and that seemed like what we as a band wanted to do. So when Endless Drain came along we were like 'No, this is not us, there is no way this can work!' When we were recording I remember Anna [Davidson, guitar/vox] saying 'No, get rid of it!', but Jake [Knauth, drums] really stood behind it. I'm glad he did, because we've grown to really love it, but we did not see the Best Coast comparisons coming at all.”

Yet the pop element that's endeared Major Leagues to their fans is only one facet of their influences. The new single, Silver Tides, shares pastel shades of shoegaze, predicating the band's love of the likes of Slowdive.

“[Weird Season] is essentially summing up the year that we've had. Teen Mums was the first song that we put out, just to show that we were doing something, whilst Feel is effectively the newest song, so it feels like a natural progression, and it feels natural to show that on one recording, the broad spectrum that is Major Leagues. We've all played in our own strange bands, and it was refreshing to come together with these three other people and it be so easy, to have a similar taste in music and be able to sit down together. That level of democracy is rare.

“In Endless Drain, you can hear Jaimee [Freyer, guitar/vox] in that guitar; it's her all over!  Even the cover and poster art, the photos come from a little bag I found in my dad's garage. My dad was studying in Ukraine in the '80s, because it was cheaper to study in the Soviet Union than it was in Sri Lanka. I was born in St Petersburg, so these photos of my father's friends and classes really captured something that I think works really well with Major Leagues.”

This year promises headier heights, starting with a national headline tour with The Ocean Party. “It's so exciting.” Edirippulige exclaims. “And we were so stoked when The Ocean Party agreed to tour with us – those guys just don't stop! Their album has been burning a hole in my record player. So yeah – it's going to be so much fun, we can't wait.”