The ability for musicians to create truly tangible nostalgia is rare. Major League has perfected it during their 10-year reunion using two key elements: community and transparency.

The New Jersey pop-punk band spent the last decade apart, members scattered across the country. They started talking again in 2025 because they missed each other, not the band. Later that year, a friend at a record store helped them press The Truth Is… on vinyl for its fifteenth anniversary. It sold out in fifteen minutes. "Next thing we know we're getting an offer for a reunion show," Joyce said. “I believe we signed some weird contract with the universe when we were younger that if we were going to be friends, we were going to do this.”

For guitarist and founder Brian Joyce, the success of Major League was his singular focus from the beginning. He started the band while still in high school with hopes of touring after graduation, but his former bandmates chose college instead, leaving Joyce alone with his dream. Guitarist Matt Micheli joined shortly after the breakup as the first new member of Major League to stand alongside Joyce, and dropped out of college to embark on the band's first tour in 2010.

Just one week before the tour began, Joyce attended a show with one of Major League’s previous drummers at Hanger 84 in Delaware and saw Nick Trask performing with another band. Recognizing exactly what Major League needed, he began recruiting Trask to join for the run of shows. “Post tour I called him every day for two weeks like, ‘Hey man, band practice, seven o’clock,’” Joyce recalled. Despite some initial hesitation, Trask eventually began attending rehearsals and quickly became an integral part of the songwriting process. 

The band gradually shifted their sound to better complement Trask’s vocals as they began writing together. Major League has become known for their melodic pop-punk anthems, but their roots were planted firmly in the hardcore scenes of New Jersey and Philadelphia. Joyce grew up attending local shows, stating, “I always felt like if I could be a part of this little community here, that would be so cool.” Even with the fear of rejection for the change, they found support from the same scene that embraced them from the start. “The hardcore community still kept us under their wing,” Joyce said. “It’s not something that changes sound to sound. It’s about the effort you’re putting in.” That sense of community became the band's foundation. 

“We wanted that community, we wanted that feeling of, we’re doing this, we’re building this from the ground up, and we’re not making fans, we’re making friends,” Trask said. “That shows a lot on this tour coming back. We’re seeing all of those old friends come back and it feels like a reunion.” After years of touring and releasing beloved records such as The Truth Is… and Hard Feelings, the band eventually went on hiatus with no intention of returning. However, as time passed, they realized what they missed most was not the music. It was their friendship.

The spark that reignited Major League came unexpectedly. One day while Joyce was in the shower, his wife discovered a video of the band performing live in Bakersfield, California. After hearing the video play from the bathroom, he ran out to ask how she found that. In response, she asked what had happened between him and Trask. The question led Joyce to reflect on how his tunnel-vision focus of achieving his musical goals had affected those closest to him. Through therapy and honest conversations, he began to understand that the relationships mattered more than the ambition.

“I think we were all our own singularities before, that were coming together to make a band,” Joyce said. “This time around, it feels like we’re asking, ‘How do we put each other as people first?’” Trask has experienced the impact of that change firsthand. “We are so aware of each other’s feelings, each other’s needs,” he said. “They allow me to have my space, and that’s one of my biggest takeaways coming back on tour.” Joyce summarized the band’s new mindset with a phrase that has become somewhat of a guiding principle: “You got to change all your ‘what ifs’ to ‘even ifs.’ Even if this happens, you’ll figure it out. You always have.”

The groundwork Major League laid years ago made the comeback feel less like starting over and more like picking up where they left off. Fans who had grown up with the band returned in droves, turning each night of the reunion tour into a celebration of shared history as fans recounted old stories with the members after the show. “I think that is, for me, the coolest part about coming back to this,” Micheli said. “Having that tangible nostalgia.”

The reunion is not solely about revisiting the past. Immediately after the tour, Major League plans to head into the studio to record a new song, with additional material already written. Although the members now live in different places, they continue exchanging ideas remotely and building songs together, a process Joyce says has become one of his favorite parts of the band. For the band, some moments of the reunion still feel almost impossible to process. Micheli laughed at the improbability of it all. “I never thought I’d be doing this again, so I sold all my stuff eight months before.”

That sense of disbelief and gratitude was especially strong as Major League prepared to headline The Stone Pony. Their last appearance at the iconic venue came as an opening act for Senses Fail, making this hometown headline performance feel particularly special. “It’s such a crazy, cool experience to be able to have,” Joyce said, with Trask adding it felt like “a big, full-circle moment,” while also expressing nerves about playing in front of family and friends.  

For Joyce and the rest of the band, the meaning of Major League has changed. Success is no longer defined by how far the band can go, but by the fact that they are still doing it together. “Even if everybody you know is here and whatever else, at least you got these guys, and at least we’re going to be there together.” - Brian Joyce

Photos & Interview by Bek Allegretti