Watch The Baseball Project live in Milwaukee & Kansas City – Cheers Scott!

Since it's Scott McCaughey's 70th birthday today, we're celebrating with some of his recent Baseball Project performances. 

The Baseball Project previews Grand Salami Time with "Journeyman"

Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Scott McCaughey & Linda Pitmon return with Grand Salami Time! on June 30th via Omnivore. Listen to "Journeyman"

Here's the scoop from Omnivore HQ...

In 2008 they busted out of the box and easily reached first with their Frozen Ropes And Dying Quails. The Baseball Project was on base and immediately posed a threat to go further. In 2011, they moved on to second with some wildness aptly called High And Inside. They were halfway home. Three years later in 2014, the quintet of Big Stars moved on down the line to the aptly titled 3rd, an epic double dip delight of craftsmanship and savvy.

And there they stayed. For nine long years at the hot corner, but we’re happy to say that The Baseball Project is finally coming home, scoring big and touching ’em all with their fourth album Grand Salami Time. The scoreboard is lighting up and the fireworks are illuminating the sky.

Speaking of reaching home, this album is a homecoming of sorts, as the band recorded and produced the album with none other than the legendary Mitch Easter. BBP members Peter Buck and Mike Mills’ made their first albums with Mitch back in the early ’80s with a swingin’ little combo called R.E.M.

Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn kept busy themselves, busting out new tunes with the Minus 5/Young Fresh Fellows (Scott) and The Dream Syndicate (Steve), while stockpiling a passel of penned poetics about the national pastime, many co-written with Peter. Mike adds a new classic of his own about doctored baseballs called “Stuff.”

Linda Pitmon, who along with Peter and Scott has been part of a steady rhythmic nucleus, bashing out epic rock platters with Filthy Friends, (Alejandro Escovedo, Luke Haines & Peter Buck), is back driving the ship from behind her mighty drum machine.

All in all, a fancy pedigree but, as Wynn points out, “this is our only band that plays stadiums”—true story as The Baseball Project has performed full sets along with the National Anthem and “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” at major league parks in Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and more minor league and spring training fields, as well as having thrown out some exceptional first pitches (nothing but strikes!) as well.

It’s all part of an unusual arc and fun story of a band whose first gig was an appearance on Late Night With David Letterman followed by a festival in a medieval Spanish city. For a quintet that has seemingly done everything over the years with their other bands, The Baseball Project always offers new and uncharted experiences.

The album was recorded at Mitch Easter’s fabled Fidelitorium Studios in Kernersville, North Carolina, with the entire band performing live together in the same room, a joyous experience that seemed impossible to imagine only one year before. Mitch adds guitar on a few tracks and the record also features appearances by Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders) and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos).

In the meantime, the band will be out on the road throughout—when else?—the upcoming baseball season. And we all know they’ll find their way home. Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it’s Grand Salami Time!

Available on CD, Digital, and as a double-LP (with an etched 4th side), Grand Salami Time is the home run music fans have been waiting for. Packaging features stories behind the songs from band members, and makes Grand Salami Time more than a game—it makes your season! 

You can pre-order The Baseball Project's forthcoming album, Grand Salami Time! from Omnivore right here. Listen to "Journeyman" followed by the album trailer clip below. 

 

Mike Mills & The Lemon Twigs highlight all-star salute to Big Star

Mike Mills joined in the 50th Anniversary celebration of Big Star's No. 1 Record at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA. Photos: Cary Baker

Season's Greetings from Scott McCaughey & The Minus 5

Here's a spirited yuletide ripper from Scott McCaughey off the Minus 5's Dear December album from 2017. 

You can still get the Minus 5's Dear December album from Yep Roc or your fave streaming platform right here.  

R.E.M. reissuing Hib-Tone "Radio Free Europe" single

R.E.M. is re-releasing their 1981 debut single recorded in the Winston-Salem garage of Mitch Easter's parents. 

Here's the scoop...

