Though they won’t admit it, Ball Park Music has become synonymous with the indie-rock genre. Since bursting onto the scene way back in 2008, the Brisbane icons have been mainstays on every triple j lover’s playlist, dropping track after track of indie-rock goodness.

But, according to frontman Sam Cromack, it’s time for a change.

“I think the biggest thing when working on the new record was that we just wanted to do things differently,” Cromack tells The Music. “That included the writing, the music and where we did it too. We wanted to get out of Brisbane. We wanted to go to a proper studio with a producer - just kind of shake up everything that we had been doing. And the goal was to make - I'm never sure exactly which words to pick to summarise it - but a pretty album, you know?”

This wasn’t a spontaneous decision, though. In fact, the band has planned on making a shift in their sound for years. And now is their chance. Releasing their eighth studio album Like Love today, Ball Park Music has embarked on a new adventure - sailing away from the comfort of their regular sound.

“It's definitely lower energy, prettier, folkier,” Cromack says of Like Love. “It’s something that we'd always kinda dreamt of doing. We've talked about this for years: ‘Oh, how nice will it be when we do this one day?’ So that was what we embarked on. We were like, ‘Fuck it. Let's do it. Let's go make the most beautiful sounding record we can, in a proper studio, with someone who knows what they're doing.’ It was a ‘let's throw it all the wall’ kind of thing.”

Recording the album in a professional studio was a new experience for Ball Park Music. Despite releasing seven LPs previously, the band has always recorded in “makeshift” studios, be it their own at Prawn Records, or their producer’s, Matt Redlich. But, with a new-sounding album, you‘ve got to have a new studio.

“We went to Sydney, to a studio called Golden Retriever. We had ten recording sessions, and we had ten songs to do, so it was basically a song every day. And we're so thrilled with the results. It was really an amazing time, you know? It was everything we wanted it to be. You know, it's not that often, at least in our journey in music, that we've got that experience - I think maybe a lot of artists dream of it - where, like, you're out of town, away from all the normal life, and able to really focus and indulge in a big creative project.”

But, when asked what genre he’d categorise that “big creative project” in, Cromack pauses.

“I've always hated talking about genre. I know it serves a purpose, but I think a lot of artists agree, like, it's not really the framework that you see your own music through. I accept that people call us like an indie-rock band, but I never get up and think, ‘Time to write some more indie-rock,’ or, ‘Yay, I love indie-rock!’ We just kind of make music. I know it's a pretentious thing to say, everyone says the same shit, but it's not like we were like, ‘Oh, let's make a folk album.’ It was kind of like, ‘Let's just make music the way we normally make it.’ 

“The real thing we were exploring was taking that huge amount of energy our band seems to naturally create and really pulling it back as much as we could - trying to get into new territory in places that we felt uncomfortable, like it was uncharted waters. So, yeah, I mean, absolutely you could say there's a folk influence or whatever, but that's not necessarily how we were thinking of it.”

In support of their new adventure, Ball Park Music is embarking on a massive tour around Australia - and, despite the album being a different vibe to normal, their shows will remain the high energy spectacle punters have come to expect.

“I don’t think we would ever commit to the whole performance being a totally different vibe. I think it’s more exciting that we can probably incorporate a phase of the show that’s deliberately exploring the more lowkey songs in our catalogue. It feels like something we already have, and we’re just going to expand on that. But I definitely still want to have some extremely high energy bits. 

“We’ve always felt ambitious with the show, and we definitely want to feel like every tour gets better and better. We want people who come to our shows to think, ‘How can it possibly get better?’ and hopefully leave thinking, ‘Fuck me, they did it - it was better’. We want it to be the gift that keeps on giving. So I’m feeling really excited.”

Joining Ball Park Music on tour will be fellow Brisbane up-and-comers Bean Magazine, who Cromack has actually worked previously with through Prawn Records. In fact, Cromack has worked with a range of Brisbane’s finest - and the future’s looking bright.

“I love that privilege of being ahead of where listeners are. It feels like such a special opportunity to be making the new music from this city. Such an honor to do that. In recent times, I've worked with Bean Magazine, Asha Jefferies, and Jo Davie. There's some other Brisbane bands that I've discovered and really like - there's a band called Red Hill, I thought they were really cool. There's another band discovered called 01 Thurman which has some really good, interesting music. There's so much great music in Brisbane. It’s a good city to make music in, absolutely,” Cromack muses.

So, with a heart full of Brisbane, and a catalogue of fresh new tunes, Ball Park Music are set to take over the country - one town at a time.

Ball Park Music’s eighth studio album, ‘Like Love’, is out now - and, to celebrate, they’re heading on tour. Find details below.

BALL PARK MUSIC

LIKE LOVE AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND TOUR

Fri 2 May – Forth Pub, Fort TAS – Buy Tickets

Sat 3 May – Odeon Theatre, Hobart TAS (All Ages) – Buy Tickets

Thu 8 May – Prince of Wales, Bunbury WA – Buy Tickets

Fri 9 May – The River, Margaret River WA – Buy Tickets

Sat 10 May - Metropolis, Fremantle WA - Buy Tickets

Thurs 15 May – Forum, Melbourne VIC – Buy Tickets

Fri 16 May – Forum, Melbourne VIC – SOLD OUT

Sat 17 May – Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide SA – Buy Tickets

Fri 23 May – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane QLD – Buy Tickets

Fri 30 May – Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW (All Ages) – Buy Tickets

Fri 6 June – San Fran, Wellington NZ – Buy Tickets

Sat 7 June – Tuning Fork, Auckland NZ (All Ages) – Buy Tickets

Fri 13 June – UC Refectory, Canberra ACT – Buy Tickets

Sat 14 June - Beer Deluxe, Albury NSW - Buy Tickets

Fri 20 June - Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns QLD - Buy Tickets

Sat 21 June - JCU Uni Bar, Townsville QLD - Buy Tickets

Sun 22 June - Flamingos, Rockhampton QLD - Buy Tickets

Thurs 26 June - Finnians, Port Macquarie NSW - Buy Tickets

Fri 27 June - The Recky, Elizabeth Beach NSW - Buy Tickets

Sat 28 June - Drifters Wharf, Gosford NSW - Buy Tickets

Fri 4 July - Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads NSW - Buy Tickets

Thurs 10 July - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine VIC - Buy Tickets

Fri 11 July - The Pier, Frankston VIC - Buy Tickets

Sat 12 July - Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads VIC - Buy Tickets

Fri 18 July - The Station, Sunshine Coast QLD (All Ages) - Buy Tickets

Sat 19 July - The Powerhouse, Toowoomba QLD - Buy Tickets

Sun 20 July - Miami Marketta, Gold Coast QLD - Buy Tickets

Thurs 24 July - Tilba Winery, Tilba NSW - Buy Tickets

Fri 25 July - Waves, Woolongong NSW - Buy Tickets

Sat 26 July - The Station, Jindabyne NSW - Buy Tickets

Support: Bean Magazine (Australian shows only)

Tickets on sale now.