Baseball Gregg
Baseball Gregg’s Sam & Luca walking down the beautiful streets of Stockton, July 2015.
Without question, spring is here. Which means a few quick things; baseball & more new material from your favorite Italy by California group, Baseball Gregg who release their new album Vacation available tomorrow, April 30 via La Barberia Records. Luca Lovisetto (based in Italy) and Samuel Charles Regan (California) continue the chronicles of their friendship pop that bubbles with a glow of classic sophisti-pop that create holidays out of thin air to be enjoyed anywhere at anytime—for all time. Following up their self-titled EP debut, Baseball Gregg asks you to pack up your glove and mitt for a trip around to world to discover new parks to play in, and making delectable pop diamonds that are strictly fun for fun’s sake.
The premiere of “Palace” takes cues from all the right galleries, and academies of making smooth as butter sounds of pure elation and utter decadence. Sam confessed to Bryan Ferry affectations, where Baseball Gregg steps up to bat as some kind of late 70s DIY rendering of what would happen if Luca & Sam stepped in as the core members of Roxy Music. What you is an exclusive ticket to a private resort and mansion, with plenty of pool, spa, rec, gym access where bottle & room serve are as complimentary as the continental breakfast. It’s the dolce vida of today with an ear for emulating the aspects and facets of yesterday’s models.
On Baseball Gregg’s grand premiere video for “Pneumatic Girl” you are invited to get a sneak peak into the life of the green suited man who proceeds to guzzle Korbel, Pacificos, and more. Once our vaudeville-Verde protagonist with the Hawaiian shirt gets a good buzz, he goes bouncing around a big blue exercise ball about the neighbor hood, partaking in herbal refreshments, and keeping a good groove even while enjoying a good soak in the bath. Weirdness abounds. Read our following interview with Baseball Gregg’s Luca & Sam.
Describe for us the making of the house of many—mansions “Palace”.
Sam: I made the instrumental for the song, and then tried to imagine Bryan Ferry in a big palace making eyes with a beautiful model, and then wrote the lyrics and vocals.
Luca: Once we were driving in Sam’s dad’s car and we saw this showy edifice in Brookside Stockton and Sam pointed at it saying, That building is what inspired me writing Palace of Luxury.
Baseball Gregg in SF, August 2015; photographed by Gwen Johnson.
Tell us about the pneumatic inspirations and pneumatic adoration behind the single “Pneumatic Girl”.
Sam: Well, when taken literally the song is about being in love with a blowup sex doll, who is pneumatic because she is actually filled with air, but it’s sorta more about being okay with being alone and trying to ignore/overcome the social stigma against solitude. At the time I wrote the song, I was spending almost all of my time completely alone, and was really enjoying it. But at the same time I felt like I should be spending time with people, not for my own personal well being, but due to some weird feeling that it was wrong to be so detached from human contact. I realized that was dumb and that it’s okay to feel a wide range of emotions while you are alone, and that you don’t always need to share everything with other people, much like a person could share a sexual experience with a doll.
I’ve also always liked the way the word pneumatic sounds ever since I read Brave New World in high school, and have been pretty into spheres for a while, which is maybe the most “pneumatic” shape.
Describe the making of the ‘green man’ starring video for “Pneumatic Girl”.
Sam: I’ve been super into Zentai suits every since John from Satan Wriders showed me this video:
At this time when I wrote “Pneumatic Girl”, I was watching this video a lot while listening to the song “Arc of a Diver” by Steve Winwood.
The intro sequence for the video was shot in December, the night that I graduated from school. I went to the directors house (who, for the time being, wishes to remain nameless) and wanted to drink a bunch of champagne and make the video, but then a lot more people ended up coming over and we stopped right before the video becomes springtime-y. We kept meaning to finish the video but kept putting it off. Finally in late March we finished filming the rest of it in one afternoon. It sorta worked out well how the video showcases two different times of year, because I think the album as a whole is very seasonal.
Other pneumatic items of influence?
Sam: As I said, Orbs/Sphere’s are important or visually striking to me. Exercise balls like the one in the video are super cool. 3D-Inflation video’s are really cool.
Baseball Gregg live in Oakland, August 2015; photographed by Eli Wengrin.
What’s new in the Italo by California worlds of Baseball Gregg since we last talked?
