David Bishop

Modern Popular Music

July 8, 2016

Modern Baseball

Throughout Philadelphia, Pennsylvania an emerging scene of music is echoing throughout

multiple houses, apartments, garages, and basements. People are shuffling through a friends front door
to be swallowed by a crowd of people and the sound of rock and roll. Crowd surfers are knocking over
lamps as the crowd struggles to find a balance between holding up the surfer and sing the song that the
band is playing just behind the couch. This is the Do It Yourself scene, also known as the DIY scene.
Beginning in 2011, this would be the venue for the rock and roll band named Modern Baseball.

Modern Baseball began their touring starting in 2012 and have been active ever since. Their
most recent tour, the Holy Ghost Tour, has weaved Modern Baseball throughout the United States. One
stop was the Beacham Theater in Orlando, Florida on July first. Being a huge fan, I made my way through
a crowd of at least five hundred people to grab a front row spot. As they came out on stage, I noticed
something I have always admired about this band. Each member of the band was wearing either a
stained t-shirt, gym shorts, or torn up shoes as they tuned their beat up electric bass and guitars. They
didnt care how they looked to other people and this really resembles the entire DIY scene. Just like the
Beatles did in the music video for I Am the Walrus, Modern Baseball expressed a sense of anti-
commercialism in the way they appeared on stage. This can easily relate to the counter culture scene in
music throughout the 1960s. During the counter culture movement in the 1960s, the way concerts were
performed were changing drastically. Artists were finding new ways to fire up the crowd for a more live
and electric atmosphere. At the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 Jimi Hendrix lit his guitar on fire then
smashed it to pieces on stage. For Modern Baseball to stimulate the show, during the performance the
drummer kicked over his symbols and dove into the audience as he sang his verse on top of a roaring
crowd.

A constant theme seen throughout all of Modern Baseballs songs that they performed is how
specific the lyrics are. The song writers (who are the two lead singers), Jake Ewald and Brendan Lukens,
constantly refer to very specific names, places, and situations which I find really interesting. For
example, in the song Mass Jake Ewald writes, Sometimes I wish it was still last summer/And you still
lived in South Philly/And I wasn't playing a show in Nebraska, or Austin, Texas. Some people would say
that the lyrics and the songs they write are hard to relate to. However, I think the opposite. Because the
situations they describe are so specific, I feel as if I am standing face to face having a conversation with
either Jake or Brendan.

Overall, the concert was a great experience and one of my top favorite performances. I was
immersed within DIY music as I crowd surfed during my favorite song. I also felt a touch from the 1960s
and the counter culture as I held the drummer up as he drifted through the crowd. Even being
surrounded by five hundred people jumping on their feet, I felt a sense of comfort through the specific
songs Modern Baseball was singing.