A band Combining two loves — music and baseball — The Baseball Project is a true indie supergroup. Featuring Mike Mills and Peter Buck, of R.E.M., Dream Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, leader of both The Minus 5 and and Young Fresh Fellows, and Linda Pittmon of The Filthy Friends, the band took the members’ baseball fandom and turned that into a passion project of songs about America’s Pastime.
With baseball’s more than century-long history, there is a lot of material for the group to write about, from a song about current phenomenon, Los Angeles Angels DH/pitcher Shoehi Ohtani, to legends like the Boston Red Sox Ted Williams.
One of the standout cuts on the band’s new album, “Grand Salami Time” (a term for a grand slam home run), is “Disco Demolition,” a song that looks back on one of baseball’s most infamous nights.
On July 12, 1979, the Chicago White Sox hosted “Disco Demolition Night,” a radio stunt gone horribly wrong. A local DJ hosted what was supposed to be a promotion, where fans got together and destroyed disco albums during the height of the disco backlash. But a riot ensued and the second game of the double header was canceled.
Thought of as a publicity stunt gone wrong at the time, the whole event has been rewritten in history as one that was actually racist and homophobic. Wynn writes about that in the song. But knowing the message of being open minded has to be delivered in a palatable way, the band found a brilliant way to do so, enlisting James Blagden, who did the animated video showcasing pitcher Dock Ellis’ very famous 1970s no-hitter, thrown while Ellis was on acid, to do an animated “Disco Demolition” clip, premiering here.
“Grand Salami Time” released on Omnivore Recordings June 30th, 2023.
The Fat Angel Sings 