Jake and his twin sister, Hannah, were both in a "paramore ripoff band" called "Purple Shanty Shack." At the time, Brendan had a huge crush on Hannah and went to one of their shows to try and get closer to her. Whilst they were on the way to the show, they accidentally stepped into dog shit. When Bren arrived at the show, they made a comment about it during small talk with Hannah. Jake always carried an extra pair of shoes with him in his car, so he brought them out and gave them to Bren for the time being. One day, after school, Bren and Jake decided to hang out with each other at Jake's house. They both quickly bonded over their shared love of music and started hanging out more, jamming with each other. One day, the two of them were rummaging around in Jake's basement and found a book called "Modern Baseball Techniques." This would inspire the name of the band, a majority of their branding, and their compilation cd "Techniques" released in 2014.
After the two of them saw the book, they decided to form the band, performing their first show in one of their friend's garages. The two of them graduated and both moved to Philadelphia, Bren going to Chestnut Hill College and Jake going to Drexel University. At the time, Philidelphia had a young but explosive underground punk/emo scene, and the two of them became very interested in the scene. The two of them recorded their first ep, "The Nameless Ranger" all by themselves and released it on November 11th, 2011. Jake also met Ian Farmer at Drexel, who was a massive ska nerd at the time. The three of them quickly got along with each other, performing their first major show at the "Micheal Jordan House" on the campus of Drexel. The house was named after the fact that admission for any show would be either $3, or a picture of Jordan's face. The music video for their song "The Weekend" was performed in the basement of the Jordan house.
In Autumn 2012, Jake, Bren, and Ian all went into the studio in Drexel to record "Sports", their debut album, which was released on November 27th, 2012. The lyrical content of the album mostly consisted of girls, beer, and sports themselves. Jake played all of the drum parts on the album, as they didn't have a drummer yet. For the shows that they did play, they usually had a friend of the band fill in for them on drums. However, at one of the shows, the trio met and soon became friends with Sean Huber, who was a few years older than the rest of the band and could grow a cool beard. They all got along with each other, and Sean soon joined the band. At these basement shows, many regarded Modern Baseball as one of the greats in the slowly blossoming 4th wave emo scene, also known as the emo revival. The now 4 of them soon became good friends with many members of the scene, most notably Marietta, Old Gray, The Hundred Acre Woods, & Julia Brown. They would eventually release a split with all of them, "Couples Therapy" with Marietta in 2012, "4-Way V-Day Split" which as the title implies, is a 4-way-split between Mobo (which features an acoustic version of "Its Cold Out Here" from "Couples Therapy" called "Phone Tag"), Julia Brown, The Hundred Acre Woods and Old Gray, which came out on Valentine's Day 2013, and another split between just Mobo and The Hundred Acre Woods, also released in 2013.
The band soon embarked on their first full on U.S. tour, playing basement and or bar shows at whatever venue that they could find available. Many other bands from the emo scene around then joined Mobo on tour, such as The Menzingers, Lee Hartney, Ted Nguyent, and Cayetana. Also around this time, the quartet signed to Run for Cover records, gearing up to release their sophmore LP, You're Gonna Miss It All, which soon released on February 11th, 2014. For promotion for this album, Bren said that they would shave the avatar arrow into their hair if the album got over 1,000 pre-orders. It went very much over that, and Bren stuck with the nearly bald haircut for the rest of the Mobo career. Once again the band (mostly) tackled production by themselves, and the album peaked on 97 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The band went on another tour, this time with the Wonder Years, later touring Europe with bands such as Knuckle Puck, Foxing, Crying, and Somos.
On October 23rd, 2015, the quartet released "Mobo Presents: The Perfect Cast EP Featuring Modern Baseball", their 2nd EP. The EP is extremely important to the trajectory of Mobo moving foward because of their sound change presented here. Whilst their projects before this were more snarky and lighthearted even through the circumstances and lyrical topics, The Perfect Cast wallowed in the sorrow. This is mostly speculated to be because in mid-2015, Bren was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attempted to kill themselves. The band at the time, cancelled their tour and would (for the most part) step away from touring as much as they did after this event. The band announced in late 2015 that their third LP, Holy Ghost, began development. In February of the next year, the band announced the release date of May 13th via Run for Cover in the US/Canada, and Big Scary Monsters everywhere else. In May, the record released. The concept of this record was split into half, depending on which member was writing and performing the vocals. Jake took up the songs Holy Ghost to Hiding, with his main lyrical focus being on losing a loved one. Bren took up the other side, from Coding These to Lukens and the closer Just Another Face. Their side mostly focused on depression and death.
In May 2016, the band embarked on their next tour, promoting The Perfect Cast and Holy Ghost with Joyce Manor and Thin Lips. Later in 2016, they would support acts such as The Front Bottoms and Brand New. In December 2016, Jake would start the (at the time) solo side project, Slaughter Beach, Dog. Sean would also start a new band, Steady Hands, where he would provide vocals. In January 2017, Bren would announce on Instagram that they would not be joining the band on their Europe/UK tour, to focus more on their mental health. The month after that, the band would cancel the tour all together, also citing their mental health as a reason for this.
In the meantime, Ian joined Slaughter Beach, Dog, and Sean would continue to focus on Steady Hands, releasing their debut. A few months later, the band announced that they would be going on indefinite hiatus. In a June 2017 interview with Jake, he remarked saying "let's not call it a breakup and make a huge deal about it and have a 'Last Show Ever' or anything like that. Let's just take it easy for now, and if we wake up and want to do it again, then let's do it". They performed a one off show supporting Daniel Johnston on his last US tour, which would also be their final performance as Modern Baseball. In an October 2017 interview, Jake confirmed that the band no longer had plans to perform again.
