In case you missed it, we’re taking this month to talk baseball with some of our favorite Bay Area bands. This week, we’ve rounded up a batch of Giants fans. Check last week’s post to see which Bay Area bands back Oakland.

State your team: San Francisco Giants

How and when did you become baseball fans? I think we all became fans after we moved to the Bay Area and got sucked into the fever of baseballin’ the city. We would listen to Jon Miller call games on the radio while we worked shitty factory jobs.

How, if at all, has your fandom affected your songwriting? The band started out writing songs that took elements of baseball and fused it with life in general. Baseball is such a daily thing; it really becomes intertwined with life for six months out of the year.

How about touring? Ever take time out for games/make pilgrimages to ballparks? We haven’t gone on tour yet, but I’m sure we’d make an effort to hit some ballparks. I personally love going to minor-league parks around the country. My favorite was seeing a Salt Lake Bees game on Pioneer Day in SLC. There were fireworks everywhere. We listen to games at practice too.

Let’s say you wanted to add a new member to the band who was perfect in every way…except they were a Dodgers/rival team’s fan. Dealbreaker? Naw, bring them on.

The game memory you’ll never forget: I was in the ballpark when Matt Cain threw his perfect game. It was insane. I cried.

What song of yours should your team enter to? “Had to be 90 ft” would make for some pretty good walk-up music.

State your team: San Francisco Giants

How and when did you become baseball fans? My brother and bandmate Kellen and I have been Bay Area sports fans for as long as I remember. Our Dad was our main influence in that regard. We joined him in rooting for the Giants, The Niners and Stanford from an early age.

How, if at all, has your fandom affected your songwriting? I’ve never mentioned the Giants in a song but I wouldn’t shy away from it if it made sense (to do so). I do think there is some crossover between baseball and rock ‘n’ roll…but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

How about touring? Ever take time out for games/make pilgrimages to ballparks? (No, but) the Giants and sports in general have always been a good way to escape the monotony of touring. I’m a big fantasy sports fan, so checking in on my team…has always been a good way to kill time in the van. Also, there’s usually time between sound check and the gig to catch a few innings (as long as you can find a place playing the game!)

Let’s say you wanted to add a new member to the band who was perfect in every way…except they were a Dodgers/rival team’s fan. Dealbreaker? I would be fine with a Dodgers fan joining the band…most of our band couldn’t care less about…sports in general so it would be nice to have someone who was interested. Plus, the Dodgers are the perfect rival right now: They’re good enough to be relevant all year, but they always blow it some hilarious fashion in the playoffs. Of course, there would be some ground rules: No Dodgers gear worn on stage, no badmouthing Barry Bonds in public, and we’d probably think of a few others.

The game memory you’ll never forget: All of the World Series wins have been pretty special…(but) my favorite memories as a Giants fan are from when I was younger and my main man Barry Bonds was crushing baseballs into McCovey Cove on a regular basis. The whole 2001 season…was amazing to watch (this was known as the “juiced ball era”; say what you will but it was exciting). There isn’t an equivalent to that in today’s game.

What song of yours should your team enter to? (For walk-up music) you’re looking for the right combination of badassery and swagger, and I think “Gonna Find You” and “Wrong Side of the Road” would fit the bill.

How and when did you become baseball fans? I grew up in the mountains south of Yosemite and had a lot of heart problems when I was a kid. Every few years I needed to go to UCSF (for) surgery and my parents always took me a Giants game the day before I got admitted. It was the perfect mental vacation, and I got a bunch of garlic fries out of it too.

How, if at all, has your fandom affected your songwriting? I don’t get a whole lot done if I’m stressed out. Watching baseball and listening to it on the radio is how I relax, and when I’m chill I can have a creative spark or two and squeeze out a couple of songs. I don’t get much done if they are in the playoffs though…there are a lot of adult beverages involved that don’t help with my spelling of lyrics.

How about touring? Ever take time out for games/make pilgrimages to ballparks? If the Giants are ever in the same town I am, then I go. Fuck sound check. Chicago, Phoenix, and St. Louis have worked out so far. Hopefully I get one in this summer.

