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Brian Ulrich, the lead singer of Philly indie punk rock band Mid Sentence, has the best seats in the house to one of Philly’s great sporting spectacles: the Heyday recreational kickball games at Old Kensington’s Hancock Playground.
“They’re right outside my apartment. I can hear them every night, whether I want to hear them or not,” he said. “If I’m sitting on my couch, I have the perfect line view shot of the whole game, the best seats in the building. And I’ll watch them. I used to watch them all the time, just because it was funny to watch the ball hit off their face, or something like that.”
One game night during last year’s winter season, Ulrich and the band – which comprises drummer Ian Stutzman, Shawn Cox on lead guitar, Jeff “J.R.” Ross on bass, and Ulrich on rhythm guitar – saw a team getting ready to scrimmage after their opponents didn’t show up. He decided to turn his PA system out of his apartment window and start commentating on the action.
It didn’t take long for the kickball players to start dancing as Ulrich played the ending theme tune for “Spongebob Squarepants” and Third Eye Blind’s”Jumper” on his guitar.
“Where have you been all season?” one player yelled back at the window.
“I didn’t know I’d be good at it — that was the other funny thing,” Urlich admitted. “I had no idea it was something I was going to be good at or alright at in general. It turned into something that was quite enjoyable.”
The band released their debut album “Please Be There When I Come Home” on July 1. Their series of kickball commentary videos — four so far — which include some of their songs, have helped them to build traction on the internet, while also showing their authentically fun, community-focused vibe.
“We’re here to please the people that are looking to see the kickball,” Stutzman said. “But we want more than anything out of it for people to be like, ‘Well, you guys are funny, but you guys are a better band.’”
Mid Sentence first got together with Ulrich and Stutzman, around 2022-23, as a classic rock cover band. Cox and Ross later joined when they all connected on Vampr, an app that helps musicians meet and collaborate.
“Please Be There When I Come Home” melds together each band member’s musical influences and tastes. Stutzman’s into Knuckle Puck and Sweet Pill. Cox grew up on Blues and Metal like Gary Moor, Megadeth and Metallica. Ulrich’s big on John Mayer, the Backseat Lovers and the Killers. Ross loves jazz and classic rock.
It also builds on their several years of stories, work and interactions — good and bad.
“Listening from the album start to finish, you hear the influences and you hear which direction it goes. You can certainly hear sides that are like, ‘Oh, this is radio, pop. This is a great song for you to play at a party or when you’re with your friends,’” Stutzman outlined. “And you’ve got some songs that kind of take you a little more through an emotional spiral that make you kind of see things from a different perspective.”
They’ve played at West Philly Porchfest and venues including Ortlieb’s, Kung Fu Necktie and the Pouch. They’re scheduled to play at the Grape in Manayunk on Sept. 26, in a lineup with Goings and Her Side of the Bed.
The first kickball video sat in their Google Drive folder for about six months before they finally decided to publish it in September. It was a hit and commenters were asking more. In May, the band gave their new social media following what they want. It included the “Wii Sports” main theme, some Creed, and some mild heckling in the play calling.
“The song choices come from thinking about what would be the funniest thing to play in the moment, and also just kind of something that will make people shake their ass a little bit,” Urlich said. “We’re trying to get the people moving out there.”
The band also threw in the first single of their album, “Worker’s Comp.” The third video was capped off with their second single, “Not Your Fault.”
“In today’s industry, I mean it’s not about just writing a really good song and getting it on the radio,” Stutzman said. “It’s about writing a really good song and finding a way to make it stick on a really popular TikTok video, or finding certain kind of pages, get in people’s faces.”
And the comment sections of the videos have also been a positive space, which can be rare these days.
“We live in a really weird time, spiritually and politically.” Stutzman said. “It’s been really cool to see that it’s something that gained over two million views between all the videos and millions of streams and there’s no arguing in the comments section. That’s been the rarest thing to find in anything on social media today.”
The social media success has also come with a bit of an identity crisis for the band. They want to keep focus on their music and not get bogged down by chasing social media virality.
For now, they’re content to go with the flow and just be themselves for the video, knowing they can stop the kickball videos whenever they want and viewers can swipe to the next clip, or follow the band if they like what they hear.
Heyday reached out to Mid Sentence and sponsored the fourth and latest video, which got highlighted by newstation WFMZ-TV in Allentown.
“We’d love to perform at a Heyday end of season festival,” Ross said.
The band plans to go back into the studio to work on a new EP this summer. Their next goals are to play at the Fillmore Philadelphia — they’ve already rented the billboard above it — and get enough traction to do a tour across the country.
“If that means packing some kick balls in the van, so be it,” Ulrich joked.
“Maybe a few kick balls with our band logo on it that will throw into the crowd,” added Cox.