In the years following the "end" of Modern Baseball, all of the members have been doing their own thing. Sean became a father and continued to work on Steady Hands, releasing 2 albums. Jake and Ian are still working on Slaughter Beach, Dog, and currently have 5 albums and a few eps. Bren has been a different case - for the most part they have been laying low, and doing their own thing. They have been mostly absent on social media, however they did reappear on Instagram for the 10th anniversary of Sports.
Your Graduation
Modern Baseball Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sometimes for hours, sometimes in passing
Saw you from the bottom of the staircase
Stood out for hours as you complained
About how you haven't seen your friends yet
That you're too drunk to stand and
You not knowing if you can love him forever
Bullshit you fucking miss me
There I said it I guess I'll talk to you in a few months
Sitting drunk on the sidewalk
I guess I'll get up
I guess I'll go for a walk
Brushed my shoes against the pavement
I swear this has gotta be the hundredth
Time I thought of you tonight
You weren't the only one
Who thought of us that way
I spend most nights awake
Wide awake
I never thought that I
Oh I would see the day
Where I'd just let you go
Let you walk away
Where I let you walk away
Once you call
You crook, called you a bandit
There ain't no other good damn reason why
Why I would even go missing
For so many months so I was wishing that you
That you would stop pretending
Remember all those countless nights
When I told you I loved you
And you'd never forget it
Oh just forget it
You weren't the only one
Who thought of us that way
I spend most nights awake
Wide awake
I never thought that I
Oh I would see the day
Where I'd just let you go
Let you walk away
Where I let you walk away
You weren't the only one
Who thought of us that way
I spend most nights awake
Wide awake
I never thought that I
Oh I would see the day
Where I'd just let you go
Let you walk away
Go ahead and walk away
The lyrics to Modern Baseball's song Your Graduation tell the story of someone struggling to let go of a past relationship. The opening lines suggest that the singer has been preoccupied with thoughts of their ex for either a long time or consistently throughout the years. The singer watches their ex complain about their current relationship, but is not sure if they can love them forever. The chorus begins with strong language, "bullshit you fucking miss me," suggesting that the ex is lying about moving on. The singer ultimately decides to walk away, accepting that they must move on from the relationship, but still struggling to let go.
One interesting interpretation of the song is that it is a response to the popular "nice guy" mentality, where men believe that if they just keep pining after someone long enough, they will eventually win them over. The lyrics suggest that this is not the case and that sometimes it's necessary to let go and move on. Additionally, the song's title, Your Graduation, could be seen as a nod to the concept of "graduating" from a past relationship and moving on to something new.
Other interesting facts about the song include that it was the lead single from Modern Baseball's album You're Gonna Miss It All, which was released in 2014. The song received widespread critical acclaim, with some reviewers calling it one of the best breakup songs of all time. The music video for the song features an extended version of the track that includes a new verse not found on the original album version. The song has been covered by numerous artists, including Joyce Manor and Tegan and Sara.
Chords:
Verse: G Cadd9 G Cadd9 G Cadd9 D
Chorus: Cadd9 G D Cadd9 G D
Note: These are meant for acoustic guitar and may not be exact.
Line by Line Meaning
It's been a day or years of me thinkin' 'bout you everyday
I have spent countless days and years thinking of you every single day.
Sometimes for hours, sometimes in passing
These thoughts of you occur randomly, sometimes for short periods of time and sometimes just as fleeting thoughts.
Saw you from the bottom of the staircase
I saw you from a distance, looking up from the bottom of a staircase.
Stood out for hours as you complained
I stood around listening to you complain for hours.
About how you haven't seen your friends yet
You complained about not having seen your friends yet.
That you're too drunk to stand and
You were complaining that you were too drunk to stand up.
You not knowing if you can love him forever
You were expressing doubts about your ability to love the person you were with forever.
Bullshit you fucking miss me
You can't deny that you miss me.
There I said it I guess I'll talk to you in a few months
I finally said what I've been thinking and will probably talk to you again in a few months.
Sitting drunk on the sidewalk
I am sitting on the sidewalk, drunk and upset.
I guess I'll get up
I have decided to get up and do something.
I guess I'll go for a walk
I am going to take a walk to clear my head.
Brushed my shoes against the pavement
I am walking and brushing the soles of my shoes against the pavement.
I swear this has gotta be the hundredth
I feel like I've thought of you at least a hundred times tonight.
Time I thought of you tonight
This is another time tonight that I'm thinking of you.
You weren't the only one
I am not the only one who thinks of us this way.
Who thought of us that way
Others also think of us in the same way.
I spend most nights awake
I usually spend most of my nights awake, thinking about you.
Wide awake
I am fully awake during these nights.
I never thought that I
I never imagined that I
Oh I would see the day
I would ever experience the time
Where I'd just let you go
Where I would just let you go and move on.
Let you walk away
Allow you to leave and accept that it's over.
Once you call
If you reach out to me again
You crook, called you a bandit
I will call you out for the way you've treated me.
There ain't no other good damn reason why
There is no other way to justify my feelings towards you.
Why I would even go missing
Why I would ever disappear from your life.
For so many months so I was wishing that you
During the many months that I disappeared, I still hoped that you
That you would stop pretending
Would stop pretending and be honest with me.
Remember all those countless nights
Recall all the nights we spent together.
When I told you I loved you
When I expressed my love for you.
And you'd never forget it
And I hoped you would never forget how strongly I felt about you.
Oh just forget it
But now I have to let it go.
Go ahead and walk away
You can leave and forget about me.
Lyrics © TERRORBIRD PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind