Sports Team

Playing energetic, guitar-based indie rock with a sharp but playful edge, Sports Team are a band from the North London community of Harlesden whose taut sound is matched to witty lyrics that celebrate flip phones, Ashton Kutcher, and tacky British seaside resorts. After earning a reputation for over-the-top live shows during their early days at Cambridge University, Sports Team issued a fistful of singles and EPs in 2018 and 2019 that captured their lean power and sense of fun, with the singalong chorus of "Kutcher," the slow burn of "Stanton," and the sleek but muscular "M5" capturing them at their best. Their first full-length release, 2020's Deep Down Happy, debuted at number two on the U.K. album chart, setting the stage for the follow-up, 2022's Gulp!

Sports Team was founded by six friends who were attending Cambridge University: lead singer Alex Rice, guitarists Robb Knaggs and Henry Young, bassist Oli Dewdney, keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Ben Mack, and drummer Al Greenwood. Frustrated by the lackluster music scene at the college largely dominated by cover bands, the group, who cite Pulp, Pavement, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and the Family Cat as influences, started playing shows at campus venues. Along with their music, the band made their performances stand out by including comedy bits, games, dancing, and once tricking a local political candidate into introducing them at a show. They rose among their peers to be invited to appear at Cambridge's annual May Ball, and then they made their way into London clubs on a regular basis.

By 2018, Sports Team had attracted the attention of the independent label Nice Swan Recordings, which released their debut EP, a five-song disc titled Winter Nets, early that year. The initial pressing soon sold out and rapidly went into a second pressing. After the band successfully launched their first headlining tour and sold out the prestigious London club Scala (with a capacity of over 1,000), November 2018 saw a flurry of activity with the release of three singles: "Liberal Friends" b/w "Stanton" (self-released by the group), "Margate" b/w "Kutcher" (issued in tandem by Nice Swan and Holm Front Records), and "Get Along" b/w "Casper" (on Holm Front).

As the U.K. music press adopted the band and their popularity spread, more short-form releases followed: a five-song EP, Keep Walking, arrived in March 2019, the single "Here It Comes Again" b/w "Christmas, Kent" followed in August 2019, and a vinyl 7" featuring live and studio versions of "Fishing" became available in November 2019. Meanwhile, Sports Team had completed two short tours of the United States, and in October 2019 Rough Trade issued the five-song EP Making Hay as the group's first official American release. The band's debut album, Deep Down Happy, arrived on Island in June 2020 and entered the U.K. album chart at number two, staved off by Lady Gaga, and earning a Mercury Music Prize nomination.

Sporadic live dates followed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic before the group decided to return to the studio to write and record their sophomore album. Working once again with Burke Reid, Sports Team delivered the first fruits of their sessions with the release of "R Entertainment" in early 2022. Their sophomore album, Gulp!, followed a few months later. ~ Mark Deming