For the first time in 40 years, rock icons R.E.M. are reissuing their foundational, debut single “Radio Free Europe,” first released in 1981. While many fans know the 1983 version of the song, which appeared on the band’s first studio album Murmur, only a lucky few have heard this version, which marks one of R.E.M.’s earliest recordings. Due for release July 23rd via Craft Recordings, and available to pre-order today, Radio Free Europe (Original Hib-Tone Single) will be presented in its original format: as a 45-RPM single, housed in a jacket featuring photography by Michael Stipe. In an homage to the band’s hometown, the single was pressed in Athens, GA at Kindercore Vinyl.

In addition to the 7” single, R.E.M.’s 1981 demonstration tape—titled Cassette Set—is also being made available for the first time. This ultra-rare collection will be available exclusively via the official R.E.M. store as a bundle with the 7”, limited to 1,500 copies worldwide. The Cassette Set tape—also releasing July 23— will replicate the original packaging, which was self-assembled by the band, using photocopied cardstock for the J-card inlays and handwritten cassette labels by Stipe. 

In 1979, singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry were students at the University of Georgia, in the vibrant college town of Athens. Buck worked at Wuxtry Records—a local record store that Stipe frequented. The two young men quickly bonded over their shared love of proto-punk bands like the Velvet Underground and Television. Roommates Mills and Berry, meanwhile, met in high school and had already played in several bands together in their hometown of Macon.

That fall, the four young men met through a mutual friend, Kathleen O’Brien, and began casually playing music together. Several months later, O’Brien was organizing a concert/ birthday party and invited Stipe, Buck, Mills, and Berry to open the show. The group played a loose set of covers and original songs to more than three hundred people. Needless to say, it was a success.

Within a few months, they built a following in the local scene. By early 1981, they had a fanbase that expanded beyond the confines of Athens. That spring, the band were connected with singer, songwriter, and producer Mitch Easter (later of Let’s Active), who booked the band for a session at his Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, NC.

On April 15th, set up in Easter’s parents’ converted garage, R.E.M. recorded three songs: “Sitting Still,” “White Tornado,” and “Radio Free Europe.” The resulting tracks were copied to several-hundred self-produced cassette tapes—approximately 400 copies—and distributed to clubs, journalists and labels. The collection, titled Cassette Set, included a few playful additions; “Sitting Still” was prefaced by a few seconds of a high tempo run through of the song done in Polka-style; “White Tornado” was followed by an aborted “White Tornado” take where Buck blunders, the song grinds to a halt, and Buck is heard apologizing before Easter’s voice appears. This Cassette Set was the only place to get the very original Easter mixes of “Sitting Still” and “Radio Free Europe.” Outside of the copies originally produced, this early demonstration tape collection has never-before been reissued—until now.

A copy of the tape also made its way to Jonny Hibbert, who owned the Atlanta-based indie label, Hib-Tone. Impressed, Hibbert offered to put out the band’s first single. On May 24, the band returned to the studio and laid down some overdubs onto “Radio Free Europe” and Hibbert mixed both “Radio Free Europe” and “Sitting Still” the next day.

While the band preferred Easter’s original mix of the song, Hibbert chose his own mix for the 7-inch single, which featured “Sitting Still” as the B-side. An initial pressing of 1,000 was released in July 1981, with 600 copies designated for promotional use. Later, an additional 6,000 copies were issued, due to popular demand (and for practical reasons, as the first pressing inadvertently omitted contact info for the band.)

Despite mishaps along the way, the release of the “Radio Free Europe” single earned the band critical acclaim and an offer from I.R.S. Records. Under the new label, a more experienced R.E.M. re-recorded “Radio Free Europe.” The new version—which featured a slower tempo than its predecessor and slightly revised lyrics—was released as the band’s first official single with I.R.S., and appeared on their 1983 debut, Murmur.

The single garnered the band their first chart success, peaking at No.78 on the Billboard Hot 100, and helped to propel Murmur up the album charts, where it landed at No.36. Decades later, the song was regarded by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, while in 2010, “Radio Free Europe” was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry—noted for having paved the way for subsequent indie rock acts “by breaking through on college radio in the face of mainstream radio’s general indifference.”

