Stay Out @ Raimondi
A Stay-Forever-Summer of Punk and Rock, Stay Out Brings New World to Ballers’ Baseball
By Natalie Villanueva
Punk and baseball may not have the longest history together, but at Raimondi Park today, Stay Out will make up for lost time.
The East Bay punk rock band consists of three members: Grant Pack who leads with bass, Mason McGeorge who joins in with guitar, and Nate Reynoso who plays the drums. They perform with a rebellious spirit that has defined the music for decades.
“It's all about capturing the essence of youth, the energy and desire when you were young,” says Nate. “To be an individual and tell man to go fuck itself. Just be the most you you can be–as obnoxious and weird as it is.”
The origin of the band’s name is as unique as it is hilarious. A coming-of-age story with just the right amount of rockstar. According to the band, the phrase, “Stay Out,” draws inspiration from some of their favorite moments in both film and real life. References range from the movie Rock 'n' Roll High School, where a door bears the message, “Teachers Stay Out,” to the iconic warning from Shrek as he yells to the creatures from Far Far Away to stand clear of his swamp. The name also carries a personal connection, as Mason recalled in our Dispatches interview—a memory of saying the same to his mother after she unexpectedly walked in on him.
The phrase “Stay Out,” then, is both ubiquitous and unique for the band.
“Every time we see it somewhere, it's just such a recognizable phrase,” says Mason, “And so for us it's cool because we could almost just take a little snippet of something, or take a picture, and it's like our band was there.”
To create the sound that the band embodies today, one of their biggest takeaways from playing and touring is to nurture the ability of being honest with one another. Since their inception, they have developed the skills to combine different forms of songwriting, storytelling and musical rhythm. To them, representing the Bay Area and Oakland feels surreal, and they describe it as a life-changing experience.
Grant, 31, is originally from Concord. He dropped out of high school to pursue the dream of performing punk. He went on a U.S. tour at 17 and said that from a young age he had a deeper sense of making music: it was an all or nothing experience.
“To take my ideas that started in a bedroom and scream them at the top of my lungs into a speaker and [to combine that with] the sport of baseball, the Oakland Ballers–it’s all so connecting,” said Grant, “It’s such a big thing for me to be able to experience.”
Nate, 26, grew up in San Leandro, right at the border of Oakland. He recalls memories of his grandfather raising him on A’s baseball and making frequent trips to the Coliseum. He shares that despite his grandfather's passing, Oakland sports keeps their bond alive.
“I love that the Ballers are very DIY community-based, much like where we come from at 924 Gilman Street,” says Nate. “It takes a big community of people to put something together. When you're sitting at the game, you're like, wow, all these people came together to make this happen, and they're, like, for real, having a great time.”
Mason, 32, found himself pursuing art before punk. He was raised in Castro Valley and earned an Associate of Arts in graphic design. He has a tendency to make his guitar scream so that fans can scream back louder.
“To me, Oakland sports has always been a thing,” says Mason. “When it was all gone, it was really cool to see Oakland as a community come together and still keep sports alive in the city–to keep baseball especially.”
Stay Out first captured the attention of the Ballers when they went on a 75-day tour traveling the country. According to Mason, Grant rocked the same Oakland Ballers hat at every show and every day.
“He was so adamant about like, this is where we’re from and this is our shit,” said Mason, “We would say that our RV was like a pirate ship. We went around, showing off East Bay stuff and just trying to show the world our little pocket. We’re so proud of the East Bay.”
While performing non-stop for two months straight, Stay Out started tagging the Ballers on social media, hoping to spark interest from the team and the Raimondi fan base. Upon returning, the effort paid off, and a relationship began to bloom. What started as a simple online connection became much more, leading Baller fans to recognize and know their punk rock East Bay neighbors.
A memorable collaboration for the band was when they performed at Fans Fest in the Fruitvale Village in March. While many attendees arrived for baseball, fans were surprised to hear the buzzing amplifiers and the explosive blend of voice, heart and song. (Dispatches reporter Roberto Santiago was on the scene that day and said they were his favorite band.) Many tracks from Stay Out shed light on the disorienting and overwhelming growing pains of finding identity in a big metropolitan area.
The band creates an intimate space by sharing their personal experiences as well, from being raised by divorced parents and living in broken homes. Their message has always been to uplift and remind others that they’re not alone in adverse experiences.
A classic Stay Out song titled “Banshee,” released in 2019, still brings their audiences together. With the main chorus, “Whoa, I’m all alone,” Stay Out recalls memories of seeing young fans scream the line, yet under concert lights and in a crowd of others singing the same words, they demonstrate quite the opposite. The band expresses frequently their sentiments of appreciation and fulfillment when hearing how touched fans feel when singing their lyrics back.
In our interview, Stay Out offers advice for the next wave of East Bay punk enthusiasts: “If you want to play punk rock, just do it. That's what Fat Mike told us when we showed up to the punk rock museum,” says Grant, “If you wanna do something in life, do everything you can to do it.”
“Don’t compare yourself to other people and just do what you want to do,” says Nate. “It's really easy for you to get in your own head about, well, what if this isn't punk, or what if this isn't that, or, like, what if I'm doing the wrong thing– it doesn't matter. If you like what you're doing, it's the right thing.”
“Question everything,” says Mason. “Question authority, question the system, go against the status quo, don’t conform, and always help your friends in the next generation.”
Stay Out released their last album in 2023, but the band tells Dispatches that a new album is right around the corner. Exclusively shared with Dispatches, an upcoming song is titled, “City Lights,” with a release date to be confirmed. The band recently filmed a their new song “No Escape” at Raimondi Park.
Their set at Raimondi starts today at 2:30 p.m., and before the start of the 4:30 game, Grant will throw the ceremonial first pitch.
Photos and video of the Gilman show courtesy of Marcus Gorman.
Natalie Villanueva is a writer, a journalist and a student at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. A reporter for Oakland North, she finds herself actively engaging with the community of Oakland and Richmond. She's covered stories ranging from Oakland Ballers' fans rallying for a historic win to capturing culture, sports and education within the Bay Area. She's self-published 5 young adult novels and is a proud daughter of first generation Mexican immigrants, raised in the Central Valley. Find her on Nataliereports.org
