Baseball - Missing Link

Allow me the indulgence of stepping outside the traditional third person / present tense to make an observation on context, situation and assumption. Once I saw Cameron (lead singer of Baseball) sat at a tram stop, his usual crazy haired self, decked in the un official uniform of Melbourne musicians, tight jeans, singlet and Dunlop volleys. Outside of his element people were avoiding him, labelling him as one those ‘crazies’ and best ignored or stared at. In his element fronting a rock band all eyes are upon him again but this time there is no doubt about what this crazy haired man is here for.

This afternoon Baseball are on fire, the band typically soak themselves in too much reverb when playing ‘normal’ venues, but on Missing Link’s shop floor, with a tiny PA, fuzzy vocals and a direct closeness that you can’t avoid we witness one of their best shows. Baseball are a band who have hit upon that much sought after magical formula of concocting songs that are loud, musically and rhythmically interesting, lyrically meaningful but also fun to dance like a nutter to.The band are all amazing at what they do, Drums, bass and guitar are all fantastically arranged and thought out, but it’s hard to describe Baseball without mentioning Cameron once more. He is an intense musician and it is hard to keep your eyes off of him, whether it’s as he lithely crashes into the audience, so close you can see and smell his sweat, or as he fiddles and screams into the microphone, legs so wide apart he might topple backwards at any moment.The band have finally released their debut album (Animal Kingdom) if it possesses half the passion, adrenalin and great songs present in their live show then we’re all in for yet more treats from the Baseball camp.