Let’s say you wanted to add a new member to the band who was perfect in every way…except they were a Dodgers/rival team’s fan. Dealbreaker? They could join the band, but they would make less than everyone else.

The game memory you’ll never forget: I was hanging out with our buddy Bhi Bhiman at last year’s playoff game, and he grew more and more forlorn as his Cardinals lost the lead, a smile grew larger and larger across my face until my cheeks could stretch no further. That was a good deal of fun.

What song of yours should your team enter to? It would be pretty sweet if our closer came out to “Cold Like A Killer.” Something to scare the ba-jesus out the punk ass he’s about to pitch to.

State your team: Giants (Avi/Alex), Yankees (Pat), Tigers (Scott). Also Marlins (based solely on “Marlins Will Soar” by Scott Stapp)

How and when did you become baseball fans?
Avi: I was die-hard from my first baseball game which was in 1988 or ’89 at Shea Stadium…Then my family moved to L.A. and my friend and I used to play baseball outside in the yard…I loved Ken Griffey Jr. and he loved Mike Piazza.

I also loved the Atlanta Braves in the ’90s because I’d spend summers out there at my grandparents’ house. I also met Mickey Mantle and got batting tips from Bobby Thompson as a kid around that time and was inexplicably pictured with them while I was wearing a Colorado Rockies hat? I have no explanation for that.

After moving to S.F. I had a hard time transitioning to the Giants, but fell in love with the 2009 and 2010 teams and haven’t looked back since. I forced myself to be photographed and film videos for my band in my Giants hat to solidify my new and permanent allegiance.

Patrick: I’ve waxed and waned in attention level over …time, but I cannot remember a time when I was not a baseball fan. I played on teams from tee-ball through high school, but as someone who writes left-handed, I think I was erroneously taught to bat and throw righty as a three-year-old. I think my handedness dilemma has long been a significant source of both crippling indecision and ability to see both sides of an issue.

How, if at all, has your fandom affected your songwriting?

Avi: Pat and I have talked about it many times over a few beers and I think we see the perfect album like the perfect baseball lineup. You have your leadoff song which is quick and to the point. Get you on base with the listener, then your heavy hitters knock it home…You need players of assorted skills and abilities to really fill out an album: fast, slow, defensive, offensive, powerful, graceful. Then you have your stadium which is like a stage set. Man, I could go on forever about this. Baseball really is bizarrely relative to music.

How about touring? Ever take time out for games/make pilgrimages to ballparks?

Patrick: Occasionally we have gone to…see games, but far more often we are looking for a convenient and empty softball or Little League field to play Home Run Derby. Obviously, home run totals vary widely depending on field dimensions, pitching quality, eating of Wheaties, etc., but everyone participates, including our tour manager.

Let’s say you wanted to add a new member to the band who was perfect in every way…except they were a Dodgers/rival team’s fan. Dealbreaker?

Patrick: Opposite of dealbreaker. Bonus. We welcome controversy. We love internal tension.

Avi: Dealbreaker. I hate controversy and internal tension.

The game memory you’ll never forget:

Avi: Alex was at AT&T Park for Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, Giants vs. Tigers, and Pat and I were on the N-Judah, on our way to watch the game near the park. Like a modern-day Stations of the Cross, we saw Panda’s fist home run through the window of the train on the TV of the Fireside Tavern on Irving, his second came as we emerged from underground, and his third came just as we pulled up at 21st Amendment. The two of us weren’t even watching the game, but the vibration of the town was incredible, and we knew Alex was flipping his shit. We didn’t have Scott (Michigan native and Tigers fan) in the band at that point, but we acknowledge his pain retroactively.

Patrick: The four of us were in Nashville in an empty restaurant parking lot playing wiffle ball (which is what we do when unable to locate a Little League field) and listening to my cousin Jon Sciambi and his broadcast partner Chris Singleton doing Derek Jeter’s last home game on ESPN Radio. I’m biased but I think I can objectively say that their call of his storybook walk-off was way better than Michael Kay’s or John Sterling’s.

What song of yours should your team enter to:

Patrick: “Marlins Will Soar.”