The playful Indie icons Sports Team have returned with two new singles taken from their forthcoming album 'Boys These Days' (Out February 2025). The lively sextet are also embarking on a UK tour this November, showcasing their new music for the first time.
Sonically, the new singles 'I'm In Love (Subaru)' and 'Condensation' carry the trademark Sports Team energy but with a more expansive and retro feel, particularly the former which leads with big brass lines and silky harmonies.
We caught up with Alex and Rob from the band to talk about this new direction, subverting expectation and learning how to mew...
Photo Credit: Bartek Szmigulski
Q. There seems to be a more theatrical, expressive side to your new music - what has prompted this slight sonic shift?
A. “I think it's entertaining to do the opposite of what people expect you to do. We were so used to seeing the bands around us doing a very Post-Punk aesthetic so we thought we’d kind of do the opposite of that. I think the kind of aesthetics that we got really interested in was what, in theory, is the least cool thing you could be doing now. Like a Brian Ferry esc international playboy in a white suit sort of thing”.
Q. What drove you to subvert expectation and head in a different direction to your contemporaries in this way?
A. “I think me and Alex probably particularly have this slight tendency to constantly roll the dice and do the thing that is going to annoy people the most on some level. The other members in the band might find this a bit unsettling, especially when we end up doing interviews as I can be like an irritating child. But I feel like the way the UK thinks about guitar music can just get a bit boring when you're sitting in a studio and wondering ‘what are we going to do today’? Like, should we do 160 BPM and have like thrashing guitars and yell about?. I think making the first track on this record something that was the opposite of what people thought we were going to come back with felt kind of satisfying”.
Q. How did you go about capturing this new aesthetic in the music video for ‘I’m In Love (Subaru)?
A. “I think we’ve always found that quite subversive approach to the imagery for stuff very appealing. Just the fact that other people weren't doing it was part of what appealed to us. But also it feels like it's big and it's bold which is fitting because it needs to encapsulate our six really different personalities that come into the band as well. I think it allows people to not necessarily be that coherent but still build a world of imagery that ties stuff together around it”.
Q. There’s some impressive dance moves in the music video - was it heavily choreographed?
A. “It was worked on a lot by Dora Paphides who made it but I wouldn't say it was overly choreographed. It was pretty much feeling what looks right on the day. I remember the video for ‘Here’s The Thing’ being sent to dance rehearsals with cheerleaders the week before. This didn't feel like that, it was more natural which was nicer as it meant every take was a real one. We did get given a movement coach for the video though and she was really fun. She was teaching us different moves and explaining mewing to us, which was weirdly kind of helpful. I think if you see our jawlines in that video, it's all thanks to her!”.
Q. You have an upcoming UK tour this November - will this visual aesthetic be translated into your live performances?
A. “Tour’s always a weird one because we come at it with this kind of grand vision where we're going to do Saltburn sort of things and then everyone will get bored of it after night one. I'm like, these are my only clean clothes. So, if you're there for night one, you're going to see a visual feast, I reckon but we’ll have given in by night two. Practicality just overcomes”.
Q. Which of your new album tracks are you most excited to play live on tour?
A. “We've got one coming out called ‘bang, bang, bang’ which will be good. I think that that's pretty like live coded as there's a sort of classic formula that we've done with a lot of tracks. It has a first chorus, second chorus, middle eight and then this sort of extended mosh outro. It’s a nice little recipe that we’ve slipped back into on this track. It sounds just like it's dropped from the air from the first record”.
Look out for an extended version of the interview in our upcoming December print issue.
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
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