Sam: We wrote and recorded the whole new album, “Vacation” which will be out tomorrow, April 30th! I’m very excited about the record. I really identify with the Beach Boys lyric “I just need something to put my heart and soul into,” and feel like I sorta did manage to put a part of my heart and soul into this record.
Luca: The previous EP was more felt as an urgency to both of us. In 2014 Sam was living here in Italy and we used to spend a lot of time together in my apartment or hanging out, and so it became natural to start playing something together. This album, instead, had a different gestation: first of all we were more conscious of doing an album this time, and I guess you can tell listening to it. It basically happened that I was about to quit my job and Sam had his last summer before graduation totally free, so I moved for a month to Stockton and we started working together on some demos we recorded by ourselves in the previous months. There was a great production effort, which is something that was totally missing in the past release, and also the aim to make it sound as a unique thing.
What else can you tell us about the new recordings you all have in the works?
Luca: While recording we were listening to a lot of Japanese 80s city-pop and in retrospective I could say those listens really influenced the whole record’s vibes. Also, before coming to California I was really into Bruno Martino’s classic Estate, that is a song someway linked to an abstract idea of holiday and summer, which is the main concept, if we can say it, of the album, but in a very sad and melancholic way.
Sam: Umm, well I can say we wrote, arranged, recorded, and mixed them all ourselves in my bedroom. We didn’t master the record, but asked the Seattle recording wiz Dylan Wall to help us out with that.
Baseball Gregg with pop star Kehlani in Sacramento, July 2015; photographed by Eli Wengrin.
What else are you all listening to, watching, reading, etc?
Sam: Recently I’ve been very obsessed with the musician Hiroshi Yoshimura and reading The Brothers Karamazov.
Luca: In the last few months I’m afraid that I only listened on repeat to infinite different versions of this gorgeous Mexican standard called “Perfidia“.
Summer hopes?
Sam: I recently found out I got a job at this summer program in Hong Kong, and am hoping I can stop by Italy on my way back to hang with Luca and maybe work on some more Baseball Gregg stuff!
Luca: We’ll do a bunch of spring and summer shows here in Italy, thanks to our really tight label Barberia! With my friends in Italian Baseball Gregg live band to bring ‘Vacation’ around, so I hope Sam can join us for some of them hopefully!
Stockton by way of Italy duo Baseball Gregg captured the hearts of many with their beautiful debut album Vacation released via Italo DIY imprint La Barberia Records & today present the world premiere for “Burn Up” made by label mate Setti. A gift presented as the MLB moves into the post-season, Baseball Gregg’s own unique & mystic sound is here taken to the mystic chapters of Italy’s Sasso Marconi, filmed this past August 23 where BG’s own Sam Regan & Luca Lovisetto are joined by a regal entourage of Stefania Corneti, Angelica D’Oro, Claudia Magnapera, Bianka Maliku & Luca Nigro that embark upon a royal vacation of their own. Baseball Gregg’s own glorious sound here is taken to a time & place that is all their own where beauty & weirdness abounds in abundance.
“Burn Up” takes us to the magical land of Sasso Marconi where Luca Lovisetto plays the ruling king & Baseball Gregg creative partner Samuel Regan is seen as the sacrificial lamb tied to the stake in Joan of Arc fashion where his “let me burn up” titular chorus request is sung by the accompanying subjects & villagers. Lovisetto is decked out with a gold crown and purple cape where he parades Regan around the local surroundings to his last stand where the drama & illustrious sophistication of the song shines through in mythic proportions. Amid a bucolic surrounding; Sam, Luca & their attending ensemble gather as if for a mystical event that involves cryptic & interpretive dance numbers that are performed in conjunction with the earnest & sentimental arrangements that continue to charm long after the song & video ends. And although “Burn Up” warms the entirety of the self like the heat from warm hearth on the fire, Baseball Gregg will shock & stun with a surprise ending that you got to see to believe.
Baseball Gregg’s Luca & Sam with “Burn Up” director/artist Setti took the time to share the following exclusive reflections on the making of their new video & more:
Setti the director; press photo courtesy of the auteur.
