Modern Baseball have announced that they’ve decided to go on indefinite hiatus due to mental health issues.
The band pulled the plug on their dates in the UK and Australia in 2015 while frontman Brendan Lukens took time out to deal with mental health and substance abuse issues. He later released a video where he opened up on his bipolar disorder.
But now the band say they’ve all been suffering and have announced a break – cancelling their upcoming US tour dates and festival appearances in the process.
Guitarist Jake Ewald explains in a statement: “As much as it pains me to say this, we have decided to cancel our upcoming US tour dates and festival appearances to take a break from Modern Baseball for a little while.
“Over the past few months, the band has become an immense source of anxiety for me, and it wasn’t until I opened up to Sean, Ian, and Brendan about it that we realised we were all feeling the same way.
“The project we started as a source of joy and positive expression had become something that was slowly eating away at our mental health and our friendships.
“We have been championing the importance of mental health for a while now, and we recently realised that it would be wrong for us to ignore our own health any longer.”
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Ewald says they haven’t taken the decision lightly but had to “put our health and friendships first.” He goes on to thank fans for their support and adds: “We never really learned how to do this whole ‘rock band’ thing the right way – but you kept coming to the shows and talking to us and assuring us that we’d figure it out sooner or later.
“We could not have done any of this without you. Be honest with those you love and don’t be afraid to lean on them when you need to. Odds are they’ll need to lean on you pretty soon too.”
Modern Baseball’s last studio album was 2016’s Holy Ghost.
Refunds for the cancelled shows are available from the point of purchase. Find the full list of affected dates below.
Modern Baseball cancelled 2017 tour dates
Mar 17: Huntington Paramount Theater, NY
Mar 18: Brooklyn Warsaw, NY
Mar 19: Brooklyn Warsaw, NY
Mar 21: Washington 9:30 Club, DC
Mar 22: Wilmington World Cafe Live, DE
Mar 24: Norfolk The Norva, VA
Mar 25: Asheville The Orange Peel, NC
Mar 26: Charleston Music Farm, SC
Mar 28: Jacksonville Mavericks, FL
Mar 29: St Petersburg State Theater, FL
Mar 31: Birmingham Saturn, AL
Apr 01: Nashville Marathon Music Works, TN
Apr 03: Houston White Oak Music Hall, TX
Apr 04: Austin Emos, TX
Apr 05: Dallas Gas Monkey Live, TX
Apr 07: Scottsdale Livewire, AZ
Apr 08: Pomona The Glasshouse, CA
Apr 09: Los Angeles The Fonda, CA
Apr 10: Berkley Theater, CA
Apr 11: Sacramento Ace Of Spades, CA
Apr 13: Denver Summit Theater, CO
Apr 14: Omaha Waiting Room, NE
Apr 15: Des Moines Wooly’s, IA
Apr 17: Grand rapids 20 Monroe Live, MI
Apr 18: Chicago Concord Music Hall, IL
Apr 19: Indianapolis Egyptian Room, IN
Apr 20: Columbus Park Street, OH
Apr 21: Buffalo Town Ballroom, NY
Apr 22: Sayreville Starland Ballroom, NJ
