Ball Park Music are a famously Brisbane-based band - and have, on occasion, expressed their distaste for other cities in Australia. The most notable case of this? Please Don’t Move To Melbourne, a single released by Ball Park Music in anticipation of their new album, Like Love.

With the whole track centred around begging someone to stay in Brisbane, rather than move to Melbourne - as is a commonplace rite of passage in the Sunshine State - you’d be forgiven for thinking that Ball Park Music aren’t fans of the southern city. But, in a recent chat with The Music, frontman Sam Cromack revealed that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We have no beef with Melbourne whatsoever. Absolutely not,” Cromack explains. “I think some people have misconstrued the song as being somehow anti-Melbourne. It's definitely not the case. The narrative of the song comes from a much more personal space. The song is really saying, ‘Please don't go’. You could substitute Melbourne for London, Barcelona, Berlin, Chicago. You take your pick. It doesn't matter. It’s really saying to a loved one, ‘Please don’t leave me,’ and reflecting more on where you live - feeling like you or the city that you live in is inadequate.”

That, however, begs the question: why Melbourne?

“That song has been kicking around for a really, really long time. I wrote the chorus for it, which is the bit that says, ‘Please don't move to Melbourne’, like seven or eight years ago, when a lot of my friends were leaving Brisbane for Melbourne. That’s a really common tale in Brisbane, and it's a common tale in other cities around the country, as well. People in Sydney, Western Australia, Hobart, everyone will complain about all their friends and peers and loved ones ditching them for Melbourne.”

Overall though, there’s no bad blood between the band and Melbourne: “I mean, we love Melbourne. Melbourne is my favorite city after Brisbane.”

But Melbourne isn’t the only city Ball Park Music has thrown shade towards - Sydney is next in the firing line, and this time, it’s copping it.

It’s pretty well known that the band’s alter-ego, The Pizzas, hate Sydney. In fact, earlier this year, Cromack revealed that The Pizzas have actually blacklisted the city, saying, “The two rules of The Pizzas is that we’ll never play It’s Nice To Be Alive, and we’ll never play in Sydney.”

And, in his recent chat with The Music, Cromack elaborated on that. “Look, it’s definitely an ongoing gag, certainly with The Pizzas, but Ball Park too. Sydney is a fun city to pick on, you know? Sydney’s the flagship city of Australia. It’s got all the money and the harbours and the opera houses and the bridges and everything fancy. It’s like picking on the French, you know? The French are fantastic, and are actually doing a great job of almost everything, and that’s why we pick on them. Picking on Sydney is just like a fun pastime for the rest of the country.”

“There are certainly things that genuinely annoy me about Sydney,” he adds. “The rat race is extremely intense in Sydney. I think there’s an unnecessary focus on wealth, status, glamour, and what have you - but I also love it there too. I’ve got lots of friends and family that live there. I’m never sad about going to visit Sydney. I pretty much love everywhere in Australia.”

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.