Setti:
I met Baseball Gregg because we are on the same label, La Barberia Records, and since then we’ve become friends. In my opinion, their album “Vacation” is one of the most beautiful albums of 2016, and one of my favorite songs from the album is “Burn Up.” One day while I was listening to it, I had this rough idea for a nightmare inspired by Scandinavian cinema. We filmed this nightmare with a small handheld camera with very little post-production. The lips don’t line up perfectly and it looks like a b-musical. The final result seems is interesting to me because if translates the sophisti-pop of Baseball Gregg that, for me, is ironic and tragic at the same time, both lo-fi and glossy. Just like all the best things. I also knew that filming it in Sasso Marconi, where Luca Lovisetto was born and where the radio was invented, I would have a lot of fun, and I did.
Baseball Gregg seen here rehearsing in Bolognina, August 2016; photographed by Giacomo Manghi.
Luca:
Setti is a DIY creative genius. He effortlessly masters multiple arts and constantly crafts beautiful contemporary art items. We’ve been very lucky to be in the same label with such a talented artist. We are also planning to do a double featuring with him in the next months: he will write and sing a verse in our upcoming EP, and I’ll guest shred in a song of his next record.
The Baseball Gregg boys brushing their teeth, Italy, Summer 2016; photographed by Margherita Filippin.
Sam:
I don’t live in Italy, and so I had only met Setti a few days before we shot this video. I can be pretty shy and normally it takes me a while to warm up to people, but Setti was so nice and cool that I felt instantly comfortable and was excited to let him direct this video. I’m glad he did because it turned out really great!
Baseball Gregg’s album debut Vacation is available now via La Barberia Records.
The Baseball Gregg boys brushing their teeth, Italy, Summer 2016; photographed by Margherita Filippin.
Like the saying in that silly Sriracha commercial; there are those that have heard Baseball Gregg & those that haven’t yet. We’ve covered them since the beginning with their self-titled cassette, the breakthroughs discovered on this year’s Vacation and now Luca Lovisetto from Italy & Sam Regan from Stockton, California team up again for what is already sounding like their most realized work to date with Ciao for Now available December 19. Recorded after Vacation this past August during their summer Italian tour, mastered in Seattle by Dylan Wall this past October 2016 & featuring cover artwork from Stefania Corneti; Luca & Sam expanded their vision to include digital synths & sly snares while obsessing over Italian artist Franco Battiato & the spirit of the Beach Boys’ Party! from 1965. Presenting the world premiere of “Till the End of Time”, Baseball Gregg gives the world a first taste of their latest directions & new dimensions that confirms the group’s increased sophistication & intricate arrangements that will give you a glimmer of hope for the possibility of beautiful futures.
The new EP Ciao finds the globe strolling duo writing songs about places they have never been before like the lo-fi love of “Boston”, the electro-wonderland of “Restless”, the brilliant illuminated opener “Purgatory’s Pleasant”, or the singalong rich sequencing heard & felt on the fun “Food is Gross”. It is the timeless ebb & flow shine of “Till The End Of Time” that cements Baseball Gregg as a group dedicated to both sharing the entertainment that creativity brings while accomplishing a certain maturation with their sound. That sparkle that some associate with novelty pop tropes is traded for a degree of seriousness with a dash of the silly & carefree that is the sound of a group constantly trying to one up themselves with each new song/release. The instructions to “dance till the end of time” is full of an earnest hope that hangs on every placement of keys, shining through the digitally treated vocal effects where the mix blends all melodic & harmonic elements together in a practically perfect cohesion where notions of beauty can felt throughout.
Cover artwork by Stefania Corneti for Baseball Gregg’s new EP Ciao For Now.
We had an opportunity to catch up with Baseball Gregg’s Luca Luvisetto & Sam Regan in the following interview session:
Tell us about the bright sophists-pop world of Ciao.
Luca: Ciao for Now is a short, five song EP crafted this summer right after a few intense weeks of touring around Italy and relaxing at the beach in Liguria. After this trip we returned home, constructed a makeshift studio in my living room, and worked on these songs non-stop for four days straight. We recorded day and night, stopping only when a neighbor called to complain that we had woken their sleeping baby. The songs are spontaneous and more idiosyncratic than our last album, Vacation. While recording we relied on our immediate impressions and fleeting tastes rather than honing in on a particular, unifying sound.
“Purgatory’s Pleasant” is a song that I personally love because of how fun it was to write and it was the first time that Sam and I both sing main parts of the vocals. I also enjoy to the contrast between the cumbia rhythms and out-dated digital tones.
