It’s been a decade since emo pop punkers Major League packed their bags, hopped into the van, and took their songs on the road for what was meant to be one final time.
Coming together in 2009, the New Jersey-based group took influence from bands like The Wonder Years, Blink-182, MxPx and Jimmy Eat World, with pop punk melodies and emo-driven vocals that balanced earnestness with teenage rebellion.
In 2010, they self-released the EP, “The Truth Is…” and followed it up with “Variables” in 2011, before getting signed to No Sleep Records in 2012. They released their debut album, “Hard Feelings,” that same year, and two years later lead singer Nick Trask left the band. Primary songwriter and guitarist Brian Joyce stepped in to fill his shoes, and they put out their last album, “There’s Nothing Wrong with Me.” In 2016 they announced their final tour and the end of the band. Too much too soon? Maybe…
But the truth is… (see what I did there?), the band has more to offer. Last February, an unexpected 8 a.m. group chat started by the band’s original drummer, Justin Unruh, had the guys choking on their coffee before settling into their old ways, ultimately releasing their debut EP on vinyl and landing their first reunion gig offer.
We had the chance to catch up with Joyce ahead of Major League’s upcoming May 9 gig at Archer Music Hall in Allentown.
Q: How did the reunion talks begin and what made you decide now was the time?
A: Our original drummer Justin, who left the band in 2011, had put together a group chat last February. It was a bit jarring to see those names come through your phone at 8 a.m. on aWednesday, haha. After the initial shock wore off and we all got chatting it very quickly felt like we were 19 again. Initially there were zero talks of a reunion. That conversation didn’t happen until about June or July. I was very OK with leaving this where it was and all being friends again and I know Nick felt the same way, especially having taken a 10-year sabbatical from social media and the public eye. We released “The Truth Is…” on vinyl for the first time in June and the next morning woke up to a reunion show offer and it was really the catalyst to start flirting with the idea that we MIGHT do it.
Q: What was that first practice like when you were all back in the same room again?
A: It was surreal. I know that sounds dramatic but it really was. When you spend your formative years in a van with four other people and then for the next decade after that, life takes you in a completely different direction, you start to remember it like an old movie you’ll never see again. You start questioning like, ‘That was real, right? That happened?’ Haha. That’s the tricky thing with memories. When you’re not sharing them with the people you lived them with, they become like campfire stories you share with new friends and family or even my wife who I didn’t meet until two years after we broke up. These, to her, were all just insane stories from a version of me she’d never known. And so, to only have those stories for a decade and then all walk back in a room together you feel like, yeah, I wasn’t crazy this was very real and very cool.
I think all of us had the same thing happen where we went in with this idea of who we were then and the expectation of what this was. The second we saw each other you could physically feel the tension roll off your back.
Q: Is it strange to play these songs you wrote so long ago live again? What was the process like for choosing the songs for your setlist?
A: It is but I think having as much time away from it as we did, we were able to come into this with a sense of grace for our younger selves. Nick and I have joked about some of the older songs and that ‘Oh my god, what were we thinking’ type feeling, but I think somewhere in the first rehearsal or two, we felt this charm shine through it all. Choosing the set list was easier than we anticipated, I think. We knew we wanted to keep it fast and the energy flowing, so from there it was just narrowing that down and working it around “The Truth Is…”
Q: Like any band that reunites after a long stretch, you always see ‘old heads’ at the shows, but I imagine there are a good amount of new, younger fans seeing you for the first time.
A: That was one of my favorite parts to be honest. Nick and Matt being fathers now and getting to perform for their kids brought a tear to my eye. It was so great to see so many familiar faces and friends and family in that room, but when you see younger fans and even kids stage diving to songs that you wrote when you were their age, or even before they were born, it’s a rush.
Watching this thing span generations and hearing kids say how happy they were that they got to experience this thing they only saw on YouTube for the last X amount of years, felt like such a privilege to us.
Q: Just for kicks, if you could choose any band to go on the road with for your next tour, who would it be and why?
A: This is always such a loaded question! I think we’ve been spoiled in the past with how many great bands we’ve had the honor of supporting and taking out. And there’s obviously a million bands that came before us that I could spend all day throwing into a hat for dream tours. I’ll also say this, there is an endless pit of incredible new artists coming up that I would be absolutely geeked to play with, so that list goes on forever too. I think if I had to choose a perfect and tangible tour for us out of current bands, it’be The Maine, Four Year Strong, and Leisure Hour. I think all three of these bands have consistently released music over the last few years that has both inspired me and made me insanely jealous hahaha.
Q: What does the future look like for Major League? More tours? A new record?
A: We’re working on some new music at the moment and have picked back up with our longtime friend and booking agent Jason Parent to bring this family reunion on the road. I think this new music could take us back into the contender category for some stellar line ups.
Jay Honstetter is a freelance writer.