Sports Team are back after a two year hiatus in Norway where they have created a magnificent third album called ‘Boys These Days’.
Sports Team are Alex Rice (vocals), Robert Knaggs (lyrics, backing vocals, rhythm guitar), Henry Young (lead guitar, lap steel), Oli Dewdney (bass), Al Greenwood (drums) and Ben Mack (synths, piano, percussion).
Soundsphere snapper and journo John Hayhurst caught up with Alex and Rob a couple of weeks ago to understand Why such a gap? and What is going on with this new style?
Following Covid-19 and seeing you at the Latitude tester festival and later that year at Kendal Calling, after that you seemed to drop off the face of the earth why the long 2 year break?
I remember Latitude we got a really good booking because we were the only band that lived together, so if anyone dropped out, we were the first band to call as we were in our own bubble. So we played so many big slots that year.
I remember doing a black and white photo post after the last tour, which the NME ran almost as an ‘In Memoriam’ piece and we originally thought we would have a couple of weeks off and then get back out again. But then as soon as they said we were having a break, well we thought – ok we are really going to have a break then and just do things differently.
We have always wanted to be a band and not just playing middle sized venues all our lives, we want to get into arenas and stadiums and stuff like that. Whatever you think of the music, the first couple of albums, it’s a little bit abrasive, it’s a bit much if you are not in the mood.
It took us a while to sit down and say alright we want to make something that your Mum could listen to, something a bit more listenable, approachable, but it’s still got all the Sports Team’s themes in it, and it took us quite a while to get there.
We needed to work out which producer we wanted to do it with and we ended up working with Matias Tellez who is in a bit more of the pop world, he does Girl in Red and CMAT’s album which we think is incredible. I think it has been time well spent, but it is tough coming back to ask people to start buying tickets and albums.
So it wasn’t burn out then it was something deliberate that you wanted to do?
We spent a lot of time out of the UK and we were doing a lot of touring in the US around 3 months of the year and it’s kind of how everything landed because we were about to do the US tour for ‘Deep Down Happy’ and then Covid happened, so then when we were touring again we had the 2nd album written so we put 2 albums worth of touring into one finite amount of space. So by the time we took a bit of a break it just felt like we have a chance to make something really quite different. We were not plugging an album for the first time in living memory, so we took the opportunity to take the foot off the accelerator and come back with something that we can make a mark with and are really proud of.
Why Norway as a location to take the break and record the third album?
We did demos with Matias who became our producer and he has his studio there. It’s a fun place to go and it was the nicest recording experience we have ever had. Big walks in snowy mountains, we were surrounded by WWII bunkers and Cold War fortifications that you can climb down into which was pretty amazing and it was dark all the time. We always wanted to record somewhere abroad, the 2nd album we wanted to record somewhere like Portugal, and actually I think we were even talking about Norway back then, but then with Covid we ended up in Bath. There is always that draw to somewhere where legendary records are made. If you are ever in a position where a record label gives you £100,000 to record an album – don’t use it in North London, you can do something more entertaining for yourself for that money I think.
You have changed record label to Distiller, what differences have you seen with that move?
It’s a weird one but Island would have done the third record if we had wanted them to, but because of the contracts we have there wasn’t enough money to sustain 6 people and you always expect the major record labels to be the ones with lots of money, but they really are not, not for bands anyway. So it was a necessary move, just from the point of view of, if you are going to pursue being in a band like this, it’s really hard if someone doesn’t pay you a decent whack in advance. So that was the reason why we moved, and then Distiller have been great, it has felt more free and there is budget to make our ideas happen rather than having stuff imposed on you, it has felt really nice.
The first time I heard ‘I’m In Love (Subaru)’ was on a Spotify playlist and I thought “I don’t pay for adverts why are they playing me an advert?”
You know what, that’s what Radio 1 said as well, the BBC said it has to be called ‘I’m In Love’ as it reads too closely as an advert and we thought “Oh come on Prada is in the charts” but they said the actual lyrics of your track resemble an advert, so yes we’ve heard that before.
It did make me listen to it again after I saw who the artist was, and after a few more listens you get more into it, the video helped too.
In a way we had hoped it would have that quality to it, the first track from the album it’s supposed to be very idealistic and it’s a childlike view of the world where there is one thing that you think is amazing and then as you go through the album it moves to a bit more cynical, too many narratives, and more politicised as you grow up.
