Modern Baseball

Modern Baseball is an emo and indie rock group from Philadelphia, active from 2011 to 2017. The band consists of Jacob Ewald, Ian Farmer, Sean Huber and Bren Lukens, and is also known as Mobo.

Formation and early releases

The band forms around Bren Lukens and Jacob Ewald, who grow up in Brunswick, Maryland, attend the same high school and start making music together after bonding over shared interests. They take the name Modern Baseball from a book titled Modern Baseball Techniques, which also shapes much of the band’s early branding and the title of the 2014 compilation Techniques. Their first show takes place in a friend’s garage.

After moving to Philadelphia for college, Lukens and Ewald record the debut EP The Nameless Ranger themselves and release it in 2011. Ewald meets Ian Farmer at Drexel University, and the three play their first major show at a Drexel house show space nicknamed the Michael Jordan House, where admission is either a small cash amount or a picture of Michael Jordan’s face. The music video for “The Weekend” is filmed in the basement there.

Albums, splits and label releases

Modern Baseball records its debut album Sports in 2012 and releases it later that year. Ewald plays all of the drum parts on the record, as the band does not yet have a drummer. Sean Huber later joins, completing the quartet. The band becomes associated with the fourth wave emo or emo revival scene and builds close links with groups including Marietta, Old Gray, The Hundred Acre Woods and Julia Brown.

During this period, the group releases several split recordings: Couples Therapy with Marietta in 2012, the four-way split 4-Way V-Day Split in 2013, and another split with The Hundred Acre Woods in 2013. The four-way release includes an acoustic version of “Its Cold Out Here” retitled “Phone Tag”.

The band signs to Run for Cover Records and releases its second album, You’re Gonna Miss It All, in 2014. The record is largely self-produced and reaches number 97 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Around the same time, Lukens says they will shave an arrow design into their hair if the album passes 1,000 pre-orders, and the haircut becomes part of their image for the rest of the band’s run.

In 2015, Modern Baseball releases Mobo Presents: The Perfect Cast EP Featuring Modern Baseball. This EP marks a shift toward a darker and more sorrowful sound. Around the same period, Lukens is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attempts to take their own life, after which the band cancels touring and reduces its live activity.

The third album, Holy Ghost, follows in 2016 through Run for Cover in the US and Canada and Big Scary Monsters elsewhere. It is structured around two vocal-led sides: Ewald’s songs focus on loss, while Lukens’s material addresses depression and death. The band tours with Joyce Manor and Thin Lips, and later supports The Front Bottoms and Brand New.

Hiatus and related projects

In 2016, Ewald starts the solo project Slaughter Beach, Dog, and Huber forms Steady Hands as a vocalist. Farmer later joins Slaughter Beach, Dog. In early 2017, Lukens says they will not take part in the band’s Europe and UK tour, and the tour is cancelled. The group then announces an indefinite hiatus and later plays a final one-off show supporting Daniel Johnston on his last US tour.

Modern Baseball no longer performs after 2017. In the years that follow, Huber continues with Steady Hands, while Ewald and Farmer remain active with Slaughter Beach, Dog.