Major League Are Back: Brian Anthony Joyce on “Heavenly Hell”, Friendship and This New Chapter –– Interview
Photo: Major League
What do you think of when you hear the name Major League?
They’re a staple of the 2010s pop-punk scene, so you know that we beamed when they released their first track in over a decade. We haven’t stopped listening since.
We caught up with Major League’s own Brian Anthony Joyce to chat about their newest single 'Heavenly Hell,' reuniting with Nick Trask, and what it means to step into this new chapter together.
So what sparked this reunion? The main goal for Brian and Nick was to mend and rebuild their friendship before even thinking about the tunes. “There truly was no intention of new music, but I think the bug was introduced on day 2 of talking again,” shares Joyce. He happened to be working on an album for his other project, Val Astaire, at Sound Acres Studio with Gary Cioni, when the reunion went down. “The next day Nick came by the studio to hang out, and I think both of us being in the studio and immediately around music again kind of initiated the idea to flirt with it again.” That’s when the new drop ‘Heavenly Hell’ was born. “I went home and wrote Heavenly Hell and sent it to Nick as like a ‘here's what I think we'd sound like today’ kind of thing, and he was like, 'yup, okay.”
Gary produced the track, being the perfect fit due to his history as Major League’s original manager and booking agent: “He was with us from quite literally day one, championing us and pushing us toward more. He knew us personally, professionally, and most importantly, sonically,” says Brian. “The song didn't change much from the original demo besides an infliction here and there, but Gary just has the sauce. I don't think it could've sounded like "us" having anyone else's magic behind it.”
‘Heavenly Hell’ is a heavy start to a new era. “I think our band has a very unique opportunity because we never got to do a sophomore LP with Nick, and when I took over, we only did one album, so there was no sophomore with me either.” Instead of shying away from that history, the band is deciding to embrace it: “There's 13 years of unspoken feelings, and even more so there's 13 years of growth past that.”
When listening to the drop, we started imagining all the different meanings it could hold, but according to Brian, the inspiration comes down to something much more personal: recognizing where you’ve been, accepting what happened, and figuring out where to go from there. For a band with this much history, there’s obviously a lot to unpack. “The first verse is a reintroduction of us both and the responsibility we shared together in our departure, juxtaposing the second verse, which is very much our lives post Major League,” Brian shared. "‘I always felt like I was made for this, I grew up ruling with an iron fist’ in the first verse is alluding to the band's success and doing whatever it took to maintain it - juxtaposing ‘I never felt like I was made for this, a fortune teller on the graveyard shift’ in the second verse about working night shifts and looking back, thinking I had it all figured out. It was important to us to address the history off the bat and put it behind us to move this forward together.”
A line that stood out to us in particular is: 'I’m sorry it’s been so long; I must’ve gotten lost on my way home.' Knowing the history of the band, it hits hard. For Major League, they wanted to connect with the listener in that moment, but it has a few different meanings. “We wanted the first time you really hear Nick's voice again to be an earnest moment between him and the listener. For us, it wears many hats. Nick and I lived together, and so in a figurative sense it pertained to being each other's home. The literal sense behind it being finding your way back to the band itself. And for the fans, a genuine apology for the time lost.”
And then there's the title itself: ‘Heavenly Hell’ says it all. What started as a dream of making music and seeing the world with your best friend eventually became the very thing that drove them apart. “The phrase is kind of like a double-edged sword take. To have everything you could've ever wanted, making music and traveling the world with your best friend, and yet it also being the wedge that drove you both apart. Major League in general felt like a "Heavenly Hell," so to speak. It's a moniker for the band itself.”
After all these years of not making music together, things were bound to be a little different than before. Brian says the one thing that has been surprising about working together again is how they put each other first now. “The first time around it was band first; discuss later. We were very much friends second. Everything we did was for this thing to grow no matter the cost.” Unfortunately, that mindset eventually ended the friendship that had started it all. “Eventually the cost became our friendship, and thus the whole fabric unraveled. This time around we check in with each other, and on tour that's sometimes multiple times a day.”
Despite all the history attached to Major League, there’s no pressure to perfectly recreate or mould themselves into their “signature sound” this time around. Joyce says this chapter is all about pure joy. "We are both very content in our lives, and that was something we really leaned on with talking about the band this time around. There is no pressure to make any one thing fit if it isn't feeling like the natural move for us both.”
This time, it’s about making music because they genuinely want to make, and, most importantly, doing it as friends. So, speaking of history and throwing it back a little, we had Brian come up with his TOP8 artists in the scene who helped inspire Major League during the 2010s... and he delivered:
“Okay, I'm going to do my best to keep this to this scene specifically because we could get into everything from Marvin Gaye to Iron Maiden so…”
Here are Brian Anthony Joyce’s TOP8 scene influences of the 2010s:
Comeback Kid - They were so pivotal in our early sound but even more so in community. Some of the most wonderful humans we ever toured with.
The Wonder Years - Those guys really took us under their wing in the early days and were so kind to us in every interaction. Matt even stepped in and played drums for us in a pinch once. Pillars of the Philly scene.
Man Overboard - We went to high school with some of those guys and Nik B, and I wrote Major League's first song, "Hometown Heroes," together and really shaped me as a songwriter. I owe him more flowers than I can grow.
The Starting Line - I first heard Say It Like You Mean It on a choir trip to Virginia when I was in 7th grade, and it quite literally changed my brain chemistry. Nick's last show with us the first time was supporting them.
All American Rejects - The self-titled record didn't leave my CD player for like a year when I first heard them. The character in Tyson's voice and melodies catapulted me into songwriting.
Diamond Youth - Even though it came out long after we were already a band, the Orange EP still stands as one of my favorite records of the last 20 years and completely reinvented my love for the scene.
New Found Glory - I think it's impossible to be an easycore/pop punk band from the 2010's and not credit the groundwork NFG laid an entire decade before you.
Transit - Last but not least. The relationship between Ella and Tim was very much a page Nick and I ripped right from the script. From the way their vocals complemented one another down to the sheer poeticism of lyric and melody, they were beautiful. Tim Landers Forever.
Major League hit the road this summer supporting Belmont, and after all this time away, stepping back onstage together has brought out fans from just about every era of the band. As Brian puts it, there’s something pretty special about seeing all those generations in the same room: “I think the most special part about it is the array of fans from every age. Seeing 30+ year old dudes we've seen for years up front finger pointing while kids in their 20s are front flipping into the crowd all while the parents in their 40s have their kids on their shoulders off to the side singing along all to songs you wrote at 19 - it's an experience like no other and an honor to be a generational band like this.”
Now that there’s a new song and shows are being played, and the band is officially back, what is Brian the most excited for when it comes to this era? Self-exploration.
“I think our whole lives we think there will come a time where you hit a baseline version of yourself that you'll just be forever, and truthfully, I felt like that around 33." He explains. “So for this to come back into our lives at 36 and totally force you to once again reinvent the person you thought you knew is exciting. It's a nice reminder that we're all just figuring ourselves out, and I'm excited to see who comes out of this.”
To end things off, Brian shares a valuable piece of advice:
"If you have someone in your life that you aren't talking to - just wait about 13 years, and things will get really, really cool. haha"
TOP8'S TAKE?
Life is too short to not talk to your friends. Major League stepping up to work out their friendship and then dropping a banger of a track right after is easily one of the coolest things to happen in the scene this year.
We can't wait to see what this band has in store for listeners, and we're glad they found their way back. Go spin 'Heavenly Hell', available where you stream tunes.
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