Ball Park Music Celebrate Announce AU/NZ Tour + New Album “Please Don’t Move To Melbourne”.
Brisbane’s Ball Park Music announce a massive Australian & New Zealand touralongside their new single ‘Please Don’t Move To Melbourne’, in the lead up to the release of their much-anticipated eighth studio album Like Love on Fri 4 April.
Like Love is named after its heartfelt title track, which recently won hearts of fans around the country, voting it as #43 in triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2024, making it the thirteenth Ball Park Music song to appear in the annual countdown.
Where ‘Like Love’ showed a softer and more introspective sound from the band, the second single from the album, ‘Please Don’t Move To Melbourne’, brings the tone right back up with a bright, upbeat melody and an undeniable chorus that will no doubt get stuck in your head, while simultaneously paired with vulnerable lyrics in a way that only Ball Park Music can.
Ball Park Music singer and songwriter Sam Cromack explains, “The origins of this song are old. Proper old. I can recall writing the chorus in a house I rented many moons ago. I remember the enchanting nature of the three chords being spread over six bars; it gives it this suspended feeling as if it could just go on forever and never resolve. But all I had was that chorus. Inspired by a time when many friends were departing Brisbane for greener pastures down south, it lay dormant for years. I didn’t know how to complete the story. When scratching around for material on this record I shared it with the band and they instantly connected. Again, the unusual number of bars made us wanna play it all bloody night. It just has this circular, infinite quality to it. As we did that, I kinda just let the melodies and all those subconscious ramblings bubble up and suddenly we had verses! It’s endured a strange construction, but it’s truly one of our favourite songs we’ve made.”
Filmed by Ball Park Music guitarist Dean Hanson on a sunny day in Brisbane/Meanjin, the ‘Please Don’t Move To Melbourne’ music video is a tongue-in-cheek bid to show how much fun Brisbane is, featuring no less than 22 references to their hometown, including The Wheel Of Brisbane, the Story Bridge, the Brown Snake (Brisbane River), a Bluey City Cat, Kurilpa Bridge, The Brisbane Steps, Howard Smith Wharves, the Brisbane sign, Suncorp Stadium, Netherworld, the XXXX Brewery and Sam’s XXXX hat, Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley, Ric’s, Dean’s treasured cap from The Zoo (RIP), The Fortitude Valley Train Station, walking over the Riverside Express, The Wally Lewis and Darren Lockyer Statues, throwing around a Brisbane Broncos football, Paul’s Brisbane Lions hat and drinking Green Beacon beers on the wheel.
Now, Ball Park Music are preparing to release their upcoming album, Like Love, on Fri 4 April. Named after the title track, their 8th studio album will contain both ‘Like Love’ and ‘Please Don’t Move To Melbourne’ and will further prove the band as one of Australia’s most influential acts of the last decade, expanding on their incredible catalogue of songs that have sound-tracked so many lives.
You can pre-order Ball Park Music’s Like Love on vinyl in two limited edition styles (‘Saffron’ and ‘Clear & Orange Splatter’), alongside Like Love t-shirts, a jumper and mug, as well as an embroidered ‘Please Don’t Move To Melbourne’ t-shirt all via the Ball Park Music Merch Store.
To celebrate the release of the album, Ball Park Music will play these new songs and a plethora of their much-loved hits in a huge national Australian & NZ tour this coming May and June, supported by fellow Brissie band Bean Magazine and presented by triple j.
Rapt to hit the road again, Ball Park Music exclaim “We are extremely excited to announce that we'll be hitting the road in support of our new record, Like Love. This run will see us return to many of our favourite venues in the country as well as making it to New Zealand for some of our first ever proper headline shows. The new record has seen us explore a more tender, introspective side of our band and we're excited to redesign our show to accommodate this, as well as all our usual faves for the stage. Joining us in support for the Aussie leg will be our new fave Brissie band, Bean Magazine. We adore them and they're gonna kill it. We couldn't be more pumped to go. We'll see you out there!”
