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Today, UK's best guitar band, Sports Team released their third studio album, Boys These Days. A witty and insightful examination of modern life, exploring the dissonance of our social media feeds that unleash an endless cycle upon us. One of porn, tragedy, war, violence, sex, money, inspirational quotes. No narrative. No unifying myth. Just "the churn" as Sports Team term it.
The album also marks a major sonic shift for the renowned British band, amalgamating raucous indie rock, Brit pop, with disparate inspiration from the glossy 80s studio pop of Roxy Music, Elvis Costello and Prefab Sprout. The band share their innate ability to blend seemingly contradictory imagery and musical elements to create unique worlds that insightfully refracted our times.
Sports Team made a name for themselves in the US for all the wrong reasons in 2024 when they were robbed at gunpoint 15 mins into their headline tour. This will be a long distant memory for this rising indie-rock band, who also announced they will return to the US in September 2025 for their biggest US tour yet, opening for Brit pop icons, Supergrass with dates including Los Angeles's The Palladium on Sep 5 and New York City's Pier 17.
On the title track, Sports Team stated, "Boys these Day is Supergrass' Alright if it was written by Ricard Littlejohn: "We are old, we are trapped, dentistry is a woke mind virus." Ultimately it's a song about the weaponisation of nostalgia, sung from the perspective of a self-pitying bigot. There's this endless generational conflict between baby boomers who see themselves as stoic, hard-working and thrifty, and the feckless young with their creamy coffees and ungodly electronic cigarettes. I feel like that chorus line, "boys these days look like girls" could be taken from almost any generations's equivalent of the Daily Mail. Beatles fans with bowl-cuts ("boys these days look like girls"). Hippies ("boys these days look like girls"). David Beckham ("boys these days look like girls"). Just Stop Oil. Etc. Etc. Etc. You can imagine some pub-bore in ancient Golgotha whipping it out at the crucifixion."
Alex Rice, Oli Dewdney, Al Greenwood, Rob Knaggs, Ben Mack, and Henry Young, recorded Boys These Days with producer Matias Tellez (Girl In Red, CMAT, Gracie Abrams) in his Bergen Norwegian studio. They spent an extensive period working on the album. The band thrived with a day time recording schedule and outdoor subzero hiking exhibitions which nearly ended in disaster.
Sports Team tested out countless ideas including sci-fi-tinged tracks, City Pop experiments and even a divisive electro-clash direction that didn't make the cut. What prevailed was a singular sound featuring dissonant studio effects, extravagant horn use, anchored by a bright core of pop hooks and sing-along choruses that will propel Sports Team to even bigger heights.
Sports Team have already landed Mercury Prize nominations and a chart success, beating out Lady Gaga to the number 1 spot in the UK . Their innovative and provocative indie rock landed them critical acclaim; meanwhile, they quickly built a reputation through viral moments like warring with The 1975 and cultivating an active WhatsApp fan group-which grew into a massive live following and a predominantly young fanbase. But like all great bands, they did not rest on their laurels and sought sonic exploration outside of their comfort zones and showcased on their new album.
Car-obsessed glossy art-rocker "I'm In Love (Subaru)," was praised by Brooklyn Vegan "as recalling "'80s era's sultriest, saxxiest songs." 'Bang Bang Bang,' "sounds like something that could be featured on the soundtrack of an edgy neo-Western film," according to American Songwriter. Most recent single "Sensible" which AVCLUB described as "Classic Brit-pop anthem with a snarky twist," which according to Stereogum was snark squarely aimed at band nemesis, Fred Again. The album is a dramatic shift in gears in their songwriting and showcasing the band at their brightest and most beguiling yet.
Sports Team has always been quintessentially British. A quality Americans have ultimately embraced due to the band's deft ability to satirically poke fun at their dull, suburban English childhoods with universal appeal. Still packed with hyper-specific references, some very British (have you heard the theme tune to Coronation Street?), or addressing their disdain for the British older generations' reflections of modern youth with measured admiration. The band's purview also now offers commentary on disparate memories and moments in the global consciousness, and many specific to America. What's more American than Bill Clinton's sax and sex skills, explored on opening single "I'm In Love (Subaru)." Elsewhere their lyrics reflect on everything from the Beckham dynasty, and more abstract thoughts about cultural clash, the want for family, the questioning of love, Kerouac-esque loners.
By allowing themselves to write about what they saw every day, Sports Team ended up with a group of tracks that offer us poignant reflections on the daily mayhem around them. Whilst somehow holding onto the wistful teenage memory of what adult life really should be like. Also, much like their Brit pop forebears they have reframed our modern era whilst sounding dangerous and glamorous. Making them one of the most thoughtful bands in music today and a serious force to be reckoned with on the global stage.