Despite the breakthrough success of that 1983 recording, R.E.M. has long stated that the rougher, Hib-Tone version of “Radio Free Europe” is the superior recording. And, while eagle-eyed fans may note that the single was listed as a track on R.E.M.’s 1988 compilation, Eponymous, and then on 2006’s I.R.S. years compilation (And I Feel Fine…The Best of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987), the version that was labeled “Original Hib-Tone single” was, in fact, Easter’s original mix, not Hibbert’s. That formative pressing, however, has remained a sought-after rarity for four decades—and is available again for the first time here.

Have a listen to R.E.M.'s original Hib-Tone version of their "Radio Free Europe" single and the Cassette Set version of  "White Tornado". Check the links section below for an interview with Mitch Easter. 

LINKS

Aquarium Drunkard – Mitch Easter interview

Limited-run RSD albums from The Fleshtones, Los Straitjackets and Minus 5 due November 24

With Record Store Day fast approaching, the fine folks at Yep Roc Records just announced a Black Friday bonanza of releases from The Fleshtones, Los Straitjackets and the Minus 5 – each containing at least some music you don't already own! Here's the scoop...

The Fleshtones – Budget Buster (Yep Roc Records)
Packaging: 12” Vinyl / red and orange splatter-colored
Limited to 1000 copies worldwide

Known as the “The Kings of Garage Rock” or “America’s Garage Rock Band,” there’s no debate that The Fleshtones are one of the hardest working (and rocking) bands of all time. In the past decade, Peter Zaremba's crew has released loads of new music that rivals the best of their impressive 40-year run. The 12-song Budget Buster collects some of their finest singles tracks and rarities over the last 10 years, many of which are long out-of-print and difficult to find. Fleshtones completists should note that Budget Buster includes two previously unreleased tracks and features a sleeve created by Mons. Zaremba himself!

Los Straitjackets – Sing Along With Los Straitjackets (Yep Roc Records)
Packaging: 12” LP with bonus 45 single
Limited to 1500 copies worldwide

Way back in 2001, Sing Along with Los Straitjackets marked the first time the masked instrumental marvels featured vocals on their recordings, an endeavor they would embark on again later with Deke Dickerson.

Sing Along with Los Straitjackets features a party of musicians spanning the musical sphere, from Nick Lowe playing bass on his own “Shake That Rat,” to collaborations with the always amazing El Vez, Raul Malo from The Mavericks, Exene Cervenka from X, Mark Lindsay of Raiders fame, Mike Campbell from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, and even instro royals The Trashmen. Reissued on wax for the first time, every copy of the LP comes with a bonus 45 single featuring two rare collaborations from the Sing Along with… sessions featuring Dave Alvin and Reverend Horton Heat, who also appear on the album.

The Minus 5 – Dear December (Yep Roc Records)
Packaging:  12” LP | white vinyl
Limited to 1500 copies worldwide

In early 2017, Scott McCaughey penned a few holiday numbers to submit to a well-known artist’s prospective holiday album. He became so inspired by the task that he wrote more than an album’s worth of material and decided to record that album with his group, The Minus 5, which for this project includes Peter Buck and drummer Joe Adragna as core members.

A cool yule selection of 11 original future holiday classics, Dear December includes collaborations with Kurt Bloch, M. Ward, Death Cab's Ben Gibbard, Mike Mills, Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists), Chuck Prophet and a few other special guests. The deluxe white vinyl album comes packaged with an Advent-inspired calendar, a gatefold cover and digital download.

Jody Stephens, Mike Mills, Chris Stamey & Mitch Easter star in concert film Thank You Friends: Big Star's Third Live

Check out the performances of Big Star's "In The Street" and "Kizza Me" performed by Chris Stamey & Mike Mills. 

The Baseball Project rocks SXSW 2014

They're The Oakland A's


Past Time


The Day Dock Went Hunting Heads


Monument Park


¡Hola America!


To The Veterans Committee

Baseball Project's "3rd" album due March 25

Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey and pals will be playing non-stop in Austin during SXSW 2014.