PREMIERE | Baseball Gregg, "Penetration"

At the mixing controls with (from left) Luca Lovisetto and Sam Regan of the iconic international group Baseball Gregg; photographed by Giacomo Manghi.

The past decade has been one of the most wild decades that will continue to be reviewed and analyzed by today and tomorrow's journalists, historians, intellectuals, and whatever arrives after these trends of arbitary influencers subsides. The world got weird, the push for higher states of sense and sensibility became waylaid in favor of authoritarian cosplay, attacks on identity, bodily autonomy, and trends that have worked tirelessly to turn us against ourselves and one another in turn. And yet through what has felt like tidal waves of the unfathomable, there has been the rise of an irrefutable light. Forces that seek better states of spirit, mind, and inclusivity. The storytellers who draw from classic and contemporary creative concepts and inspirations to illustrate the sensations and sounds that manifest these upper tiers of consciousness. Artists who have helped us feel better about the world, one another, ourselves, while never shying away from the pressing matters that we as a society contend with. They are a ray of light. They are a refuge when the going gets rough. They are peace. They are Baseball Gregg.

Announcing the new album Briefs arriving in November from La Barberia, Baseball Gregg’s Luca Lovisetto (based out of Bologna, Italy) and Sam Regan (Oakland, California) celebrate the group’s tenth anniversary with the single and visual for the pensive & poignant “Penetration”. The trademark whistful sea swaying rock carries the weight of confronting prejudices with a vulnerable sense of pride, articulating intimacy and anger in equal measure. Sam confronts the ills and anguish at the work while turning the tables on the negative forces that seek to bring people down.

Sam introduces the new song and visual with the following preface:

I wrote the song shortly after the Club Q massacre in Colorado Springs, where a 22-year-old killed five people in a gay bar. At the time, I was reflecting on how my experience with gun violence affected my intimate relationships. In moments of stress and fear, my body would react as if I had a gun pointed at me. This is exactly the goal of stochastic terrorism: to keep us in a constant state of fear. I wrote Penetration to process my emotions but also to shout f— fear. I wanted to add a note of sexuality to the violence, because that’s what I think disturbs homophobes the most.

Baseball Gregg wades into the unflinching reality of hostile waters and the wars that are needlessly waged against folx for no legitimate reason at all. “Penetration” finds Sam mulling over experiencing discrimination in the work place, coupled with thoughts on how the kernels of hate manifest into real life tragedies. The sincere keys careen along a rocky shoreline path, as the chords assuage the song’s core components of melancholia and lamentations. Even with the heavy subject matters of personal and global duress, Baseball Gregg turns the regressive and repulsive constructs on their head through statements of presence and a global love that playfully edges on the cliffs of carnality.

The neon magenta wig sporting visuals find the band playing about the shores of the San Francisco Bay. Having a boat load of fun with squirt pistols and recreating 60s inspired art house psychedelic cinema ensembles and poses — Baseball Gregg once again orchestrates the spirit of catharsis and transcendence above the base common denominator that prefers the company of entropy over opportunities to embrace a higher echelon of enlightenment. Directed by Jess Lou and starring Majed Altian, Tiffany Pech, Dan Rouse Zak Brizan, Garrett Daniels, Nicholas Coleman, and AJ Dietrich; the vibes of love, support, and togetherness that shines big and bright like the sun that lightens the shores, seas, and bodies of land that brings us closer together as a human collective of kindred spirits.

Photo still from the Baseball Gregg video for “Penetration”.

We had that chance to catch up with Baseball Gregg’s own stateside vanguard Sam Regan in the following exchange:

Meditating 10 plus years forward….from the founding of Baseball Gregg to now….the things that change, the things that remain largely the same, and the hope that paints the roads ahead. 

When I think back to 10 years ago and the start of the band, it feels like I'm thinking about two completely different people. It seems like a band that is made up of a different duo, not the Luca and I that I know today. I don't even really remember what motivated the Sam from 2014 to do the things that he did. If I'm not mistaken, I think this might be the first time we ever recorded live drums for a Baseball Gregg release. Other things feel the same. This album in some ways felt like a return to form. Just me and Luca at a computer putting songs together and mixing it all ourselves and just trying to make stuff that we want to. But even that process feels different than it did 10 years ago. 10 years ago we had known each other for a few months and had a much different working relationship. Now we'll have major disagreements and fights and then 3 minutes later will be working on something else. We have developed a very open communication style that is super conducive to getting the creative work done.

Having a bite with Sam Regan; photograph courtesy of the artist.

The journey of stories and sentiments that has given rise to Briefs.

Almost every song on the album, both the ones that I wrote and the ones that Luca wrote, feel like they comes from pretty deep and sincere personal moments. We're getting older, and I think the day to day stories of our lives feel less tumultuous. I mostly just go to work and feed myself and cook dinner, and there are stories in every day of my life, but they mostly don't feel like I need to write a song about them. I'm glad we took 2 years to write these songs, because they all feel like they come from a big life moments, and I think that shows in the songwriting.

In the library with Luca from Baseball Gregg; photographed by Sam Regan.

Reflections on “Penetration”, what we do with the construct of fear in a world easily swayed by tribalism, the politics of hate, violent acts, and toxic rhetoric.

I think fear is one of the most under-rated aspects of violence. I'm from stockton, and I know so many people who won't go certain places because of fear of possible violence. But what I don't think is understood is that it is violent to limit peoples freedom. If you don't feel free to go to a certain restaurant or bar because of a violent event that happened there, that limitation is violence towards you and violence towards the owners of that restaurant and violence towards that neighborhood. It keeps you in your own space, your own tribe, because you are afraid to interact with other people. And that in turn fuels hate and division and violence itself. There is a cycle, between violence and fear. They both feed each other. And we don't always have control over the kinds of violence we will meet out in the world, but we can control how we react to it, and we can examine honestly the fear we are feeling. I think that is a useful practice.

Luca in the flowers, captured by Sam Regan.

The importance of art, love, humanity and hope during trying times where much feels to be hanging in the divide.

It feels hard for me to articulate the importance of love, because it feels self-evident. The whole point of everything is to exchange love. Maybe upon further reflection I'll change my mind about that last statement, but right now that feels true.

Baseball Gregg’s new album Briefs will be available November 29 via La Barberia Records.

Birds of a feather; photographed by Sam Regan.