Sam: I like “Purgatory’s Pleasant” because the process of writing it was very different than any of the songs I’ve made in the past. Almost nothing was planned or thought out, we just poured ideas into the song and they blended to make a mess that’s fun to dance to.
Luca: Both the first two songs are about digestion. “Purgatory’s Pleasant” bridge says, My stomach feels like I might be sick, while “Food is Gross” talks about the relief felt after taking a much needed poop. “Food is Gross” has a Kraftwerk sample—the counting from “Numbers”—a sample from “The Simpsons” theme song during the middle 8, and a sample of our friend Eli Wengrin counting to four.
Sam: For me, the song “Food is Gross”, and the upcoming music video, is a lot about the creative process of consuming and regurgitation. We’ve been absorbing Kraftwerk and Simpsons and Eli into our bodies and psyches for a while, and it all mixes together and then is shit out in a song.
Baseball Gregg in SF, August 2015; photographed by Gwen Johnson.
Luca: I think that the 3rd song, “Till the End of Time” is a masterpiece. It was written by Sam and is heavily inspired by our friend and fantastic artist Jimmy Turturici and his EP Alien Garden. I really enjoy how the Vocoder voids the vocals of all emotions, while the melody remains moving and personal. I think this might sound like the music robot’s will make once they’re semi-capable of feeling emotions.
Sam: I started out writing “Till the End of Time” because I wanted to make a really fast and upbeat song. Originally it was a lot faster, but once I slowed it down I got really excited and started dancing. Then I made the lyrics about dancing, but as I wrote more lyrics dancing became a metaphor for drug use. I think it’s interesting how the song went through so many huge changes in mood and lyrical content but still sounds cohesive and unified.
Luca: The fourth song is an upbeat song that, upon reflection, sounds a little like A-Ha. The snare is supposed to sound like David Bowie’s “Modern Love“. My friend Manghi once showed me a scene from a Leos Carax film in which a young person runs through the city at night while listening to “Modern Love”. I wanted to copy the mood of this scene in the song.
The last song, Boston, was written as a tribute to our friend and labelmate Setti. He, a little like Sufjan Stevens did with Illinois, has written many songs named after different States. When he plays live, he always starts each song by saying, This song is called Iowa, but I’ve never been to Iowa. I’ve been to Boston but I’ve never written a song called Boston.
Sam: When I saw Setti play in Italy this summer just a few hours after I had met him, I thought the set and his on stage banter was the most charming thing I’d ever seen. I kept thinking about Setti for the rest of my time in Italy, and one day while Luca was cooking—or something like that, I can’t really remember—I picked up a guitar and wrote “Boston” as a present for Setti. I was able to see Setti one more time before I had to return home, when he directed the music video for the song “Burn Up” from our last album. When he was there I showed him the song and asked him if he would sing a verse for the song.
Give us your reflections and takeaways from 2016
Luca: In regards to Baseball Gregg it was a year full of news and work. We put out two releases, played lots of shows with the Italian band, and in August Sam came to Italy and we had lots of fun. I am really sad that our album Vacation has been received so well, and hope our next LP that we’ve begun to work on will be listened to by so many nice people.
Sam: 2016 is a year when everything that has been good has been particularly good, while everything that was bad was particularly bad. For the first time, it feels like I’m actually living, and it is exciting and scary all at the same time.
Baseball Gregg in SF, August 2015; photographed by Gwen Johnson.
Meditations & projections & purposes of 2017?
Luca: We already have lots of songs done for our next LP, so I hope that Sam and I will meet up this summer to record the album. I think the songs are very beautiful, and even if it’s something I shouldn’t share, I often spend entire afternoons listening to the demos we have been sending back and forth. I’m very excited for the future.
Sam: 2017 will be a year of a lot of change I think. I’m planning on going back to school next fall, and hope to completely finish the next album before then, because after that I probably won’t have much free time. Similarly to Luca, I’m really excited about the new album. Creating music is exciting, because with each album I really feel that I am growing as a musician. Vacation felt like a step up from anything I had created in the past, and these new songs feel like a new plateau. For a while I was nervous about how, whenever I’ve made music in the past, after a some time has passed it always seems bad and childish to me, but now I think that feeling is a little beautiful. More than anything, I’m excited to write new songs and then to grow to the point where I find them disappointing.
Baseball Gregg’s Ciao For Now EP is available now.
