Every collaboration has a thread that binds two entities or ideas together, and for one iteration of the MiLB x Music Capsule Collection, that theme might be No One’s Gonna Love the Charleston RiverDogs More Than Band of Horses Does.
The Charleston-based rock band partnered with Official League on a limited-edition line of merchandise that celebrates their hometown team, the RiverDogs, who serve as the Tampa Bay Rays' Single-A affiliate. The brand’s Minor League Baseball x Music collaboration also includes Dinosaur Jr. x Worcester and Mt. Joy x Reading. Official League is owned by Alan Miller, owner of the Lake County Captains, High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians and the Portland Pickles, a collegiate summer baseball team.
Official League approached Band of Horses to participate in the project, and drummer Creighton Barrett quickly became involved.
“First of all, it’s such a cool idea to marry the Minor League teams of your hometowns -- there’s so much heart associated with that stuff," Barrett said. "It’s a pride thing. It doesn’t feel as serious as MLB. It’s more of a fun thing to be involved in. I thought how rad that connection would be, so I jumped at it for sure.”
The band was in attendance for Friday night’s game against the Down East Wood Ducks at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Ballpark and performed the national anthem prior to first pitch. Barrett donned a hat from the Band of Horses x Charleston RiverDogs collection, which can be found along with the rest of the items in limited quantities on the Official League website.
A band member since 2006, Barrett started creating t-shirt and sticker designs around 2016. More recently, he has been responsible for tour posters and tour shirts in addition to independent artistic projects.
For the Band of Horses x RiverDogs logo, he was initially inspired by classic, monochromatic tattoo designs but ultimately chose to let the team’s traditional blue and yellow scheme guide him.
“If you’re a fan of the RiverDogs, it doesn’t really take you too far away from it," Barrett said. "So maybe if you don’t even know who the band is, there’s enough association with it that it’s pretty normal looking. But I would hope it’s a fresh take on it."
Minor League teams are known for wacky alternate identities and out-of-the-box logos that result in merchandise items that reach far beyond the team’s traditional fan base. Barrett used that whimsical style of design as a key element.
“When I was doing mine, I didn’t want to stray too far away from it," he said. "At the end of the day, I was changing the entire identity of it, but what I needed to do is stick with the playfulness of it, which is the rad thing about this level of any kind of sport.”
Although not a sports fan himself, Barrett acknowledges that there has been an undercurrent of baseball for Band of Horses. It’s rumored that one of their songs, “Wicked Gil,” is a reference to former Mariners pitcher Gil Meche, and the music video for their song “The Great Salt Lake” features members of the band playing a friendly game of softball.
“Ben [Bridwell, lead vocalist] and Ryan [Monroe, keyboard/guitar/backing vocals] grew up playing Little League together," Barrett said. "They’re huge Braves fans, and they definitely have baseball in their blood."
“Charleston is such a small, beautiful town, and the RiverDogs have a long history here," Barrett said. "Our little park is basically right across the river from where my wife and my kids and I live, so it’s a neighborhood thing.”