‘Subaru’ has a completely different style to previous work, much more laid back. Is that consistent with the album as ‘Condensation’ is much more of a rocker?
We wanted to come back with that as the first one as it’s the biggest departure from our previous sound of the last 2 albums. We have always been inspired by bands like Roxy Music and Prefab Sprout and we felt like this is the closest we’ve got.
This is like your ‘Cars and Girls’ then?
Yes to emulate that kind of thing, but the rest of the album is stuff more towards that and with some tracks more towards our old stuff too. It’s still us 6, however ‘Pop’ we want to go, there’s always going to be an element of the sound that we naturally make when we play together.
I really want to know if Ben can play the saxophone like he does on the Subaru video?
He can’t play the piano! He’s still a one-hander on that. No he didn’t learn it, but we’ve got a great session player who played with us at the recent Omeara gig, and she is going to be coming on the road for a few of the other shows. All the orchestration, jazzy and brass elements we are trying to work out how we play that live, but it is fun playing live with a sax player.
Some of the venues you are playing on this tour you would struggle to fit 6 on the stage, I’ll be at The Wardrobe in Leeds on 23rd November, that’s going to be a tight squeeze?
We’ve played there a bunch of times before, I remember Live at Leeds, it’s a really fun venue but it will be a sweat fest.
The latest single ‘Condensation’ has a more rock’n’roll feel to it, reminds me of Primal Scream ‘Rocks’ or a Rolling Stones tune, that’s more back to your style?
Flattered that you think it sounds like the Rolling Stones but thinking about the way we are presenting the album in terms of how the singles are coming out, we definitely wanted the 2nd released track to be one that was closer to something that fans of the band have come to expect. The third one we are going to bring out feels most like our live performance orientated song off the record.
‘Condensation’ was the one that Matias (Producer) was most excited about and as you say it was that Rolling Stones vibe that he really wanted to lean into, and it’s the one that Jools Holland had played on a previous demo of it. The old label said it was a bit too ‘boogie woogie’, and we said “We’ve hired Jools Holland what do you expect?”. He was great as well, because he massively negotiated up his fee with the label, and then after they had paid him, he donated it all back to us.
Is Jools going to get you on Later…?
Hope so, I think we’ll try and get him on the tour bus as well.
Are you going to road test these new songs on the dates in November?
Yeah definitely, there will be 4 or 5 new ones in the set. It was much more of a studio album for us, so to try and get this into a live space is something we are really excited about. Each show will be over an hour, but we are going to try for the first time to have slightly differing set lists so we can change it up a bit every night, a bit more variety from night to night because there’s a few fans that come to quite a lot of the shows. We will also have props, like we always do.
Are you bringing back the Queen outfit with the cloak and crown that I saw at Kendal Calling?
There will be new outfits, new costume shop hires.
So presumably, lots of festivals next year?
That’s the plan yes, we will do another tour next year after the release of the album but not sure when at the moment. Even this one in November is sandwiched between some more US dates. We are just playing where we can, but also in a way that is different, such as doing a pop up show in Manchester then a week later another one in Bristol. That’s what we like doing when it feels a bit more spontaneous.
Glastonbury 2025? What’s your favourite stage?
Yeah we really hope so. We did the Woodsies Stage last time, and that was a great show, I really like the Park too, it’s got the best bar to hang out in afterwards.
Sports Team are playing a 10-date nationwide UK tour this month, kicking off in Manchester on November 14th and culminating in a show at London’s O2 Forum on November 24th.
Tour dates are:
14th November – Manchester, New Century
15th November – Birmingham, The Castle & Falcon
16th November – Liverpool, Arts Club
18th November – Sheffield, Foundry
19th November – Glasgow, SWG3
20th November – Newcastle Upon Tyne, Boiler Shop
22nd November – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
23rd November – Leeds, The Wardrobe
24th November – Bristol, The Trinity Centre
25th November – London, O2 Forum Kentish Town
‘Boys These Days’ is available to pre-order on CD, vinyl and cassette as well as a number of exclusive limited edition formats including a box set, a signed test pressing and picture disc vinyl.
Pre-save BOYS THESE DAYS ALBUM – Now set for release on May 23rd 2025
